‘The American Nightmare’ vs. Randy Orton: Who Walks Out on Top at SNME September 2026?

WWE hosts Sunday Night’s Main Event, which takes place at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia, on September 6th. This iteration of the returning show seems to be the strongest of 2026. WWE has seemingly gone into overdrive since SummerSlam, and they’re continuing that momentum into SNME. The most loaded match of the card sees hometown hero and former Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes taking on his mentor Randy Orton after the latter returned at night two of this year’s SummerSlam to screw over his former mentee.

Orton and Rhodes’s feud had been teased for the past year, dating back to their tense relationship leading up to last year’s King of the Ring Final. This event saw ‘The American Nightmare’ come out on top after adding more edge to his babyface persona. The two continued to fall out leading up to WrestleMania 42, where ‘The Viper’ revealed that former commentator Pat McAfee called him to remind him of who he was and to listen to all the voices in his head. Orton would turn heel a few weeks before their championship bout at WrestleMania 42. The WWE Universe heavily criticized this for various reasons, but their new feud seems to be WWE creative’s response to having done the story wrong the first time. Both men have brought the worst out of each other this go-around, and both wrestling greats are willing to do whatever they can to take each other out for good.

Rhodes brought up Orton’s ‘Legend Killer’ gimmick from the late 2000s. ‘The American Nightmare’ noted that he didn’t have to be the good guy anymore since he doesn’t have the Undisputed WWE Championship. The former champion also mentioned that ‘The Legend Killer’ was the last legend standing in today’s WWE landscape, and he even asked who would be the one to kill Orton. This past episode saw the two continue to attack each other verbally and almost physically. SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis would stop that and implement a pre-match stipulation where both men couldn’t lay a hand on each other until SNME. Doing so would cost both men the chance to ever challenge for the Undisputed WWE Championship again. Both men reluctantly agreed, but ‘The Viper’ continued his rant on how his mentee was always going to be the “Golden Boy” and didn’t have what it takes to go to a dark place to beat him. Rhodes would respond by talking about beating his former mentor the past several times they fought in the ring. The former champ also talked about taking the infamous punt directly to his eye, which is still affected to this day, and how he has every reason to pull the trigger on ‘The Legend Killer’ and not hold back. ‘QB1’ promised that he’d be the one to kill ‘The Legend Killer’.

Expect these two to bait one another into throwing the first punch before their SNME matchup in Atlanta. Aldis will probably have to stand in between the mentor and the mentee to calm things down a bit and remind them of the pre-match stipulation. Orton might even throw a feint to get Rhodes to flinch and look weak. This could help drive ‘The American Nightmare’ down a darker path, blurring the lines between good and bad for Rhodes. He doesn’t seem to care anymore about being a good guy or a role model for the younger members of the WWE Universe. This should show during the bout, the moment the bell rings. ‘The Viper’ and ‘QB1’ will immediately start throwing hands on each other. Rhodes will have heelish tendencies that make him look more like a tweener rather than a pure babyface. He will probably find a way to mess something up to allow Orton to take control of the match. ‘The Legend Killer’ will have no remorse for his actions and will likely plan on ending his mentee for good. He’ll find ways to put Rhodes through the barricade or the announcer’s table, and he might think of teasing the infamous Conchairto before referees and Nick Aldis come out to stop ‘The Viper’ from striking. Oroton will think better of it before Rhodes pops up and hits a couple of Cross Rhodes to get the victory.

Something will likely occur post-match. Rhodes should plan and try to execute a post-match attack on his mentor. ‘The American Nightmare’ could set up a Punt Kick or a Conchairto before Orton scurries away from the ring, somewhat scared of this new side of his mentee. The mentee shouldn’t turn heel here; that moment deserves a bigger stage at a top-four premium live event. We should see a slightly twisted and darker version of him here, though. A tweener Rhodes would be a dangerous threat in the undisputed WWE title picture right now; a heel Rhodes could arguably be worse than prime heel Orton. There aren’t too many reasons for ‘QB1’ to continue as the company’s main babyface past WrestleMania 43. This angle seems to be the driving force behind a future Rhodes heel turn. Once he turns heel, we could look back at SummerSlam 2026 and see Orton’s actions begin a Rhodes heel turn. WWE is playing this out very slowly since ‘QB1’ is the modern-day face of the company alongside Roman Reigns. While Reigns has been the face of the company as a heel with ‘The American Nightmare’ as his arch babyface nemesis, Rhodes has yet to embrace a heel persona in WWE since his shocking return to the company in 2022. It seems that WWE is trying to build up new babyfaces on Raw like Solo Sikoa and LA Knight, while on the blue brand they’re trying to set up CM Punk as the main babyface fighting champion. Should any of these plans backfire or fall through, they could always revert Rhodes to being this generation’s John Cena again. WWE saw what a heel turn did for ‘The OTC’ and the worldwide buzz that they generated from turning Cena heel. WWE could be planning something similar in impact for ‘The American Nightmare’ to live up to his nickname.