Randy Orton hasn’t wrestled on SmackDown in a few weeks, but he made his presence felt to close out this week’s show.
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The story this week, much like it was last week, was Samoa Joe destroying people to prove his point that he means business this Sunday at the Royal Rumble. Last week, he destroyed Mustafa Ali in a match that barely got started. This week, the match went a little bit longer, but he once again defeated Ali.
Then, during the main event match that saw Rey Mysterio take on Andrade in a two-out-of-three falls match in a rematch of what was a tremendous bout last week, Joe inserted himself in the finish.
Joe ran out and gave Mysterio a powerbomb to the ring apron and followed that up by getting into the ring and taking out Andrade. However, there was a Viper lurking.
As Joe got on the microphone to warn the 29 other men about what they are in for this Sunday at the Royal Rumble, one of those men appeared out of nowhere. Randy Orton, who won the Rumble two years ago, came into the ring and hit the RKO to Joe, much to the crowd’s delight.
.@SamoaJoe warns all of the #RoyalRumble participants to be on high alert, but @RandyOrton sends a warning of his own… #SDLive pic.twitter.com/NxV07aXqrV
โ WWE (@WWE) January 23, 2019
Did you miss him? #SDLive @RandyOrton @SamoaJoe pic.twitter.com/O8CEBMisOZ
โ WWE (@WWE) January 23, 2019
The broadcast ended with the announce teaming talking about how only one man in history, Steve Austin, has won three Royal Rumble matches. With Orton having won the match in 2017 and and 2009, he will try to equal that feat with a third victory in the Rumble this Sunday night in Phoenix.