Tonight, SmackDown Live is focused on one thing: The United States Championship Tournament. The semifinals take place with Xavier Woods facing Jinder Mahal and Bobby Roode taking on Mojo Rawley. To add some variety to the show, Charlotte Flair will team up with Becky Lynch and Naomi to take on the Riott Squad.
Xavier Woods (w/Big E & Kofi Kingston) vs. Jinder Mahal (w/The Singh Brothers) – United States Championship Tournament (Round Two)
After the United States Championship Tournament started a few weeks ago, this is the first match of the second round. In the opening round of matches, former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal defeated Tye Dillinger. Xavier Woods, a former four-time Tag Team Champion, defeated Aiden English. Ever since this match was confirmed, Woods has taken to Instagram and Twitter to create negative attacks ads against the Modern Day Maharaja.
After throwing Woods face first into the bottom rope, Mahal finishes off the New Day member with his signature Khallas slam. Mahal will either face Bobby Roode or Mojo Rawley in the tournament finals next week. Winner: Jinder Mahal | Eliminated: Xavier Woods
Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley – United States Championship Tournament (Round Two)
The semifinals of the United States Championship continue with the finals taking place only five days before the Royal Rumble. In the first round of the tournament, Bobby Roode defeated former US Champion Baron Corbin while Mojo Rawley defeated another former US Champ in Zack Ryder. Roode is a former champion in WWE already after claiming the NXT Championship. Rawley has only won the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal.
Surprisingly, Rawley dominates for most of the match. What matters, however, is that Roode outlasts Rawley long enough to land the Glorious DDT. With a pin over Rawley, Roode advances to face Jinder Mahal for the vacated United States Championship. Winner: Bobby Roode | Eliminated: Mojo Rawley
Right after the match ends, Sunil and Samir Singh attack Roode from behind to send a message. Roode grabs a microphone and says that he doesn’t want to wait to fight; he wants the title match tonight. Mahal wants to wait until the originally scheduled time of next week, but SmackDown Live General Manager Daniel Bryan decides to go with Roode’s plan and makes the match for tonight.
Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, & Naomi vs. The Riott Squad
The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan, and Sarah Logan) debuted what seems like forever ago and have been feuding with the rest of SmackDown Live’s Women’s Division ever since. Every week for the past couple months has featured some combination of these six women and hopefully after the Royal Rumble event next week, something will change.
While the referee is distracted, Ruby Riott hits Naomi with a kick from the apron. Liv Morgan then takes advantage to hit a modified Codebreaker to pick up a much-needed win for the Riott Squad. Winners: The Riott Squad
Backstage Brawl
In a bit of a surprise, The Usos are being interviewed backstage. The surprise comes from the fact that Jey Uso was arrested earlier today for a DWI. Regardless, their SmackDown Tag Team Championship defense is still on for the Royal Rumble where they face Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin in a 2 out of 3 Falls Match. While they are being interviewed, Gable and Benjamin attack them from behind.
Jinder Mahal (w/The Singh Brothers) vs. Bobby Roode – United States Championship
Instead of taking place next week, the finals of the United States Championship Tournament take place tonight, thanks to Daniel Bryan. Bobby Roode defeated Baron Corbin and Mojo Rawley to get here, while Jinder Mahal toppled Tye Dillinger and Xavier Woods. The reason that the title is vacated in the first place is because Dolph Ziggler won the championship at Clash of Champions but then proceeded to throw the title in the middle of the ring before walking out.
Mahal attempts the Khallas, but Roode counters into the Glorious DDT. The referee counts to three, but it seems like Mahal may have slightly gotten his shoulder up during the pinfall. Regardless, Bobby Roode is the new United States Champion. Winner, and NEW United States Champion: Bobby Roode
