It’s been a full decade since Evan Bourne climbed to the top rope on an episode of Monday Night Raw, jumped into the air for a Shooting Star Press and was caught in midair with an RKO from Randy Orton. To this day the move ranks as one of the greatest Raw moments of all time and still pops up frequently on social media via gifs and videos. In a new interview with Chris Van Vliet Matt Sydal (fka Bourne) broke down everything that went into making the moment happen.
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Sydal started off by saying he had done the spot a couple of times before, particularly in PWG, but the spot with Orton still stands out above the rest.
Some of the greatest RKOs of all time 😤🐍
(via @WWE) pic.twitter.com/ZSJwpLfh0j
— ESPN (@espn) July 11, 2020
“It was just such a special moment,” Sydal said. “Because that RKO had been established and he [Orton] was the master of it. People had seen it from different angles, but nobody expected this to happen.”
He even credited the camera work for keeping the shot close-up on him until he was in mid-air, making the move all the more surprising. Sydal said he saw Matt Cross hit the spot on an independent wrestling show and was talking to him about it at a house show the day before that Raw.
“The next day, I think I even told Randy about on Sunday. Then on Monday, 24 hours [later], it turns out me and Randy have a segment. I say, ‘Anybody want to do this Shooting Star Press/RKO?’ And there were some doubts from management that it was physically possible,” he said.
Sydal said the spot had “the highest level of pain degree” since he was essentially doing a belly flop from the top rope while also being driven to the ground. He then said Orton had no objections to the idea.
“Basically he didn’t even hesitate. He was like, ‘Oh yeah, that’d be cool,’” Sydal said. “It’s a challenge for him to jump up at the right time ad it requires a very high level and athleticism and timing. But Randy, that’s not going to be an issue for him.”
In recent months Sydal has been popping up on AEW programming as well as the ROH Pure Championship Tournament for Ring of Honor.
