Just a week after securing a WWE Championship opportunity, Randy Orton will be back on WWE Smackdown, this week, while his bitter rival John Cena is yet to be confirmed for the show. As confirmed through WWE’s official website, the number-one contender to the Undisputed WWE Championship will appear on Friday’s show in Des Moines.
As revealed on last week’s WWE Smackdown, Orton is scheduled to challenge Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena in the latter’s first title defense of his record 17th World title reign at the Backlash PLE set for Saturday, May 10. This PLE will go down from Orton’s hometown of St. Louis, and henceforth, he’s been inserted into the headliner match.
For the time being, Cena is not being advertised for tonight’s WWE SmackDown which could mean his absence from WWE programming after he appeared at consecutive shows following Wrestlemania 41.
Notably, the reigning champion and challenger had a face-to-face confrontation on the April 25 WWE SmackDown episode which ended with Cena digesting an RKO from Orton. The two also met in the ring on the April 21 post-Wrestlemania episode of Raw where Orton came from behind and hit Cena with his pendant finisher in the ring.
For the time being, Undisputed WWE Champion John Cena‘s match against Randy Orton at WWE Backlash 2025 is being billed by the WWE as the final encounter between these two legendary competitors. On social media, the promotional materials included the “last time” tagline for the match.
WWE Smackdown: Absent Star Called Out For First-Ever Championship Defense
Another segment announced for tonight’s WWE Smackdown is the in-ring return of Aleister Black who made his WWE return on last Friday’s episode. After taking out The Miz on that night, he will now step into the ring with The A-Lister in what would mark his WWE match since October 2020 and following his AEW departure.
WWE Smackdown May 2 episode match card
The second last episode of WWE Smackdown before the annual Backlash premium live event takes place, tonight from the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa and only two segments have been confirmed for the night, thus far, as given below,
– Randy Orton appears
– Aleister Black vs. The Miz