Roman Reigns will again confront Adam Pearce on next week’s SmackDown.
It was announced in an ad during NFL coverage on FOX this afternoon that Universal champion Roman Reigns will confront the new number one contender, WWE official Adam Pearce. A match between the two for the Royal Rumble has been made official.
Reigns confronted Pearce on this week’s SmackDown, upset that Pearce made a match between Kevin Owens and Jey Uso on last week’s show. Reigns insinuated that Pearce wanted to put himself in the gauntlet match later in the show that would determine Reigns’ next challenger. Pearce denied this. Paul Heyman later told Pearce backstage he pulled some strings and put him in the match. Pearce ended up winning the gauntlet match after Reigns and Uso attacked Shinsuke Nakamura and attacked Pearce, putting him over Reigns to give him the win.
Based on the show closing angle, a match between Nakamura and Uso has also been made for next week’s show.
Shinsuke Nakamura shined in the number one contender’s gauntlet match on last night’s SmackDown, but it was an unlikely opponent who emerged as Roman Reigns’ Royal Rumble challenger.
Authority figure Adam Pearce won the gauntlet match after being forced into it by Reigns. Reigns was upset with Pearce for making last week’s Kevin Owens vs. Jey Uso main event and this week’s gauntlet. It was said that Reigns had Paul Heyman pull some strings to get Pearce added to the match.
Pearce reluctantly came down to the ring with Reigns, Uso, and Heyman as the last person to enter the gauntlet match. Reigns and Uso laid out Nakamura, then Reigns threw Pearce into the ring. Uso gave Pearce a superkick and Reigns called for the bell to ring to start Nakamura and Pearce’s match. Uso then put Pearce on top of Nakamura and the referee counted the pin.
Nakamura had defeated Daniel Bryan, Baron Corbin, and Rey Mysterio during the gauntlet match. Sami Zayn also took part in the gauntlet.
Last night’s show also featured a title change as Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode defeated The Street Profits to win the SmackDown Tag Team titles. In storyline, Montez Ford’s leg was injured going into the match after Ziggler and Roode attacked it with a steel chair last week.
An unlikely opponent is currently in line to challenge for Roman Reigns’ Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble.
After winning a number one contender’s gauntlet match in the main event of tonight’s SmackDown, Adam Pearce is set to challenge Reigns for the Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. Pearce has been an authority figure on WWE television and was put into tonight’s gauntlet match after Reigns was upset with him for making last week’s Kevin Owens vs. Jey Uso main event and this week’s gauntlet.
Reigns mentioned Pearce being in the gauntlet match. Later in the show, Paul Heyman told Pearce that he pulled some strings to get him added to the match. Heyman brought up Pearce’s past as Scrap Daddy Adam Pearce and said Pearce now gets to pursue his original dream because of Reigns.
Pearce was the final person to enter the gauntlet. He reluctantly came down to the ring with Reigns, Uso, and Heyman. Reigns and Uso attacked Shinsuke Nakamura before the bell rang. After laying out Nakamura, Reigns threw Pearce into the ring. Uso gave Pearce a superkick and Reigns called for the bell to ring. Uso put Pearce on Nakamura and the referee counted the pin.
Daniel Bryan, Baron Corbin, Rey Mysterio, and Sami Zayn also took part in the gauntlet. Nakamura defeated Bryan, Corbin, and Mysterio.
Last week’s SmackDown ended with Reigns throwing Owens off a stand at the WWE ThunderDome through a table below. WWE announced a storyline injury update on Owens after last week’s show: “After the attack by Universal Champion Roman Reigns and Jey Uso on Friday Night SmackDown, Kevin Owens was taken to a local medical facility where he was diagnosed with a spinal contusion and bruised kidneys. Check back with WWE.com for more updates as they become available.”
The Royal Rumble is taking place on Sunday, January 31.
The Miz once again is in possession of the Money in the Bank briefcase.
Towards the end of tonight’s Raw, WWE official Adam Pearce gave Miz the Money in the Bank briefcase back. Pearce explained that The Miz was right in that only he could cash in the Money in the Bank briefcase. Since John Morrison cashed in on his behalf at TLC, the cash-in was rendered null and void.
The Miz lost the briefcase at TLC after inserting himself into the Roman Reigns-AJ Styles TLC match two weeks ago. With Morrison cashing in, the match was turned into a triple threat TLC match. However, McIntyre ended up retaining the title, seemingly ending Miz’s run with the briefcase.
A storyline played out during tonight’s Raw where The Miz was upset that he had lost the briefcase, arguing it should be returned to him. He also lost a match to Gran Metalik during the show, which only made him more upset.
The Miz won the briefcase at Hell in the Cell back in October, defeating Otis to win the rights to the briefcase after Otis’ former tag team partner, Tucker, turned on him.
Following the Wednesday revelation that mutliple WWE in-ring talents and other personnel tested positive for COVID-19, Adam Pearce and Kayla Braxton both tweeted Thursday they were among that group.
Pearce tweeted “Covid was NOT on my birthday list” along with a gif. The 41-year-old (pictured above) is a former wrestler and has been with WWE in several backstage roles since 2013. He is currently a producer for both Raw and SmackDown.
Around the same time, Braxton tweeted, “Was keeping it quiet but since everyone else is sharing, I feel like it is my responsibility to share this PSA: YOU CAN GET COVID-19 MORE THAN ONCE! I had it back in early March and then thought I was invincible after I recovered. Not true. Dont be dumb like me.” In a reply, Braxton also confirmed she did have COVID-19 once before. The 27-year-old is a backstage interviewer for SmackDown and a host on WWE’s The Bump.
