- As noted, SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan has announced a tournament for the WWE United States Title after saying Dolph Ziggler’s recent actions show that he has voluntarily relinquished the belt. Two first-round matches took place on this week’s SmackDown - Bobby Roode defeated Baron Corbin and Jinder Mahal defeated Tye Dillinger. No word yet on other first round matches, who Roode and Jinder will face in the second round or when the finals will take place but we will keep you updated. Above is video from this week’s Roode vs. Corbin match and below is video from Jinder vs. Dillinger.
- Tom Phillips announced “almost 15,000” fans in attendance for last night’s SmackDown from the Allstate Arena near Chicago, the final WWE TV show of 2017. As noted, WWE announced 13,201 fans for Monday’s RAW in the same venue and noted that the event was sold out. The Allstate Arena usually holds 15,000 - 18,000 seats for pro wrestling events.
- As noted, Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura announced on last night’s SmackDown that they will be in the 30-man Royal Rumble main event at January’s pay-per-view in Philadelphia. Nakamura tweeted the following on what will be his Royal Rumble match debut:
I am in the #RoyalRumble. They will go #YeahOverTheTop #SDLive pic.twitter.com/csvZ5Hqnlf
— Shinsuke Nakamura (@ShinsukeN) December 27, 2017
