WHAT IS RKO
The RKO is a Variation on the Diamond Cutter, a move made famous by Diamond Dallas Page and the Stone Cold Stunner, a move made famous by Stone Cold Steve Austin. The move was first introduced in the 1980′s by Johnny Ace who called it the “Ace Crusher”.
WHAT DOES "RKO" STANDS FOR
“Three or four years ago, when I first came up with it, Vince told me he wanted a name for it by the end of the day. RKO are my initials. What can I say– I was pressed for time!” – Randy told WWE Magazine, December 2006. Randy’s entire name is Randal Keith Orton, meaning the K stands for Keith.
FAMOUSLY USE TO
Propel Orton into the record books as the youngest World Champion in WWE history by defeating Chris Benoit at SummerSlam in 2004.
HE LEARN IT HOW
“I had a good vertical leap, so I figured I’d incorporate that into my move. The first night I planned on using it, I broke my foot. So during my time off from the ring, I watched Diamond Dallas Page and Johnny Ace tapes to learn how to fine tune it. When I first used it during a match, I had never practiced it before.” – Randy told WWE Magazine, December 2006.
WHY THIS MOVE IS ABOVE ALL OTHER
“I wanted to pick something I could do to everybody, no matter how big they were. I can do the RKO to Big Show or Rey Mysterio–Size doesn’t matter.” – Randy told WWE Magazine, December 2006.
ALSO KNOWN AS THE ELEVATED CUTTER :
With an opponent placed on an elevated surface, a wrestler applies a three-quarter facelock and then draws the opponent away from the ropes/turnbuckle leaving the opponent’s feet over the ropes, making them the only thing, other than the wrestler keeping the opponent off the ground. The wrestler next falls backwards so that the opponent is forced to dive forward onto the top of his/her head due to the angle of which they are dropped.
A slight variation on this sees the wrestler run forward while still applying the three-quarters face lock, pulling the opponent off the ropes before dropping backwards down to the mat to force the opponent down for a cutter from a raised height.
A slight variation on this sees the wrestler run forward while still applying the three-quarters face lock, pulling the opponent off the ropes before dropping backwards down to the mat to force the opponent down for a cutter from a raised height.
Who Invented The RKO?
Randy Orton’s RKO has taken out every heavy hitter from Hulk Hogan to John Cena. So it may come as a surprise that the maneuver was innovated by John Laurinaitis — the former Raw General Manager who is better known to the WWE Universe for his misguided governance than his Japanese ring career.
“The RKO, or as I call it, the Ace Crusher, was invented back in 1987,” the onetime Johnny Ace 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.
Big Johnny later showed Diamond Dallas Page how to perform the maneuver, which Page redubbed the Diamond Cutter. DDP, in turn, passed it on to Randy Orton.
“The RKO, or as I call it, the Ace Crusher, was invented back in 1987,” the onetime Johnny Ace 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.
Big Johnny later showed Diamond Dallas Page how to perform the maneuver, which Page redubbed the Diamond Cutter. DDP, in turn, passed it on to Randy Orton.
Below is the list of people who Randy Orton have RKO'ed till NOW
HBK, HHH, Mysterio, Ric Flair, Batista, Undertaker, Kane ,Big Show, Great Khali, Goldberg, Edge, Christian, Jericho, Booker T, Angle, Rob Van Dam, Punk,The Miz, Mark Henry, Lance Storm, Hulk Hogan, Hulk Hogan imposter, Del Rio, Benoit, Regal, R-Truth, Bryan, Sheamus, Kingston, Swagger, Morrison, Ziggler, Scott Steiner, Evan Bourne, Shelton, JBL, Tommy Dreamer, DiBiase Jr, Rhyno, Lashley, Paul virtual, Barrett, Snitsky, Clay, Mahal, Ryder, Hunico, Riley, Gabriel, Mason Ryan, Heath Slater, Otunga, McGillicuty, Super Crazy, Lance Cade, Finlay, Mr Kennedy, Jindrak, Venis, Hardcore Holly, Hurricane, McIntire, Masters, Harry Smith, Trevor Murdoch, Tomko, Michael Tarver, Darren Young, Husky Harris, J.T.G., Gaspard, Brent Albright, Viscera, Eugene, Maven, Spike Dudley, Trent Baretta, Hawkins,Ricardo Rodriguez, Kim Chee ,Burchill, Sylvan Grenier, Reks, Orlando Jordan, Rico, Jake Roberts, Slaughter, Foley, Duggan, Kamala, Lawler, Piper, Stratus, Moolah, Kiebler, John Cena, Cena Sr, Dusty, Cody Rhodes Paper Bag Man, Cody, and Dustin Rhodes, Eddie and Chavo Guerrero, Matt and Jeff Hardy, Carlito, Primo and Epico Colon. Rosey, Jimmy and Jey Uso, Eric Bishoff, Vince, Shane and Stephanie McMahon, Michael Cole , Johnny Laurenitis, Damien Sandow, lord tensai, Darren Young, Titus O'Neil, Brad Maddox, Antonio Cesaro, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns