Tommaso Ciampa’s quest to deliver an RKO to Randy Orton has not ended simply because he no longer shares a locker room with the WWE star. In a video that went viral and was shared across multiple wrestling outlets, Ciampa was spotted in St. Louis, Missouri, attempting to RKO a man he believed to be Orton, only to discover he had instead grabbed fellow AEW star Kyle Fletcher.
St. Louis holds significance in this running bit because it is Orton’s home state, a detail Ciampa appeared to be playing off when he shared the clip on his Instagram account. According to 411Mania, Ciampa posted the footage himself, continuing a bit that long predates his move to AEW.
The joke stems from Ciampa’s time in WWE, when he reportedly made repeated attempts to catch Orton off guard with the maneuver that made the “Viper” famous, the RKO delivered seemingly out of nowhere. eWrestlingNews and Wrestling Inc both reported that despite Ciampa now working for AEW rather than WWE, his pursuit of actually landing the move on Orton has continued in some form.
In the newest clip, Fletcher was left visibly confused after being mistaken for Orton and finding himself on the receiving end of Ciampa’s attempt. Wrestling Inc’s report specifically notes that the attempt failed, with Ciampa unable to actually complete the RKO on Fletcher during the encounter.
The bit is lighthearted in nature and does not appear tied to any storyline, angle, or confirmed in-ring program involving Ciampa, Fletcher, or Orton. All three remain active, with Ciampa and Fletcher currently part of the AEW roster and Orton continuing to perform for WWE. None of the supplied reports indicate any official creative plans connecting the three names beyond this viral moment.
Ciampa has built a reputation across his career for backstage humor and viral social media moments, and this latest video fits that pattern. Whether the ongoing gag ever culminates in Ciampa actually landing the move on Orton himself remains to be seen, but for now, Fletcher is the latest wrestler to be caught in the crossfire of the joke.
