Randy Orton Savagely Attacks Jeff Hardy on SmackDown Live

Randy Orton made his return to WWE on Sunday night at Extreme Rules, attacking Jeff Hardy as Shinsuke Nakamura won the U.S. title.

During Tuesday night’s edition of SmackDown, Orton appeared once again during Hardy and Nakamura’s rematch. This time, the beating was much more vicious.

Nakamura and Hardy had a fairly long match by television standards and it looked like Hardy had the championship won. Hardy went up top and hit the Swanton Bomb, a move that he recently spoke about dialing back in recent months due to the fact that it’s taking a toll on his body at this point of his career. Using the move on SmackDown probably didn’t help matters, as he definitely landed a little awkwardy.

Following the Swanton, Hardy went for the cover and looked to have the U.S. title won. However, just as the referee was about to count to three, Orton appeared, dragged Hardy out of the ring, and commenced a brutal beat down on the former U.S. champion. The referee called for a DQ finish.

Orton beat Hardy all over ringside, stomping Hardy on the ring steps at one point and also giving him a spike DDT off of the announce table to the ground below.

During the middle of this, Orton got up close to the fallen Hardy and said, “You want to know why I’m doing this? You’re gonna have to wait to find out.”

Orton then put his finger through Hardy’s gauged hole in his ear and began to yank on it, a disturbing sight that the cameras zoomed in on. Orton still got quite a pop from the live fans in attendance despite the obvious heel turn.

Just two days removed from Extreme Rules and we now are starting to see several matches all but confirmed for SummerSlam. Early on SmackDown, it became very evident that Daniel Bryan and The Miz are destined for a match at SummerSlam, and Becky Lynch versus Carmella also seems to be in the cards. Orton vs. Hardy here seems like a good bet, in addition.