Royal Rumble builds will be the prime focus of this week’s WWE Smackdown as Seth Rollins seems to respond to a recent attack by The Usos. En route to his title match against The Bloodline leader, redemption is much-needed for her while the same goes for Naomi as she’s in need of a big win that will put her in the championship picture. Naomi takes on the champion Charlotte Flair in the potential main event of the night that takes place at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
Roman Reigns has completed 500 days as the WWE Universal Champion and subsequently surpassed Brock Lesnar as the longest-reigning champion with the concerned belt on WWE Smackdown. He won the title on August 30, 2020, at the WWE Payback PPV, by defeating “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman in a Triple Threat Match.
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The Tribal Chief hasn’t been pinned or submitted in over 2 years as his last pinfall loss occurred during the December 2019 episode of WWE Smackdown. He claimed to be in a God mode during his confrontation against his next challenger Seth Rollins while the latter claimed that he’s the one who created Reigns and when the time is right he’d destroy him.
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The Usos came right after Rollins for an attack but showing his cunning antics, he ran away from the ring. But then on Raw, the twins caught him off-guard following his match against Bobby Lashley. He was watching Lashley destroying The Hurt Business members at ringside as The Usos came from behind and planted him down with dual superkicks.
This was a stern message by the Bloodline members that they’ve been following him everywhere they go to make his life a living hell. On the other hand, The Monday Night Messiah is in desperate need to use his cunning brain so that he can overcome this numbers-game. Taking out The Usos would be the smart thing for him on WWE Smackdown if he intends to dethrone Reigns as the Universal Champion.
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Apart from this storyline, a rematch has been announced between WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair and Naomi for this week’s episode. This rematch is being billed as a Championship Contender’s bout in which Naomi can secure a future title shot if she can defeat Flair.
Two weeks ago on WWE Smackdown, Flair defeated Naomi due to interference by WWE Official Sonya Deville. Naomi initially won the match by count-out, but Deville changed it to a No Count Out match but then this match was then changed to a No DQ match. It was after this that Flair pinned Naomi for the win.
Thus, the Deville vs. Naomi feud continued on WWE SmackDown with Naomi threatening to attack Deville in a backstage segment. Another WWE Official Adam Pearce interrupted and agreed that Naomi was right to complain about Deville interfering in her match. Hence, Pearce was the one to book this rematch between Naomi and Flair.