While working together in Legacy, Orton, Rhodes, and DiBiase often used dirty tactics to upend their opponents. In between that, Orton helped his mentees sharpen some legitimate skills, such as aggression, in-ring psychology, and storytelling. The former became apparent at King of the Ring when Rhodes targeted Orton’s bad back with ruthless intensity. That also wove into the match’s larger story: the battle of the student vs. master.

With nicknames like “The Legend Killer,” “The Viper,” and “Apex Predator,” exploiting the weaknesses of his adversaries is second nature to Orton. What happens when nature turns on him, though? An opening for Rhodes to steal his playbook.

A third of the way into the 20-minute affair, a superplex resulted in an immediate rush of pain to Orton’s back. In the style of Orton, Rhodes then seized the opportunity to exacerbate it with repeated strikes, a suplex, and that constricting wrap around the ring post (Kudos to Orton for selling the pain too. I almost felt it myself).

Beyond the poetic irony, Orton and Rhodes delivered a performance filled with a thrilling sense of familiarity. Yes, we as fans knew what moves to expect from each of them — Orton would unleash his powerslam, draping DDT, and RKO, while Rhodes would inevitably hit the Disaster Kick, Cody Cutter and Cross Rhodes. Orton and Rhodes even knew what to expect from the other. But that’s the beauty.

Through that familiarity, which extends back to the overarching match theme, Orton and Rhodes anticipated the other’s moves, leading to some explosive counters. I never thought I’d see an RKO reversed into a Cross Rhodes or a Disaster Kick turned into an RKO (and if by chance I had, it’d surely been over a decade since).

When it eventually became clear that Rhodes couldn’t be defeated as easily as he had before, Orton resorted to another chapter in his playbook, those dirty tactics. After introducing a chair to distract the referee, Orton untied the turnbuckle pad to expose the steel underneath, intending to launch Rhodes into it. Instead, Rhodes again turned the tables on Orton, with the former Legacy leader crashing into the steel and rebounding into a Cross Rhodes for the former mentee’s win.

On that day, Cody Rhodes proved that maybe, just maybe, the student had surpassed the master. Whether that will remain the case at WrestleMania 42, of course, has yet to be known.