No Mercy 2016: Randy Orton v Bray Wyatt

The time for games, mind or otherwise, is over: Randy Orton will battle Bray Wyatt at WWE No Mercy Sunday, Oct. 9, in an inevitable collision that has been building and building for the better part of two months and was finally confirmed on WWE’s official Twitter account.

Originally scheduled to battle at WWE Backlash, the bout never materialized thanks to a backstage assault on The Viper by Wyatt, but The Apex Predator and New Face of Fear continued to circle each other for weeks on end. Orton, for his part, has been angling for a score-settling match between the two ever since, but The Eater of Worlds opted instead to unman The Viper mentally, taunting him with eerie messages from afar and, occasionally, sending his disciple Erick Rowan out to do his dirty work.

No stranger to psychological warfare, Orton later turned the tables on Wyatt, transforming the hunter into the hunted and causing The Eater of Worlds to fall into a trap on the Oct. 5 edition of SmackDown LIVE.

It would appear, however, that the game has reached its final turn. Wyatt likes to dare his opponents to “find him.” At No Mercy, he will finally get his wish. Whether Orton is prepared to do what must be done, however, is another story.