{"id":137097,"date":"2025-06-28T13:47:41","date_gmt":"2025-06-28T17:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/?p=137097"},"modified":"2026-03-07T17:49:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T22:49:29","slug":"huge-championship-rematch-official-for-summerslam-after-shocking-king-of-the-ring-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/2025\/06\/28\/huge-championship-rematch-official-for-summerslam-after-shocking-king-of-the-ring-final\/","title":{"rendered":"HUGE Championship Rematch Official for SummerSlam after Shocking King of the Ring Final"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, at Night of Champions<\/a>, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton battled in their first singles match in over a decade in the King of the Ring finals. The two friends shook hands to start the night, but after that, it was all business as usual. Both men battled valiantly, playing all the greatest hits along the way, with the chance to challenge for one of WWE’s two world championships on the line. It was no secret which champion both men were targeting, given their recent and extensive history with the man.<\/p>\n

\"A
Photo Credit: WWE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With both revenge and glory on the line, one of these men was set to make history by adding a new accolade to their trophy case. When all was said and done, that man was Cody Rhodes. As it turns out, wrestling has more than one royal family, and that family is led by King Cody Rhodes, the first of his name.<\/p>\n

Cody Rhodes Secures Cena Rematch for SummerSlam after Massive KOTR Win<\/h2>\n

Cody Rhodes made his King of the Ring debut 15 years ago, taking part in the 2010 edition of the tournament that Sheamus eventually won. The entire tournament took place in one night, with Rhodes losing in the first round to John Morrison in a match that lasted just over three minutes. Rhodes returned to the tournament in 2015, a year before he left WWE.<\/p>\n

The 2015 King of the Ring took place over two days, with the first round matches occurring on Raw prior to a PLE of the same name the next night. Rhodes performed as Stardust, once again losing a first-round match (to R Truth) in little over three minutes.<\/p>\n

Rhodes’ KOTR history entering the 2025 tournament was less than stellar, but that was then, and this is now. The Cody Rhodes who entered this year’s King of the Ring was more poised, confident, and determined than ever. Desperately looking to regain the world championship he lost at WrestleMania and to do so before the so-called ‘Last Real Champ’ leaves the building in December, Rhodes gave everything to the tournament, which was held over several weeks.<\/p>\n

In the first round, Rhodes took down Damian Priest, Shinsuke Nakamura, and Andrade in a competitive fatal 4-way. It was just Rhodes’ second match in two months.<\/p>\n

The semifinal pitted WWE’s two most recent former champions head-to-head as Rhodes battled his former tag team partner and still good friend, Jey Uso. It was a great bout where, at times, it looked like either man could win, but in the end, it was Rhodes who came out on top, securing his place in the finals against his mentor and former stablemate, Randy Orton.<\/p>\n

Everyone thought Randy Orton’s familiarity with Rhodes and overall experience would hand him the win. Unfortunately, Orton would become too impatient, taking a shortcut by exposing the turnbuckle. Rhodes would send him flying into the exposed steel, catch him, and hit the Cross Rhodes for the pin.<\/p>\n

Orton and Rhodes’ history and legacies were front and centre in their finals showdown, and at SummerSlam,<\/a> the same will be said for Rhodes’ history with John Cena. Rhodes was the world champion for over one full calendar year, having completed his story at WrestleMania 40 and entering WrestleMania 41 on top of the company.<\/p>\n

He opted not to accept an offer from the Rock, and in the end, that decision ultimately cost Rhodes as Cena turned heel, cheating to take the title away from Rhodes.<\/p>\n

Payback will no doubt be on Rhodes’ mind as he enters a SummerSlam rematch against WWE’s most-hated man. Cena, coming off another successful yet questionable world title defense against CM Punk at Night of Champions, promises to retire with the title as the last true champion.<\/p>\n

He has defeated Punk, Orton, and R-Truth thus far. Rhodes is up next, and he may be the best shot anyone has yet had to stop Cena’s reign of terror.<\/p>\n

Cody Rhodes truly deserved to win this one, thanking Randy Orton for being his mentor and friend. Before he got his crown, Cody Rhodes would address the Riyadh crowd, saying that he’s now ready to “take the ball back home” at SummerSlam.<\/p>\n

More From LWOS Pro Wrestling<\/b><\/strong><\/p>\n

Header photo \u2013 WWE \u2013 Stay tuned to the\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Last Word on Pro Wrestling<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a> for more on Night of Champions, King of the Ring, SummerSlam, and more stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world.<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n

You can check out WWE programming on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Netflix<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Raw),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>USA Network<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(SmackDown),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>The CW<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(NXT),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Tubi<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Evolve),\u00a0<\/i><\/em>A&E<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Superstar Sunday \u2013 Rivals, WWE LFG, and Greatest Moments) and\u00a0<\/i><\/em>Peacock<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>\u00a0(WWE Main Event as well as archives and premium live event streaming). Follow WWE on social media to relive top moments and matches on\u00a0<\/i><\/em>YouTube<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>, and catch fast-paced action on X (<\/i><\/em>WWE Speed<\/i><\/u><\/em><\/a>).<\/i><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Saturday, at Night of Champions, Cody Rhodes and Randy Orton battled in their first singles match in over a decade in the King of the Ring finals. The two friends shook hands to start the night, but after that, it was all business as usual. Both men battled valiantly, playing all the greatest hits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2418,"featured_media":137204,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,12,2192,4,3],"tags":[98,165,721,8588,58,908,430],"class_list":["post-137097","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","category-wrestling","category-wwe","category-wwe-universe","tag-cody-rhodes","tag-john-cena","tag-king-of-the-ring","tag-night-of-champions","tag-randy-orton","tag-summerslam","tag-wwe-championship"],"modified_by":"Marilee Gallagher, Manager","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137097","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2418"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137097"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137097\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":154565,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137097\/revisions\/154565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137097"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137097"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/prowrestling\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137097"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}