Watch: Randy Orton Hits Huge RKO to Win United States Championship

Randy Orton has a career full of incredible moments where he's hit his RKO finisher 'outta [...]

By Connor Casey

Randy Orton has a career full of incredible moments where he's hit his RKO finisher "outta nowhere." But his latest RKO just put him in the history books.

After a grueling match against United States Champion Bobby Roode, Orton sprang to live as Roode jumped from the second rope and hit an RKO in mid-air.

With the win, Orton is now a United States Champion for the first time in his career. It also makes him the 10th Superstar to every become a Grand Slam champion under the current structure, winning the WWE Championship, Tag Team Championship, Intercontinental Championship and United States Championship at least once in their career. Orton joins Kurt Angle, Eddie Guerrero, Edge, Big Show, the Miz, Daniel Bryan, Chris Jericho, Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns on that exclusive list.

Orton won the Intercontinental Championship way back in 2003 as a member of Evolution, captured his first WWE Championship reign in 2007 (he's currently a 13-time world champion with four runs with the WWE title and nine with the defunct World Heavyweight Championship) and the SmackDown Tag Team Championships in 2016 as a member of The Wyatt Family to put himself on the list.

Following the match, Orton's celebration was cut short when out walked Jinder Mahal. "The Modern-Day Maharaja" had tried to insert himself into the Roode-Orton feud in recent weeks on SmackDown Live and claimed he was the "uncrowned United States Champion" during Sunday's pre-show, so he felt it necessary to storm down to the ring and start beating up a clearly worn-out Orton.

Roode came in for the save, hitting Mahal with a Glorious DDT. He then helped Orton back to his feet to hit another Glorious DDT, and left the ring looking visibly frustrated. "The Glorious One" is well-known amongst the diehard fans for his heel run down in NXT, so this could be the first sign of that heel turn taking place.

Mahal and Orton already have quite a bit of history prior to Sunday's beatdown, with Mahal beating Orton in a shocking upset at the Payback event in April 2017 to win the WWE Championship. He went on to hold the title for 170 days before dropping it on an episode of SmackDown Live to reigning champion A.J. Styles.

If WWE so chooses, we could see a triple threat match between Orton, Mahal and Roode at WrestleMania 34 with the title on the line on April 8.

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