Randy Orton returned home to the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri, tonight (Sun., May 19, 2013) for a hardcore match with Big Show at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view (PPV) with zero stakes and even less hype.
Yet, it was a fine match.
That's got a lot to do with it being Orton at home, meaning the crowd was firmly in his corner and he performed like whether or not he looked good in the match actually mattered to him. They broke out plenty of big spots, like Show coming off the second rope onto a ladder that Orton had vacated.
The finish saw Orton hit one RKO straight up and one on a chair but neither was enough to get the job done. So he went back into his old bag of tricks and broke out a move that, last we checked and last he said, was banned.
The patented punt.
It looked brutal upon replay, too, and it seems odd to break it out now when Dolph Ziggler suffered a concussion that kept him off this show thanks to a punt to the head.
Either way, Orton won the match and the crowd absolutely loved it.
For complete results and blow-by-blow coverage of all the Extreme Rules action click here.