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The Legacy

The Legacy

Members: Randy Orton, Ted DiBiase Jr., Cody Rhodes

Debut: January 12, 2009

Finishing & Signature moves: RKO, Cross Rhodes, Dream Street, Running Punt

Accomplishments: WWE Champion, Royal Rumble 2009 Winner

Priceless and formation of The Legacy (2008)

Cody Rhodes was a World Tag Team Champion throughout the beginning of 2008 alongside Hardcore Holly, who was acting as a mentor to him. Ted DiBiase made his first WWE appearance on Raw claiming that he and a mystery partner would take the World Tag Team Championship from Rhodes and Holly. At Night of Champions, DiBiase claimed his partner was late and started the match without him but Rhodes quickly turned on Holly and attacked him, turning into a villainous character and re-winning the title for himself and DiBiase. In early September, an injured Randy Orton made a speech on Raw where he insulted all the champions, mocking Rhodes and DiBiase’s nickname “priceless” and suggesting a more appropriate moniker would be “worthless” for allowing their titles to simply be stolen by “a couple of thugs” (referring to Cryme Tyme forcing Priceless into a title match by said means). The two responded by assaulting Cryme Tyme and introducing another second generation wrestler, Afa the Wild Samoan’s son Manu, at Unforgiven, though this still did not impress Orton. Later in the evening the three men assaulted World Heavyweight Champion CM Punk to allow Orton to punt him in the head, removing him from his championship match, gaining Orton’s respect.

When Orton was healthy enough to wrestle once more, Punk demanded a match with him which he won via disqualification when DiBiase interfered. As a result, Orton punted DiBiase in the head, putting him out of action; this storyline was put in place in order for DiBiase to take time off to film The Marine 2. Orton then invited Rhodes and Manu to form a group with him called The Legacy, and used them to help in his rivalry with Batista leading to a six man tag team match where Batista was put out of action for four months due to a running punt from Orton. After Sim Snuka, the son of Jimmy Snuka, also expressed interest in joining the group, Orton made them qualify through a series of tests which Manu failed the first week but in the second week of tests he failed as, even though he and Rhodes had won in a tag team match against Cryme Tyme, it was Rhodes who made the pin. The following week Manu and Snuka informed Rhodes that they were intending to assault Orton and had brought back up, giving him an ultimatum to choose a side. When Rhodes continued to stand beside Orton, they brought out a returning Ted DiBiase to aid them, and tried to assault Rhodes and Orton. DiBiase quickly revealed that he had forgiven Orton, however, and joined The Legacy, attacking Manu and Sim instead.

Destroying the McMahon family (2009)

With The Legacy finally formed, Manu and Snuka still wanted revenge on Randy Orton. Fearing they would try to convince Raw General Manager Stephanie McMahon to fire him, he went to speak to her himself, but their conversation ended in an argument. When Vince McMahon, Stephanie’s father, made his return that night Orton maintained he was owed an apology which angered Vince, but as he was about to fire Orton, Orton slapped McMahon and gave him a running punt leaving him hospitalized in the storyline. The following Sunday was the Royal Rumble which saw The Legacy work as a team, making them three of the last four contestants in the ring. Ultimately, in throwing out Rhodes and DiBiase, Triple H was distracted enough to allow Orton to throw him over the top rope and win the match. The next evening on Raw, The Legacy came to the ring accompanied by lawyers and doctors, with Orton explaining his outburst against Mr McMahon was a result of intermittent explosive disorder (IED) and threatened to sue the company and cancel WrestleMania XXV if he was fired. Instead he was booked for a no holds barred match with Mr. McMahon’s son, Shane, at No Way Out, which Orton won. They fought again the next evening until Orton punted Shane unconscious. Stephanie McMahon came to the ring to oversee her brother being carried away by the paramedics and shouted at Orton until he performed an RKO, his finishing move, to her. Triple H ran to the ring and chased away The Legacy, standing over the body of Stephanie McMahon.

In an interview on SmackDown, Triple H revealed that he was still married to Stephanie, even though they had divorced on screen, though not in real life, in 2002. Originally Orton announced he would not use his Royal Rumble win to face Triple H, but instead the World Heavyweight Champion, however after Triple H insulted Orton he changed his mind and their match was booked for WrestleMania XXV. In the run up to the match, Orton revealed he had orchestrated the destruction of Triple H and the McMahon family as revenge for his unceremonious exit from Evolution in 2004. Due to the intensity of the rivalry, the decision was made that the WWE Championship could change hands at WrestleMania due to a countout or disqualification, despite this Triple H won the match after hitting Orton with a sledgehammer while the referee was knocked down.

Bitter about his loss, Orton opened the next evening’s Raw by threatening Linda McMahon, Vince’s wife, as well as her and Vince’s grandchildren, prompting Vince to announce a six-man tag team match for Backlash between Triple H, Shane and Vince McMahon and The Legacy, with a preview that evening between Vince and Orton. As the singles match progressed, Shane and Triple H came to Vince’s aid, causing both Rhodes and DiBiase to interfere until a returning Batista appeared and cleared the ring; Vince then announced that Batista was to replace him in the Backlash match. The tag team match had the WWE Championship at stake, with the stipulation that if Triple H’s team won, he retained the belt while any win by The Legacy would lead to Orton winning the title. Despite not being present for the beginning of the match, Orton won by pinning Triple H after an RKO and running punt, leaving Triple H hospitalized according to storyline, while Rhodes constrained Shane and Batista with a chair.