WHILE Raw is building towards its upcoming 25th anniversary, there’s still plenty for the superstars of SmackDown to celebrate – the Royal Rumble is just weeks away.
With the stakes getting higher each week, here are five things we learnt from last night’s SmackDown LIVE.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn want to be co-WWE Champion
The show opened with an AJ Styles sit down interview, with Renee Young asking Styles what he thought about his upcoming Royal Rumble match.
Styles is set to defend the WWE Championship against the “Yep Movement” – Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn – in a handicap match.
But KO and Zayn interrupted and dropped a bombshell – if they defeat Styles at the Rumble, they’ll be known as co-WWE Champion, which would be a first in WWE history.
It seemed too obvious that KO and Zayn would end up squabbling over who gets to pin Styles in the match and becomes WWE champ. Now all bets are off.
Shane McMahon then arrived to even up the numbers with another handicap match – the Yep Movement v Styles, Randy Orton, and Shinsuke Nakamura later that night.
Mojo Rawley is one step closer to the US title
Mojo defeated his former tag team partner Zack Ryder in a quarter final match of the US Championship tournament.
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It was a dominant performance from Rawley – and after the match, he stared down his semi final opponent, Bobby Roode.
But we don’t fancy Rawley’s chances much. WWE is clearly booking towards a Roode v Jinder Mahal final.
The big question is: what happens when Dolph Ziggler – the man who dropped the title and forced WWE to announce it vacant – returns to action?
Gable & Benjamin will have to beat The Usos TWICE at Royal Rumble
Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin cut a tedious promo (these boys sure can wrestle, but they’re not talkers) about their phantom title win last week.
They beat The Usos for the tag belts, but the decision was reversed when the referee realised they’d pinned the wrong Uso.
Then after a confrontation with Daniel Bryan, Gable asked Bryan: “Do you want us to beat them twice?”
Which prompted Bryan to make another controversial decision for the Royal Rumble – The Usos v Gable & Benjamin in a two-out-of-three falls match.
Rubbish promos aside, this match promises to be a thriller.
Becky Lynch is on fire
One week after her big return to SmackDown, Becky Lynch battled Ruby Riott – the woman who put her out of action – in singles competition.
After last week’s six-woman brawl, Becky had Charlotte and Naomi ringside to fend off any potential interference from Riott Squad members Liv Morgan and Sarah Logan.
But Lynch didn’t need any help – she forced Riott to tap with the Dis-Arm-Her submission.
Could this be the start of some major momentum for Becky heading into the women’s Royal Rumble match?
There was “nope” way out for the Yep Movement
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn tried to escape their handicap main event – first by getting counted out and then by getting disqualified.
But both times Shane McMahon arrived to change the rules and re-start the match.
Eventually, Randy Orton nailed Zayn with an RKO to get the win.
It was a crowd-pleasing moment, but the real story is how this will further crank up tensions between Shane and Daniel Bryan.
Rumours are circulating that WWE wants to turn Bryan heel. If true, it’s unbelievable that WWE could so badly misjudge fan support for Bryan once again. Fans will never boo him.
Either way, WWE needs to pull the trigger on wherever this Shane v Bryan storyline is going before it’s starts to meander aimlessly.
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