Randy Orton won the Royal Rumble in January and he earned himself a title shot at WrestleMania 33. Bray Wyatt then went on to win the Elimination Chamber match and the WWE Championship.
Related: Randy Orton Refuses To Face Bray Wyatt At WrestleMania, Full SmackDown Recap 2/14/17
On this week’s episode of SmackDown Live, Bray Wyatt defended his WWE Championship for the very first time against John Cena and AJ Styles in a triple threat match. Wyatt managed to retain his title after he hit Cena with Sister Abigail and pinned him. After the match Randy Orton made his way down to the ring and declared that as long as he is Bray’s servant, and Bray is his master, he refuses to challenge him at WrestleMania.
WWE SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan later appeared on Talking Smack and announced that a battle royal will be held on next week’s episode of SmackDown Live and the winner of the match will face Bray at WrestleMania 33.
Bryan said that if Orton doesn’t want his title shot then he can’t force him to face Bray Wyatt. So far AJ Styles is the only competitor confirmed for the battle royal.
Sunday night at Elimination Chamber, Nikki Bella tried to end her feud with Natalya once and for all, but things didn’t work out in Nikki’s favor.
It’s also been announced that Nikki will face off against Natalya in a Falls Count Anywhere match next week on SmackDown.
[…] Related: Battle Royal To Determine Bray Wyatt’s WrestleMania Opponent Announced […]
I like Orton and Bray’s alliance but this makes Royal Rumble pointless.