Randy Orton’s Interference Costs Cody Rhodes Final MITB Spot

Kevin Owens is headed to the Money in the Bank ladder match, but he didn’t get there on his own merit. The final qualifying bout for the men’s briefcase match aired on the Friday, October 2 episode of SmackDown, and it ended with Randy Orton inserting himself into the action at a pivotal moment, swinging the outcome in Owens’s favor.

By most accounts of how the match played out, Cody Rhodes looked to be in firm control and appeared to have the win in hand before Orton’s involvement turned things on their head, allowing Owens to escape with the victory and the final slot in the ladder match.

The twist adds another layer to what has already been a messy, personal stretch between Orton and Rhodes, two performers whose history has included its share of animosity and shifting allegiances over the years. Orton choosing to get physically involved in a match with major stakes — rather than simply watching from the announce table or the stage — signals that whatever is brewing between him and Rhodes isn’t cooling off anytime soon. It also raises the question of whether Owens, intentionally or not, now owes Orton something heading into the Money in the Bank pay-per-view.

For Rhodes, this is the kind of setback that tends to fuel a longer story rather than close one out. Losing a championship opportunity — in this case, a shot at the ladder match and the title opportunity the briefcase guarantees — because of outside interference rather than a clean pin or submission leaves plenty of unfinished business. Expect Rhodes to want a reckoning with Orton in the weeks ahead, whether that comes in the form of a confrontation on SmackDown or a program that plays out on the road to the Money in the Bank event itself.

As for Owens, his addition rounds out the men’s ladder match field and gives him another crack at the kind of multi-man chaos he’s thrived in before. Owens has never been shy about capitalizing on opportunities that come his way regardless of how he gets them, and pairing him with a contract that could lead to a title shot only adds another wrinkle to a match that was already shaping up to be stacked.

With the field now set, the focus shifts to how WWE books the fallout from Orton’s interference. Whether it’s addressed directly in segments leading into Money in the Bank or simply looms over the ladder match itself, Rhodes versus Orton feels like it’s far from finished — and Owens may find himself caught in the middle of it as the event draws closer.