A huge part of professional wrestling comes down to signature moves. The Stone Cold Stunner is synonymous with Steve Austin’s time on top of the business, and kids around the country practiced Attitude Adjustments on their stuffed animals to emulate their hero John Cena. Indeed, for years, the understanding most fans had was that Vince McMahon actively downplayed broadcasters calling moves in a technical fashion, in favor of a focus on finishers and other key offense was attached to specific WWE Superstars.

Related: 10 Words You Didn't Know Vince McMahon Banned In WWEAmong these moves, few have taken on a life of their own quite like Randy Orton’s RKO. Yes, The Viper has had a long and highly successful career, that would all but necessarily elevate his trademark move. Something about the suddenness of the move and its delivery out of a variety of positions has captured the imagination, though, resulting in it becoming a pop culture meme. It’s interesting to note, however, that the move isn’t only a convincing, credible way for Orton to polish off opponents, but has actually hurt the man himself over the years.

How Randy Orton’s RKO Got Over

Randy Orton RKOs Evan Bourne

There’s an extended lineage for the RKO maneuver that traces back to when John Laurinaitis of all people purportedly innovated it while wrestling in Japan, calling the move The Ace Crusher. Diamond Dallas Page took the maneuver to the next level, rebranding it as The Diamond Cutter. His ability to hit it in a variety of contexts, including out of finishers got over with fans on a huge level in the 1990s and was a key part of his advancement to the main event scene.

While a number of other wrestlers used variations on the move that would become known as the RKO, Randy Orton made it his own via his athleticism, precision, and perhaps most importantly his meteoric rise to the top of the wrestling business. He arrived as the youngest world champion in WWE history in 2004 off the back of the move, and though he had plenty of ups and downs from that point forward, he nonetheless has remained a featured player for WWE ever since. Across fourteen world title reigns, Orton has made a claim to be considered among the top wrestling stars of all time, and the fact that his RKO finisher has been with him all the way and delivered him so many victories has squarely placed it among the most iconic moves in the history of the business.

The RKO Actually Has Hurt Randy Orton

Randy Orton RKOs Daniel Bryan Batista Bomb

In an interview for his home media market, with FOX2Now in St. Louis (h/t ClutchPoints) Randy Orton expressed some regrets about having chosen the RKO for a finisher early in his career. “I’ve been doing it for a very long time and I kind of wish I could go back in time and create a finishing move that didn’t entail me jumping up as high as I can and landing on my back," Orton explained. "After doing that a couple of thousand times over the last few decades, I’m starting to feel it.”

In addition to the chronic pain Orton has bestowed upon himself via so many RKOs over the years, there have also been times when he visibly took some real punishment delivering the move on live TV. The most famous example came in the main event of WrestleMania 30, when a Batista Bomb into an RKO through an announce table on Daniel Bryan went horribly wrong. While Bryan had to sell the devastation of essentially absorbing two of the best-protected finishers in WWE simultaneously, amplified by the table bump, it was Orton who clearly got the worst of the spot, landing on misplaced monitor and producing a gash across his back.

The RKO Isn’t Going Anywhere

Randy Orton RKOs Kevin Owens

From the viral success of the RKO, to it winning Randy Orton world titles, to the ongoing excitement of seeing The Viper hit it as a counter to opponents’ big moves and out of other unexpected positioning, it may well be the most over move in all of wrestling. As a result, despite Orton’s own misgivings about what hitting it so many times has done to his body, there’s little chance of it going anywhere.

Related: Why The RKO Is The Perfect Wrestling FinisherIndeed, the move has already taken on additional life with Orton’s tag team partner, Riddle, incorporating it into his own offense. As Orton, at 42, presumably approaches the twilight of his career, there’s reason to believe the next generation of fans may associate the move primarily with Riddle, or else whoever else takes it up next. Regardless, it’s an electrifying move that most wrestlers can both give and take, meaning it will likely remain on the wrestling landscape for decades to come.

The legacy of the RKO is intertwined with Randy Orton, who at this point is surely the most famous purveyor of any version of the move, under any name, and is likely to remain so. While the fact that the move has hurt Orton over the years is unfortunate, it’s worth noting that he’s hardly the first major star to have a big move that took its toll. After all, no lesser name than Hulk Hogan has bemoaned the damage delivering leg drops night after night imposed on his body, and Steve Austin had similar complaints about landing on his tailbone—often repeatedly in the same night—in the process of using the Stone Cold Stunner. When Orton returns from injury, he’ll likely as not be back to RKOing the competition on a regular basis right up until he’s ready to hang up his boots for good.