Who invented Randy Orton's RKO?
Who Invented The RKO?
We all know “The Viper” Randy Orton’s finishing move, the RKO are his initials, Randal Keith Orton but who invented the actual maneuver?
Orton’s RKO has been done on every heavy hitter from The UNdertaker, Hulk Hogan to John Cena. So it may come as a surprise that the maneuver was innovated by John Laurinaitis, the former WWE Raw General Manager who is better known to the WWE Universe for his misguided management than his Japanese ring career.
“The RKO, or as I call it, the Ace Crusher, was invented back in 1987,” Johnny Ace (Laurinaitis) told WWEClassics.com. “I was a young kid training and Barry Windham said to me, ‘Why don’t you do a front face neckbreaker as a move?’ ”
It wasn’t until Laurinaitis headed to All Japan Pro Wrestling in ’88 that he debuted the maneuver. In the ring with studs like “Dr Death” Steve Williams and Kenta Kobashi, the tag team specialist needed a move that would stand out. When he dropped his first Ace Crusher in Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall, the audience was appropriately blown away.
“The crowd cheered and then went into an awe, because they’d never seen a move like that before,” Laurinaitis remembered.
Laurinaitis later showed Diamond Dallas Page how to perform the maneuver, which Page re-dubbed the Diamond Cutter. DDP, in turn, passed it on to “The Viper” Randy Orton.
Orton’s first ever RKO was against The Hurricane on RAW 9th Jun, 2003.
