Rated-RKO was a professional wrestling tag team, on the RAW brand of World Wrestling Entertainment created to fued with D-Generation X. The team consisted of Edge and Randy Orton, and were joined by valet Lita until her (legit) retirement.

The team's name is a portmanteau of Edge's Rated-R Superstar nickname and Randy Orton's RKO, both his initials and the name of his finishing maneuver.

Feud With D-Generation X

One week after D-Generation X (DX) (Shawn Michaels and Triple H) interfered in a steel cage match match between Edge and John Cena for Cena's WWE Championship -- a match which was to be Edge's last attempt at the belt-- Orton joined forces with Edge to "get rid of" DX. Edge cited Orton's lack of success after being kicked out of Evolution by Triple H, which he claimed stalled Orton's career, as well as the antics of DX taking up TV time that he (kayfabe) felt should rightfully go to the younger stars as reasons Orton should join him, with Orton agreeing.

Edge and Orton immediately became very outspoken against DX, calling themselves Rated-RKO, and began mocking them at every opportunity, including a sketch reminiscent of the ones DX would do about their opponents. Eventually Orton traded wins with Triple H in singles matches on episodes of RAW, leading to a tag team match at Cyber Sunday with the fans choosing the special guest referee. At the pay-per-view, the duo gave DX their first team loss since they reunited when Eric Bischoff (the fan selected referee) allowed the use of a steel chair without calling for a disqualification. Later in the same show Lita won the Women's Championship in the finals of a seven woman tournament.

On the next night's RAW, Edge & Orton faced Ric Flair and "Rowdy" Roddy Piper for their recently won Tag Team titles, but were unsuccessful despite unfair officiating from Eric Bischoff. The next week, however, Rated RKO managed to capture the titles in a rematch when they attacked Piper upon making his entrance, with Edge going so far as to deliver a one man con-chair-to to Piper. As he was taken to the locker room by paramedics, Flair was forced to defend the titles by himself, and Rated-RKO won the match after Edge hit Flair with a spear. The real reason for the sudden switch was later revealed to be Piper's diagnosis of lymphoma forcing him out of action.

At Survivor Series, Lita (legitimately) retired from WWE after losing her Women's Championship to Mickie James and leaving the group in the process. Later in the night Team Rated-RKO -- consisting of Rated-RKO along with Johnny Nitro, Mike Knox and Gregory Helms -- were swept by Team DX -- DX with Jeff Hardy, Matt Hardy and CM Punk -- with Orton being the last member eliminated in a survivor series style match. On a subsequent episode of RAW Edge and Orton beat Ric Flair bloody, continuing to beat him after dragging him to the ring when it had been made clear this his DX friends had left the arena. In doing so DX claimed they had made their rivalry "personal".

At the 2007 New Year's Revolution pay-per-view event, Rated-RKO retained the Tag Team Championship after they and DX fought to a no-contest in a match that saw Triple H suffer a (legit) torn right quadriceps muscle.

Rated-RKO figured this signaled the end of DX, and were able to book a two on one handicap match against Michaels, during which he was able to defy the and odds beat both men, leaving Orton lying in the ring after a one man con-chair-to as Edge stood and watched at ringside. The next week, though Orton helped Edge during the night, bad blood was still evident between the two and Orton eventually threw his partner out of the ring, in much the same way one would in the forthcoming Royal Rumble. On January 29, 2007, Rated-RKO lost the World Tag Team Championship to the impromptu team of John Cena and Shawn Michaels. Internal dissension continued as both men laid claim to the #1 contendership of the WWE Championship, and Edge walked out on Orton during a February 26 rematch for the Tag Team Championship due to miscommunication. The relationship strained further after both men qualified for the WrestleMania 23 Money in the Bank ladder match. Now set to be opponents, Orton referred to Edge as his "former partner". For weeks Edge influenced various authority figures into putting Orton in matches that Orton come out on the short end.

On April 16, 2007, they reunited to take on John Cena in a handicap match but would lose the match after interference from Shawn Michaels. This would be a one-time reunion as the animosity between Edge and Orton would return in the next week. At Backlash, the two were involved in a Fatal 4 Way match for the WWE Championship along with Shawn Michaels and John Cena. Cena retained his title pinning Orton after a spear from Edge. Rated-RKO officially disbanded the night after Backlash, in the April 30 RAW episode where the two met in a one-on-one match, which Edge won after delivering a Spear to Orton.

In wrestling

• Finishing and signature maneuvers

• • Con-chair-to - Edge and Orton
  • RKO (Jumping one-handed cutter) - Orton
  • Spear - Edge
  • Edgecution (Lifting DDT) - Edge

• Signature foreign object
  • Chairs, often each member will perform the one man con-chair-to on opponents.

• Theme music and ring entrance
  • As a group, Rated-RKO used a combination of both Edge and Orton's separate theme songs (Metalingus by Alter Bridge, and Burn in My Light by Mercy Drive respectively). It began with a pitch-lowered Metalingus before switching to a pitch-heightened Burn in My Light and alternated between the two as the wrestlers entered. They initially used Edge's Titantron video and Orton's tunnel video before one was finally created for the team in itself. They entered the ring through Edge's fog pyrotechnics, but not Orton's pyro waterfall.

Championships and accomplishments

• World Wrestling Entertainment
  • World Tag Team Championship (Edge and Orton, 1 time)
  • WWE Women's Championship (Lita, 1 time while valeting the group)

Trivia

• Their tag title reign also makes Orton the seventeenth WWE Triple Crown Champion, having won a World title, second-tier title, and tag team title. Edge had already achieved the Triple Crown.
• Before officially teaming up as "Rated-RKO", Edge and Orton had previously worked as a tag team several times in 2006. They first teamed up at the final ECW show before Vengeance to face Kurt Angle and WWE and ECW Champion Rob Van Dam. They also worked together at the last two RAW shows before Unforgiven in six man tag matches against Carlito and John Cena.
• Before forming Rated-RKO, both Edge and Orton stated in separate interviews on Byte This! that their match against each other at Vengeance 2004 was one of their favorites in recent memory. They actually had a short feud between May and June of that year, which manifested itself on-and-off until Orton's heel turn prior to WrestleMania 21 in 2005.
• At Royal Rumble 2005, both Edge and Orton (in separate alignments) were in individual feuds with a current member of DX. Edge (heel) wrestled Shawn Michaels (face), while Orton (face) wrestled Triple H (heel) for the World Heavyweight Championship. Those feuds would rekindle and come together when Rated-RKO (both heel) banded together against DX (face) in late 2006.

External links

• Edge at WWE.com
• Randy Orton at WWE.com