10 WWE Bitch Slaps Heard Around The World

5. Randy Orton Slaps Dusty Rhodes€Then Cody Rhodes Slaps Orton - Raw 2007

Without doubt the most effective period of Randy Orton€™s tenure in WWE has been his €˜legend killer€™ gimmick during his early days. The €˜Legend Killer€™ gimmick was a perfect example of how to build heel heat, and how to utilise older talent to put over a younger guy and make him look both tough, and also make him look like a right bastard. During this period legends such as Shawn Michaels, Harley Race, and Mick Foley all put their egos aside to help build the early career of Orton, who would go on to become one of WWE€™s biggest (and most divisive) superstars. Later on Orton would play up this gimmick again in a mini feud with the €˜American Dream€™ Dusty Rhodes which would culminate in Orton going over Rhodes at the Great American Bash in 2007 in a Texas Bull Rope Match. While Rhodes being involved in a match at his age was actually kind of stupid and the match itself was painfully bad, his involvement before this was excellent. In a Raw backstage segment he helped Randy really cement his character as a disrespectful bastard, by letting him slap him in front of a young Cody Rhodes who had yet to debut in the ring. The lack of respect towards the legend, and the intimidation he radiated towards the younger Rhodes helped confirm his reputation, while simultaneously creating a platform for the younger Rhodes to debut with the crowd behind him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPj82IyU2Hs The next week on Raw when the Bull Rope match was being arranged and Orton was in full swaggering heel mode, Cody made his way down to the ring to protect his father. After more taunting from Orton and some good old fashioned provocation, Cody launched into a beautiful slap that rattled Orton, and would establish himself as a permanent fixture in WWE. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcy5QoiN42o#t=11m19s Unfortunately a case could be made that WWE kind of bungled the feud from here on out between young Cody and Randy, but it didn€™t do major long term damage to either performer. Both Rhodes and Orton are still popular performers within the Fed today, and even briefly formed a stable together called €˜Legacy with Ted DiBiase Jr.