Cody Rhodes Beats Randy Orton to Win WWE King of the Ring, SummerSlam Title Match

Cody Rhodes defeated Randy Orton at Night of Champions on Saturday to win the King of the Ring tournament and earn a world title match at SummerSlam.

After Rhodes kicked out of the RKO twice, Orton resorted to underhanded tactics by removing the turnbuckle pad. That decision backfired, though, as Orton accidentally ran into the exposed steel, allowing Cody to hit him with Cross Rhodes for the win.

Both Rhodes and Orton had difficult paths to the King of the Ring finals, as they each had to go through some of the top Superstars WWE has to offer in order to get there.

The Viper beat LA Knight, Aleister Black and Carmelo Hayes in a first-round Fatal 4-Way before getting the better of Sami Zayn in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, The American Nightmare prevailed over Damian Priest, Shinsuke Nakamura and Andrade in the first round, and then got past his close friend, Jey Uso, in the semifinals this week on Raw.

As was the case last year, the King of the Ring tournament offered a much larger prize than merely a crown, as it guaranteed the winner a WWE Championship or World Heavyweight Championship bout at the first-ever, two-night SummerSlam.

Both Rhodes and Orton were recently in the WWE title scene, and winning KOTR gave them the chance to jump to the front of the line once again.

Cody's yearlong WWE Championship reign ended at WrestleMania 41 when John Cena beat him with help from rapper Travis Scott. Orton was Cena's opponent for his first title defense, and Cena defeated him at Backlash thanks to involvement from R-Truth.

Rhodes and Orton are longtime friends dating back to their time together as part of the Legacy stable from 2008 to 2010.

They had to put their friendship aside at Night of Champions, though, in the name of potentially returning to the top of the pro wrestling world.

By virtue of his win, Rhodes is the No. 1 contender, and it seems likely that he will choose to face the winner of Cena vs. CM Punk for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam.

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