Randy Orton is the face of the promotional materials released for WWE Backlash 2025, the first post-Wrestlemania 41 WWE premium live event on the calendar. After quite some time, he’s returning to his hometown of St. Louis to be part of the main event match of a PLE, but he’s still uncertain about how the crowd will greet him.
Randy Orton is gearing up for a major showdown, the last one against arch-rival John Cena at WWE Backlash 2025 on May 10. This time around, there’s a big twist in the tale, the most unusual one, and that’s Orton is the babyface in the storyline, and Cena is the heel. For Orton, that’s a completely new experience, echoing the same attribute to the WWE Universe.
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Speaking in a conversation with The Billboard, The Viper reflected on the audience being vocal at WWE Backlash 2025. Despite being a St. Louis native, Orton doesn’t have the belief that he will receive the typical hometown hero reaction since “it’s not like everyone is going to love me necessarily.” He even warned that St. Louis might end up cheering for a heel John Cena, turning against him.
“It’s different, because I’m the good guy, and that’s never been the case before — so I don’t know what to expect,” Orton told Billboard ahead of WWE Backlash 2025.
“They might love John. They might s**t on me and be booing me. I know it’s my hometown and I’m from St. Louis and I grew up here — but as far as being the hometown guy, I’m not at all the Cardinals games, or wearing the Blues jersey, and doing all that s**t.”
Time will tell how WWE Backlash 2025 unfolds, in which chances are also high to witness a major return in the form of Cody Rhodes in the main event capacity, in which Randy Orton challenges John Cena for the Undisputed WWE Championship. Earlier at WrestleMania 41, Cena beat Rhodes in a controversial fashion to win his record-breaking 17th world title.
WWE Backlash 2025 PLE Match Card
WWE Backlash 2025 premium live event emanates from the Enterprise Center in St. Louis, Missouri, streaming live at 5 PM Eastern time, with the main card kicking off at 7 PM ET. The currently announced match card for the annual event goes as follows,
– Undisputed WWE Championship Match: John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton
– Women’s Intercontinental Championship Match: Lyra Valkyria (c) vs. Becky Lynch
– United States Championship Fatal-4-Way Match: Jacob Fatu (c) vs. Damian Priest vs. Drew McIntyre vs. LA Knight
– Intercontinental Championship Match: Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. Penta
– Pat McAfee vs. Gunther