Cody Rhodes Says On WWE Smackdown That He Won’t Hesitate Next Time Against Randy Orton

Cody Rhodes said in an interview on WWE Smackdown that the next time he faces Randy Orton, he won’t make the mistake he made at Sunday Night’s Main Event. Rhodes appeared for a sit-down interview segment on Friday’s show where he spoke about his feud with Orton. As you may recall the match between the two at the September 6th Peacock special saw Orton pick up the win when Rhodes hesitated to finish Orton, allowing the Legend Killer to hit a low blow followed by an RKO for the win.

Friday’s segment saw Rhodes acknowledged that he was unable to pull the trigger against Orton. He noted that he should have seen that everyone who had his back at WrestleMania 40 against Roman Reigns has now stabbed him in the back, and said that he may have been arrogant to think it would have been the same for him once he became champion.

Rhodes then said that he’s not blind to people discussing his morality and that all the success that he’s had is as himself, and how he has remained uncompromised. He ran down his accomplishments and said that he finds it funny people think he needs to change. He vowed though that next time him and Orton face off, he won’t make the same decision he did at Sunday Night’s Main Event.

You can see clips from the WWE Smackdown segment below.

Every person who held Cody Rhodes up after he finished his story at WrestleMania XL has turned on him.

QB1? There seems to be no team… 👀 pic.twitter.com/kcNLZ9qf6O

— WWE (@WWE) September 19, 2026

Cody Rhodes is tired of the discussion around his morality and he's proud of the success he's had in WWE.

He's also learned from his mistakes and is ready for whatever's next… 😤 pic.twitter.com/1tWV4YBIlD

— WWE (@WWE) September 19, 2026