Roman Reigns will defend the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship in a Fatal 4-Way match at Royal Rumble 2024.
This past Friday on “New Year’s Revolution” edition of SmackDown, Randy Orton vs. LA Knight vs. AJ Styles in a No. 1 Contenders Match ended in a No Contest.
Randy had AJ beat after the RKO, but LA pulled the referee out of the ring during the pinfall count. Roman then came out and The Bloodline attacked all 3 men. Roman powerbombed AJ, superman punched & speared Knight, and then laid out Orton with a Spear-Spike combination along with Solo Sikoa.
SmackDown General Manager Nick Aldis wasn’t happy with this and told Paul Heyman to inform Roman that it’ll now be a Fatal 4-Way match for the Undisputed Title at Royal Rumble 2024: Reigns vs. Orton vs. Knight vs. Styles!
According to the Wrestling Observer, the original plan for the Royal Rumble was Reigns vs. Orton for the Title, but WWE wants to save this match for a later date as they didn’t want Orton to get pinned this soon in his return run:
“The actual deal here is that the original idea was Roman and Randy Orton for the Rumble.
Essentially, there were parties involved who did not want to beat Randy Orton this early (into his return), and just felt that there’s money to be made with Randy Orton and Roman in a program at some point. But it’s too soon to do it.
But LA Knight just got beat at [Crown Jewel] and AJ isn’t strong enough. AJ was the guy that they probably would have wanted because, you know, Roman can beat him.
AJ is the one, the one that’s going to lose. But the basic gist was that AJ gives them someone they can beat.”
WATCH: You Can’t Miss This Video Of Eva Marie:
