Rikishi reveals his pick for John Cena vs Randy Orton WWE title clash at Backlash & comments on Cody Rhodes' loss

The Hall of Famer is predicting an iconic match this Saturday!

In a recent episode of the Off The Top podcast, WWE Hall of Famer Rikishi gave his prediction for the Undisputed title clash between John Cena and Randy Orton, which is set for the upcoming Backlash 2025 PLE.

The two stars will battle on May 10 at the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Cena is aiming to continue his historic 17th title reign, which began at WrestleMania 41, while Orton is aiming to win his 15th title and inch closer to the record set by Cena last month.

Predicting the match, Rikishi picked John Cena to win in his first title defense against Orton. He also stated that the battle between the two stars will be an ‘iconic match.’ Additionally, the Hall of Famer also commented on Cody Rhodes’ loss against Cena at Mania and expressed shock that Orton was battling for the title, not Rhodes.

“I gotta go with John Cena, ’cause we all didn’t see that coming. We all definitely, for sure, we thought Cody Rhodes is the future. Cody Rhodes is the guy, he’s a lot younger, he’s healthy to run. (…) Right when we think they’re going right, they went left.

That’s the beautiful thing about professional wrestling, so, to see him go up against Randy, man, that’s going to be an iconic match,” the Hall of Famer said.

Along with the Undisputed title clash, the promotion has also announced three more matches, including a Women’s Intercontinental clash, a fatal four-way match for the United States title, and a singles match involving Pat McAfee.

Also Read: All matches announced for WWE Backlash 2025 so far

Cody Rhodes is currently enjoying his time off

‘The American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes has been absent from WWE programming since Night Two of WrestleMania 41, where he suffered a defeat, losing the Undisputed WWE Title to John Cena. While he was advertised for the SmackDown after WrestleMania, he did not make an appearance.

According to the report from WrestleVotes (via WrestleTalk), Rhodes was seen spending time with his family in Disney World “earlier” in the week of April 21. The report clarified that Rhodes is currently enjoying his vacation after being a workhorse champion for so long. However, the report didn’t clarify when he will make an appearance to likely address the loss or to demand a rematch.

Along with Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful, multiple sources noted that WWE has stopped advertising Cody Rhodes for the May 2 episode as well as the May 9 episode of Friday Night SmackDown. Rhodes is listed for the May 16 episode of SmackDown at the earliest, suggesting that’s likely when he’ll make his return to TV.

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