Royal Rumble 2022 will have a surprising challenger for Roman Reigns over the Universal Championship. This comes as a predicament from WWE creative team since Smackdown doesn’t have a credible challenger up to his level.
As per the revelation by the end of last night’s Smackdown episode, Seth Rollins will challenge him for WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble 2022. The bygone episode of Friday Night show on FOX featured an angle where WWE Official Adam Pearce had to pick the next challenger for Reigns.
?#SmackDown @WWERomanReigns @WWERollins pic.twitter.com/luRLozWoPt
— WWE (@WWE) January 8, 2022
The show then ended with a knock on the door of Reigns’ locker room suite. The man who made the sound turned out to be Rollins. Rollins entered the suite and had a brief staredown with Reigns. Rollins started laughing making Reigns seemingly angry. Then the first SmackDown of 2022 went off the air with Reigns expressing frustration over Adam Pearce’s pick.
The idea of picking a challenger from Raw for Reigns was already hinted, earlier on Smackdown. During a backstage segment, Adam Pearce went to the champion’s personal locker room and said that he had a name for the Universal Title challenger’s spot at Royal Rumble 2022. Roman said that there’s no one on his level on SmackDown, so he didn’t care who it is.
WWE Smackdown: Title Vs. Title Challenge Issued By Brock Lesnar
Since then the Rollins vs. Reigns match was indicated for Royal Rumble 2022 and it is an interesting situation since it was recently revealed that original plans for WWE Day 1 had Rollins winning the WWE Title from Big E. But then Reigns tested positive for COVID-19 and got pulled from the Day 1 match against new WWE Champion Brock Lesnar. Lesnar was then added to the WWE Title match with Rollins, the former champion Big E, Kevin Owens, and Bobby Lashley.
WWE Royal Rumble 2022 PPV match card
WWE Royal Rumble 2022 will take place on January 29 from The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Check out the updated card for the PPV night,
30-Man Royal Rumble Match
Austin Theory, Rey Mysterio, Dominik Mysterio, Montez Ford, Angelo Dawkins, Sheamus, Johnny Knoxville, 22 Superstars TBA
30-Woman Royal Rumble Match
SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair, Rhea Ripley, Nikki A.S.H., WWE Hall of Famer Nikki Bella, WWE Hall of Famer Brie Bella, Shotzi, Natalya, Michelle McCool, WWE 24/7 Champion Dana Brooke, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Carmella, WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Queen Zelina Vega, Impact Knockouts Champion Mickie James, Tamina Snuka, Kelly Kelly, Aliyah, Summer Rae, Naomi, Shayna Baszler, WWE Hall of Famer Lita, 11 participants TBA
WWE Title Match
Bobby Lashley vs. Brock Lesnar (c)
WWE Universal Title Match
Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns (c)
RAW Women’s Title Match
Bianca Belair or Liv Morgan or Doudrop vs. Becky Lynch (c)
Mixed Tag Team Match
WWE Hall of Famers Edge and Beth Phoenix vs. The Miz and Maryse
