WWE News: No. 1 Contender Battle Royal on SmackDown Live next week
What’s the story?
On Talking Smack on Tuesday night, Daniel Bryan announced that there would be a Battle Royal next week on Smackdown Live. The winner of that Battle Royal will face Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania 33 for the WWE Championship.
In case you didn’t know...
On Tuesday’s episode of SmackDown, Randy Orton announced that he would not challenge Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania for the WWE Championship as long as Bray is the Champion and the master, and as long as Orton is the servant.
The heart of the matter
Daniel Bryan had a back-and-forth exchange with Renee Young on the set of Talking Smack on Tuesday night. He jokingly blamed Renee for the situation that they were in at the moment, as Renee had said that the WrestleMania main event was set in stone on Talking Smack following the Elimination Chamber pay-per-view.
When she said that, Bryan cautioned her to calm down and said that there were still seven weeks until WrestleMania and a lot could change between then and the Showcase of the Immortals. At the time, he was likely referring to John Cena’s guaranteed rematch for the WWE Championship.
However, Randy Orton pulled out a shocker on Smackdown! Live tonight, as he further pledged his allegiance to the Eater of Worlds before kneeling in respect to his, “master.”
What’s next?
The Battle Royal will take place on the February 21st edition of Smackdown Live and will determine the new number one contender for Bray Wyatt’s WWE Championship at WrestleMania 33 in Orlando, Florida.
Sportskeeda’s take
Well, that was completely unexpected. We’re not sure if anyone thought that Orton would relinquish his WWE Championship opportunity because of his devotion to Bray and the Wyatt Family.
At this point, we have many more questions than we have answers. Who will participate in the Battle Rroyal next Tuesday night? Will Orton and Wyatt watch the match closely to kind of pick and choose Bray’s opponent for WrestleMania 33? Is Luke Harper going to be in the match?
That would certainly be an interesting outcome, to see Luke Harper go from follower to having a competitive match with Randy Orton at Elimination Chamber, to a main event match at WrestleMania.
Nobody knows for sure what the outcome will be, but Smackdown Live has done it again, as it pertains to building up the next episode through Talking Smack. We can’t wait to see what happens.
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