Gauntlet Match Set For 1/8 SmackDown To Determine Next Universal Title Challenger
We are going to learn who will face Roman Reigns for the WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble and it won’t be Kevin Owens.
WWE announced just an hour before the event that Daniel Bryan, Shinsuke Nakamura, Baron Corbin, Rey Mysterio, and Sami Zayn will all vie for the chance to face the WWE Universal Champion at the Royal Rumble event in a 5-person Gauntlet Match.
BREAKING: Tonight’s main event will be a GAUNTLET MATCH to determine who will battle @WWERomanReigns for the #UniversalTitle at #RoyalRumble! #SmackDown @WWEDanielBryan @BaronCorbinWWE @ShinsukeN @SamiZayn @reymysterio pic.twitter.com/TyjWAwn9RI
— WWE (@WWE) January 9, 2021
The rules of a Gauntlet are as follows:
- Two men start out in the ring and fight until one is eliminated. Then another member of the match will enter the fray and face the winner of the previous match. This process continues until there is an overall winner.
- Normally, elimination can occur by pinfall, submission, disqualification, or count-out.
Daniel Bryan is annouced for this match even though he has already announced himself for the Royal Rumble match on Sunday, January 31. Should he win this match, he would likely have to forego his spot in the rumble, but there have been many men in the past, including Roman Reigns, who has lost a championship match and then entered the Royal Rumble later in the evening.
Not listed here is Kevin Owens. Kevin and Roman have been fighting for the last month and on last week’s SmackDown, Roman Reigns and Jey Uso threw Kevin Owens off of the set of WWE ThunderDome.
Fightful will have live coverage of Friday Night SmackDown beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern
