The Legacy (professional Wrestling) - History - Orton As WWE Champion (2009)

Orton As WWE Champion (2009)

Batista was left on his own as a result of The Legacy attacking Shane McMahon, but continued to challenge Orton for the WWE Championship. Orton and Batista had a match at Judgment Day, but it ended with Orton intentionally slapping the referee to cause a disqualification, which meant that the championship did not change hands. In their rematch, however, which was held inside a steel cage at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view, Batista won the championship.

The following night on Raw, during Batista's celebratory speech, The Legacy attacked Batista, and injured him in storyline. This storyline was used to cover a real injury Batista had sustained. Orton's rematch that night, intended to be used despite Batista's absence, went awry when Triple H returned, resulting in the match being declared a no contest. The following week, a match was held to determine the new WWE Champion between Orton, Triple H, John Cena and The Big Show, which Orton won. At The Bash pay-per-view, signs of dissention between DiBiase and Orton appeared when DiBiase argued with Orton backstage. Despite this, DiBiase and Rhodes both helped Orton retain his WWE Championship later that night against Triple H. This tension was later expanded upon when DiBiase's father booked Orton and DiBiase in a match on Raw while he was in charge; Orton won the match but the team showed solidarity later in the same evening by interfering in a WWE Championship contender match between Triple H and Cena, leading to it being ruled a no contest. This made the subsequent match at Night of Champions a triple threat contest. Similar tensions arose briefly in the group late in August when Rhodes' father, Dusty, booked Orton and Rhodes in a match on Raw. It quickly turned out to be a ruse with Dusty's intention to allow The Legacy to attack Cena, who was special guest referee. Despite the four standing tall together, Orton quickly gave an RKO to Dusty which angered Rhodes though he would fall in line.

After Orton retained the championship in July's Night of Champions, the team worked together again to prevent Triple H from receiving a rematch against Orton by slowing his Beat The Clock Challenge match, so that he did not have the quickest time and did not receive a championship match. As a result, Triple H refocused his attention on Rhodes and DiBiase, losing to them in a handicap match, and reforming D-Generation X (DX) with Shawn Michaels. Rhodes and DiBiase faced DX at SummerSlam, but lost the match, although they later defeated DX in a Submissions Count Anywhere match at the Breaking Point pay-per-view, using a combined figure-four leg lock and Million Dollar Dream on Shawn Michaels. The following month DX defeated DiBiase and Rhodes at the Hell in a Cell pay-per-view by locking DiBiase out of the cell and double-teaming Rhodes, just as the team had done to Michaels earlier in the match. Meanwhile, Orton retained the title against Cena at SummerSlam after the match was restarted a number of times to prevent Orton sneaking a win through disqualification and count out, with an unknown fan, later revealed to be Ted's brother Brett, eventually coming in from the crowd to attack the referee and cause a distraction which helped Orton retain. At Breaking Point, Orton lost the WWE Championship to John Cena in an "I Quit" match only to win it back the next month in a Hell in a Cell match at the eponymous event. At WWE Bragging Rights, Orton lost the championship back to Cena in a 60-minute Iron Man match with the stipulation that it would be the last championship match between the two. Earlier in the evening Rhodes appeared on Team Raw in a match that pitted Raw against SmackDown in a tag team match. He was seen backstage blaming Kofi Kingston for the loss and in retaliation Kingston ran out to chase away Rhodes and DiBiase when they interfered in the Iron Man match.

Kingston won a return match against Chris Jericho the following night, who had pinned him at Bragging Rights, but after the match Orton attacked him. Kingston retaliated by vandalising a NASCAR that Rhodes and DiBiase bought him to cheer him up after his title loss. The rivalry continued when, at Madison Square Garden, Orton attacked Hall of Famer Roddy Piper but just before he could deliver a punt Kingston came out and attacked Orton, making him bleed and leg dropping him through a table. Kofi headed a team at November's Survivor Series against Orton's team of The Legacy, William Regal and CM Punk which ended with Kingston eliminating Punk and then Orton in quick succession to become the sole survivor while Christian eliminated Rhodes and DiBiase earlier. The next night on Raw Jesse Ventura announced the contender for the WWE Championship would be determined by a series of matches contested for by wrestlers who had never held the title before. Despite this Orton managed to persuade Ventura to allow him into the tournament by defeating Evan Bourne while Rhodes and DiBiase defeated Cryme Tyme to make it through but in the Battle Royal final were eliminated by Mark Henry while Orton was pulled over by Kingston, who held on to the ropes after Orton had thrown him out. Orton defeated Kingston the following week on November 30's Raw after he was attacked from behind by both Rhodes and DiBiase separately, while Kingston took a return win the following week after guest referee Mark Cuban made a fast count leading to a rubber match at the TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs pay-per-view which Orton won.