During Friday night's episode of SmackDown, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, and LA Knight squared off in a Triple Threat match with the winner promised a match against Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at this month's Royal Rumble PLE.
The Head of the Table wasn't happy with Nick Aldis' decision and, alongside fellow Bloodline members Solo Sikoa and Jimmy Uso, decided to interfere in the bout and take all three men out.
Aldis responded by booking him in a Fatal 4-Way match, meaning Reigns will now have to defend the title against all three men. This stipulation also means he doesn't have to be pinned to lose the belt, adding some much-needed jeopardy to his title reign as the Road to WrestleMania looms.
After last November's Survivor Series: WarGames, the plan had been for Reigns to square off with Orton in a singles match (which was also the idea before The Viper was injured). So, what changed?
Talking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer and Bryan Alvarez explained it came down to adding a sense of danger to the match now fans go into these shows expecting Reigns to retain thanks to what's proven to be a record-breaking run with the title.
Alvarez: "So what they want here is that no one believes anyone's beating Roman Reigns. And they're not going to believe this either. But I think the idea is, well, it's a fatal four-way. You know, maybe somebody will pin somebody else or whatever. So they're trying to find something."
Meltzer: "The actual deal here is that the original idea was Roman and Randy Orton for the Rumble. Essentially, there were parties involved who did not want to beat Randy Orton this early, obviously, you know, and just felt that there's money to be made with Randy Orton and Roman in a program at some point. But it's too soon to do it. But LA Knight just got beat at [Crown Jewel] and AJ hasn't isn't strong enough."
"I think AJ was the guy that they probably would have wanted because, you know, Roman can beat him. I mean, I presume AJ is the one, the one that's going to lose. Maybe not. It could be LA. But the basic gist was that AJ gives them someone they can beat."
So, if someone takes the pinfall loss to Reigns, it'll be Styles!
While Reigns winning may seem like a foregone conclusion, the Royal Rumble would be the perfect opportunity to take the belt off the Tribal Chief without him being pinned or submitted. That way, he'd head into his WrestleMania match with The Rock without a title and Rhodes can finish his story against another opponent.
Orton seems like the obvious choice in that scenario, but it still probably won't have the same impact as Reigns vs. Rhodes II...