Randy Orton Advances to Semi-Finals in the King of the Ring on 5/17 WWE SmackDown

The King of the Ring tournament is rapidly approaching its culmination and tonight’s edition of Friday Night SmackDown pitted WWE’s Apex Predator Randy Orton against the upstart Carmelo Hayes.

The Viper outlasted his former rival AJ Styles in the main event of SmackDown last week, while Carmelo Hayes defeated the new and resurgent Baron Corbin to earn his way into the quarterfinals of the King of the Ring.

While Carmelo Hayes did prove his worth against Cody Rhodes on his first night on the blue brand, he had not faced anybody as vicious and dangerous as Randy Orton ever faced inside the squared circle.

The match went back and forth between the veteran and main roster rookie with a huge opportunity hanging in the balance. In the end, Hayes was just not prepared to survive the wrath of Orton as an RKO outta nowhere sealed the victory for Randy Orton who advanced to the semi-finals.

As Orton was about to conduct a post-match interview with Cathy Kelly inside the ring, he found himself confronted by The Bloodline and his opponent for next week, Tama Tonga. But Randy was not intimidated and vowed to introduce him to a hellacious beating and the three most destructive letters in sports entertainment, R-K-O.

What are your thoughts on Randy Orton advancing in the King of the Ring tournament on SmackDown? Sound off in the comments!