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Wrestlemania 42 update: Cody Rhodes suffers gruesome left eye injury due to brutal Randy Orton attack

DR Lewisby: Derek Lewis04/19/26

WWE superstar Cody Rhodes retained his Undisputed WWE title at Wrestlemania 42. But it came at a heavy, heavy cost.

Following a nasty night one main event featuring many twists and turns, Rhodes defeated ex-close friend Randy Orton. But, Orton didn’t let friendship get in the way of a good post-match beating.

Orton took Rhodes’ own title to his head following the match to gain the upper hand. From there, it was a merciless beatdown from “The Viper,” ending in a particular maniacal punt kick. At some point during the attack, Rhodes’ left eye took significant damage.

“The American Nightmare” certainly looks much worse for the wear, specifically his left eye, which looks completely swollen shut. The WWE medical team has a tough task ahead to fix that damage.

Cody Rhodes defeats Randy Orton in brutal match

Orton’s beating wasn’t the only brutality the match had to offer. The chaos started with Pat McAfee, who was supposed to be in Orton’s corner, being elbow-dropped through a table by musician Jelly Roll. McAfee flipped the bird while being stretchered away from ringside. However, he would eventually return as a “fake referee” to try to steal the win for Orton.

When McAfee seemingly didn’t cheat fast enough, he ate an RKO from Orton for his troubles. Speaking of RKO’s, Rhodes saw multiple and administered one of his own. Orton even accidentally RKO’d referee Charles Robinson, which opened the door for McAfee to try to administer the count on Orton’s pin attempt.

Rhodes took advantage of Orton’s frustrations with McAfee to end the match and retain his title. He hit a Cross Rhodes directly after Orton RKO’d McAfee. Robinson woke up just in time for the count, and Rhodes survived a chaotic main event.

Randy Orton punts Cody Rhodes after the match

Following the match, however, Orton didn’t go away graciously. Orton stole the title out of Rhodes’ hand, smacked the ‘American Nightmare’ across the forehead with it, and then knocked him to the ground. The ‘Legend Killer’ then backed up and delivered his trademark punt to Rhodes, signaling that the rivalry is not even close to being over.

Rhodes’ name can now be added to the long-list of WWE Superstars that Orton has punted over the course of his future WWE Hall of Fame career. A few of these names also include Batista, The Big Show, John Cena, Mr. McMahon, Shane McMahon, and Stephanie McMahon. Prior to last year’s scheduled WrestleMania 41 match against Kevin Owens (prior to Owens’ injury), the storyline revolved around Owens trying to avoid the punt.

Rhodes didn’t avoid much of Orton’s brutality this year. And, his eye is just one of the things that’s worse off, as a result.

On3’s Daniel Hager contributed to this article