On an historic episode of SmackDown, Randy Orton ended Christian’s short reign with an RKO to become an eight-time world champion. With both superstars coming off grueling bouts just five days earlier at Extreme Rules, they pushed themselves beyond their limits in a highly-competitive battle. However, it was The Viper who prevailed in a unique title bout in which SmackDown general manager Theodore Long allowed the WWE universe to choose among Randy Orton, Mark Henry, and The Great Khali as Christian’s challenger.