Randy Orton says he’d love to treat the person who started the “RKO Outta Nowhere” trend to a steak dinner.
In the early 2010s, a viral internet trend emerged featuring clips of people falling or getting knocked down, cleverly edited to include Orton delivering his signature RKO move — seemingly out of nowhere. The videos exploded in popularity, and the phrase “RKO outta nowhere” became synonymous with Orton’s finishing move.
In a recent interview with Billboard, Orton reflected on the phenomenon and expressed his appreciation, saying he’d like to buy a steak dinner for the person who kicked it all off. He said,
“Yeah, I just look at it like I’m lucky. Right place, right time. I had a great fans. I met Logan Paul for the first time, and it’s funny because he was a wrestling fan, but I don’t think he was following it quite as much — but he was aware of what the “RKO” was. That’s what he told me when I first met him, and I thought that was pretty funny. But to your point, it’s kind of like transcended wrestling and me and became a thing of its own. I think that was the [era of the] Vine app, and the kids started editing videos of me RKO’ing everybody. Whether it was maybe a toddler that fell over or someone at the alter getting married, anyone taking a bump out there, they’d put a little Randy Orton RKO out of nowhere, and it became a thing. I benefitted from it only because it made people more aware of who I was as a WWE wrestler. Whoever started that trend, man, I would love to buy them a steak dinner. [Laughs.]”
On April 19th, WWE announced its acquisition of Lucha Libre AAA during the WrestleMania 41 (Night One) Kickoff Show.
As part of their new partnership, WWE and AAA will collaborate on Worlds Collide, an event scheduled for June 7th in Los Angeles, CA.
Raquel Rodriguez discussed the deal during an interview with Tim & Eli on the “Battleground” podcast. She said,
“It gets me so excited. It made my heart explode with happiness for everyone who was representing the announcement of merging with AAA and seeing AAA there and represented by their founder in the audience at WrestleMania. I grew up watching AAA. Not only did I have WWE, I also had AAA and Saturday Morning Wrestling, Lucha Libre. The Lucha Libre always lived in my backyard, with all the luchadors. It’s a beautiful style of wrestling and the intense passion they bring and the crazy moves and creativity, from the masks to the moves. It’s so cool. I’m so excited. I hope I get to be part of any little bit that happens with AAA. I hope I get to perform with some of the female luchadoras, they are amazing. I’m really looking forward to this. It’s going to be huge.”
Bianca Belair and Mercedes Mone (formerly known as Sasha Banks in WWE) made history by headlining Night One of WrestleMania 37 — the first time two Black women main-evented WWE’s biggest show of the year. Belair recently reflected on the groundbreaking match during an appearance on Stephanie McMahon’s “What’s Your Story” podcast, where she discussed the significance of the moment and more.
You can check out some highlights from the podcast below:
On the importance of representation: “It’s so important. I always use the quote, representation is not a request, it’s a requirement. Because representation, it shows you what the possibilities are out there for you. A lot of times, you do need to see that example. It takes a special person to say, I want to do that, but I don’t see anybody else doing that, so I’m gonna be the first person to do it and then I can be representation and open the doors for other people. It takes a lot of guts and courage and sometimes, you just don’t know. So, representation is super important. I feel like I always try to remember that exact with what I’m doing now and it brings a purpose to what you’re doing. I think that’s really what that moment was about and that’s why that moment was so special.”
On working with Mone in the match: “I mean, your main eventing WrestleMania for one. If you ask any talent in WWE, ‘What is your goal in WWE’, it’s to main event WrestleMania. I was able to do that my first year on the main roster. To do it with someone like Sasha, she took such great care of me in that match because I was so new. The fact that I won that match, but I remember talking and telling her that was more than just a WrestleMania match. I’ve only watched that match back once or twice because I get so emotional.
On the opening moment of the match when she got emotional: “That moment, I remember we didn’t know if we were main eventing or not. We kind of found out the same time as everybody on the internet, I remember we both just broke down. We were told at the same time, it kinda broke and everybody was going crazy about it and we’re breaking down together about it. Then, it was a crazy day, a thunderstorm and we didn’t know if WrestleMania was gonna happen because it was outside. They were telling us it’s postponed, there’s a curfew. They were like, ‘If you’re in the middle of the match and lightning strikes, you have to stop.’ We were like, no. We ain’t stopping the match [laughs]. But there was so much build up and anticipation, we didn’t know if we were gonna be the main event, all of the sudden there’s a thunderstorm, and then if you get advice from anybody about WrestleMania, for me they always say just slow down and take your time and absorb it because it happens so fast. We decided that we wanted to feel that moment. Standing in that ring with her, we were just supposed to just stand there and let the crowd get into it and feel the moment. Then I was just like, it’s coming, tears are coming. You couldn’t even tell the stadium was half-filled because it was super loud. I’m standing across from her and I’m like, ‘oh wow, we’re here.’ I’m trying to be serious and I just feel it. I’m just like, all the tears are coming and then they’re coming and I’m like, it’s about to be an ugly cry. I’m trying to hold it in, I don’t want to cry in the ring. [Sasha] did [too], but she held it together a little bit better than me. The last place you want to cry is in the ring when you’re about to fight and I was like, I look weak and I’m about to lose it. It was about to get to a shoulder shaking cry and I think Sasha saw it and she looked at me and goes, ‘Let’s go.’ I got in the moment and I was cool. She saw it and she’s like, don’t go there, let’s go.”
On how she feels about the match: “That match was crazy too because that was our first time ever touching. We had never had a match together. We had tagged together before that WrestleMania match, we had never had a match together, we had never even practiced. When I watch that match back, hardly ever do I have a match where I’m like, ‘Okay, everything was perfect.’ That match was bread and butter. The only that happened was I got the wind knocked out of me on a 450, she put her knees up. Other than that, it was magic. That moment felt like magic.”
(h/t – Fightful)
