At feud ended for good as they wrestled each other one final time. To mark the occasion, the match was booked as a greatest hits of nearly every match they've had against each other over the course of two decades. Ref bumps galore, run-ins, and table breaks were all anecdotes for several matches they had together over the years, all on display in their last match together.

Few WWE Superstars are as well-versed with each other quite as Randy Orton and John Cena. Both men are intrinsically tied to each other's careers, dating back to both g around the same time and coming out of the OVW developmental class of 2002 together, meaning they've wrestled each other for 23 years now. For their last bout ever, the pair embarked on making very specific references to past matches that the untrained eye may have missed during their Backlash contest.

5 Taking the Easy Way Out

WWE No Way Out 2008

Those who had seen a Randy Orton vs. John Cena match at any point in the last 23 years would know just how much Cena's shocking heel turn had made Backlash's main event feel like Bizarro Land. Randy Orton at his most villainous never shied away from doing any and everything to sneak away with a win, while Cena was the ultimate good guy trying to overcome his most nefarious attempts at a shortcut. At Backlash, the roles were reversed as John Cena dedicated himself to poking Orton in the eye, trying to flee up the ramp, low blow, and blast his opponent with a belt.

These are all heinous tactics that Orton himself has done in past encounters with Cena, with fans most infamously ing their WWE Championship match from No Way Out 2008. One month after winning the Royal Rumble match, Cena didn't want to wait until WrestleMania and cashed in his title opportunity the very next month at No Way Out. When Orton looked as if his reign of terror was nearing its end, he slapped the referee to force a disqualification, knowing the belt does not change hands on a DQ. Some readers even predicted Backlash to end the same way.

4 Randy Orton Puts John Cena Through Tables

WWE TLC 2013

In many ways, one can say that Randy Orton and John Cena switching heel-face allegiances is a sign of the tables turning. Still, the tables didn't turn as figuratively as much as they did literally at Backlash when Randy Orton put John Cena through two tables with matching AAs. Courtesy of The Apex Predator, Cena's back connected spine-first with the announcers' table and a basic wooden table. There have been a bevy of matches where the Leader of the CENAtion put Orton through a table and vice versa, but the most notable was during a Tables, Ladders, and Chairs match.

In that match at TLC 2013, Cena would use an AA to put The Viper through a table. In the match's final moments, Orton would later return the favor by yanking Cena off a ladder and through a wooden table in the corner before pulling both belts down from above the ring. This time, it was Orton putting Cena through both tables, and to add insult to injury, one of the instances in which he does this is with Cena's own Attitude Adjustment.

3 Stealing Each Other's Finishers

WWE Royal Rumble 2014

Throughout the match at Backlash, both men would attempt to hit their opponent's finisher to end the bout. Randy Orton would hit John Cena's famed Attitude Adjustment through a table, while Cena went as far as to attempt a Punt Kick on Orton. This wouldn't be the first time that both men tried to end the match with moves that didn't belong to them. A similar scenario took place at Royal Rumble 2014. This match was a month removed from what could be argued as Orton and Cena's most high-stakes match to date: a TLC match to unify their respective World Championships.

While their rematch for the Undisputed WWE World Heavyweight Championship lacked a stipulation, it did still contain two game competitors who had been wrestling each other for more than a decade at this point. The story of the match was that no one understood how Cena and Orton would wrestle or think better than each other did. To drive that point home, Randy Orton would give Cena an Attitude Adjustment of his own, while Cena would respond in kind with an RKO. Even better, Orton tried to tap Cena out with an STF.

2 Randy Orton Reverses the AA with an RKO

WWE Bragging Rights 2009

One of the most jaw-dropping moments of the match was when John Cena went for the Attitude Adjustment, only to get caught with a #RKOOuttaNowhere. For newer fans of the product, it was a heart-stopping moment that emphasized how Randy Orton's finisher truly can be hit out of nowhere, as the saying goes. For older fans who watched WWE as early as at least 2009, the spot may look a little familiar. The stage was the inaugural Bragging Rights event live from the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Cena and Orton had reached the height of their seemingly neverending rivalry, calling for a 60-minute Iron Man match to settle the score. With Randy Orton's WWE Championship on the line, both men pulled out all the stops to get themselves the largest number of points over the other before the clock ran out in an hour. About 17 minutes into the bout, with both men carrying one point a piece thus far, Cena attempted an AA only to get caught with an RKO. The reversal would knock out both men with their arms draped over each other, leading to a double pinfall, scoring another tally for each man.

1 Randy Orton's RKO During John Cena's Mid-Comeback Spot

WWE Hell in a Cell 2014

John Cena's Five Moves of Doom has been dreaded by the internet wrestling community (IWC) for years. It refers to his comeback spot, while the term itself is in reference to the moment in every babyface's performance to build toward regaining momentum after being on the losing side of things for most of the match. For Cena, this calls for him to hit two running shoulder blocks before ducking a clothesline in favor of a spin-out powerbomb that transitions into a Five Knuckle Shuffle, followed by an AA. At Backlash, his comeback was interrupted by a sudden RKO.

Perhaps Cena should have seen this one coming because the exact same thing happened 10 years earlier. Cena and Orton competed in a Hell in a Cell match, with the winner receiving a WWE World Heavyweight Title shot against the champion, Brock Lesnar. Cena would win the match, but his momentum was slowed down by Orton hitting him with an RKO before he could drop him with a shoulder block. The biggest difference here is that WWE fans dreaded the thought of another John Cena vs. Randy Orton bout in 2015, but in 2025, they loved seeing them duke it out one last time at Backlash.