Adam Pearce won the chance to face Universal Championship Champion Roman Reigns at the Royal Rumble last week on SmackDown, but would this match remain official following this week’s show?
1. Opening Segment
The show kicked off with Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman discussing a stipulation for the upcoming Universal Championship match. Jey Uso then made his way to the ring and announced that he would be part of the men’s Royal Rumble match in just over two weeks’ time.
Shinsuke Nakamura interrupted and delivered a kick to Uso to instigate a match between the two men to start off SmackDown.
2. Shinsuke Nakamura def. Jey Uso
It was a very physical match between the two men that saw Cesaro make his way to the ring and join commentary mid-way through, where he announced his place in the men’s Rumble. The turning point of the match saw Nakamura thrown into the ring post and rolled up for the three-count, but the referee waved it off when he saw him use the ropes. Nakamura then delivered the Kinshasa for the victory.
Backstage: Adam Pearce signed a contract for a no disqualification match before Reigns later decided that he wanted a Last Man Standing match instead.
3. Natalya def. Liv Morgan
Natalya showed off her frustration throughout the match but it was only when Billie Kay walked through the match to avoid Ruby Riott that Natalya was able to pick up the win via a roll-up.
4. King Corbin def. Rey Mysterio
Mysterio and Corbin renewed their rivalry this week on SmackDown after weeks of seemingly being forgotten. Dominik joined the commentary team for the bout but was involved in a confrontation with Corbin which ultimately cost his father the match when Corbin was able to hit End of Days off the distraction.
5. “Ding Dong, Hello!”
Bayley debuted “Ding Dong, Hello!” which is her new talk show, with Bianca Belair. The tension between the two women continued which led to Bayley announcing an obstacle course for next week’s episode of SmackDown.
6. Cesaro def. Daniel Bryan
After a backstage altercation earlier in the night, the ThunderDome was granted one hell of a match between Daniel Bryan and Cesaro. A match that only came to an end when The Swiss Superman picked up the win with the Gotch Neutralized.
6. Apollo Crews def. Sami Zayn
Sami Zayn has been on a rough run in recent weeks on SmackDown and this didn’t improve any this week as he took on Roman Reigns’ newest acquisition Apollo Crews. The former NXT star rolled up the tights to get the victory over Zayn before a face-off with Big E happened at ringside.
7. Contract Signing for Universal Championship
Roman Reigns headed to the ring to sign the contract for his Last Man Standing match with Adam Pearce, but after both men signed the contract, Pearce claimed that he had an injury. The WWE Producer then stated that per the contract he’s able to find a replacement for himself and he chose Kevin owens.
Kevin Owens then signed the contract and made the Last Man Standing Match for the Universal Championship official.
