Despite Extreme Rules being a mostly underwhelming pay-per-view on Sunday night, there were some surprises in store.The WWE decided to give Dolph Ziggler and Seth Rollins the main event spot, while Bobby Lashley picked up a clean win against Roman Reigns.
HEEL RETURN
However, it was the return of Randy Orton which took many by surprise after he came back earlier than expected.
WWE went to great lengths to hide The Viper's return.
This included him hiding in a bus until 30 minutes before his segment, along with his wife only being shown to her seat just before his music hit.
It's his attack on Jeff Hardy following his United States Championship loss to Shinsuke Nakamura which had fans talking.
At long last, it looked as if the former Evolution member did what he does best and acted as a heel.
On SmackDown LIVE this week, however, Orton did something after the United States Championship match which is drawing universal praise from fans on social media.
Despite it being claimed that the Charismatic Enigma was injured, he competed in his title rematch against The King of Strong Style in the main event.
It looked as if Hardy had the match won during their entertaining contest.
Then, Orton pulled Hardy out of the ring during his pin attempt - resulting in him picking up the win via disqualification.
SADISTIC BEATDOWN
Orton then proceeded to throw Jeff from pillar to post in an entertaining beatdown that would have Michael Cole screaming 'vintage Orton,' and the fans also loved it.
Throughout the vicious beatdown, there was one strange yet brilliant moment that had fans talking the most.
They took to Twitter to claim that the sadistic heel had been brought out again and not the 'new era nonsense' which has evidently watered-down the Orton character.
Before hitting the draping DDT from the announcer's desk, it looked as if Orton was hellbent on ripping Hardy's ear off by slowly and disturbingly putting his finger inside his ear like a real villain would.
It's the simplicity of it which seems to have struck a chord with the WWE Universe.
The WWE didn't go over the top with the heel turn.
Instead, they went back to basics with a regular beatdown and showing the disgusting, sadistic side which the fans loved before the bland run as a face.
Considering there's finally a genuine interest in Orton, it's safe to say that the beatdown did its job.
What did you make of Randy Orton's vicious beatdown of Jeff Hardy on SmackDown LIVE? Have YOUR say in the comments section below.