Je’Von Evans has reflected on the botched RKO spot from his memorable WWE NXT main event against Randy Orton, revealing that the ambitious sequence was never rehearsed before the show.
Orton defeated Evans in the main event of the October 8, 2024 edition of NXT, but one of the most talked-about moments came near the conclusion when an attempted RKO counter did not go according to plan.
During an interview with Chris Van Vliet, Evans explained that he and Orton had discussed the idea beforehand but never physically walked through the sequence.
“No, we didn’t [walk through the spot]. It was literally just us saying, ‘Oh, this is gonna be a cool idea. Let’s do it.’ He was like, ‘You do like the spinny thing, and I catch you.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.’ But I think just like position-wise, we didn’t try it before the show. It was just kind of like a thing we had an idea about. It took me a while to watch that match because of that. I didn’t watch that match for months.”
Evans admitted that the mistake initially bothered him enough that he avoided watching the match back for several months. With time, however, he has come to view the imperfect sequence differently.
“But also, it’s cool to look at it and be like that was just a real moment. Everything in wrestling is not pretty. We’re still fighting at the end of the day. I just love now I can look back at the moment, kind of like this. But I still look at it like okay. But I can look back at it, and say, dang, I learned from that moment. Then even if we hit that smoothly, we probably wouldn’t have got Randy Orton moment saying, ‘Hey, bro, you’re the man.’ He was like, ‘Hey, don’t worry, bro, you’re the effing man. Raise my hand, bro.’ Of course, I was still pissed, but in my head, I’m like all right, bro, Randy just said I’m the man.”
While Evans was frustrated with himself immediately afterward, Orton’s reaction helped turn the situation into a valuable learning experience. The 14-time WWE World Champion reassured the young NXT star and encouraged him rather than allowing the missed spot to overshadow the match.
Evans now sees the mishap as part of the reality of professional wrestling, where not every planned sequence unfolds perfectly. He also acknowledged that had the RKO spot gone exactly as envisioned, he may never have experienced the memorable interaction with Orton that followed.
The October 2024 match represented a major opportunity for Evans, putting him in the main event opposite one of WWE’s most accomplished veterans. Despite the botched sequence, Orton ultimately connected with the RKO to secure the victory, while Evans came away from the encounter with both a high-profile performance and an unforgettable endorsement from “The Viper.”
