Many were excited when WWE announced that Bobby Roode would be holding an open challenge for the US Title on the Pre-Show at the Royal Rumble. Back when John Cena hosted the weekly US Open title challenge, his matches gave wrestlers an opportunity to shine along with some surprises, such as Sami Zayn debuting on the main roster. However, many were disappointed when Mojo Rawley was the wrestler who answered the challenge.
According to Dave Meltzer on Wrestling Observer Radio, WWE NXT Superstar Adam Cole was scheduled to answer WWE United States Champion Bobby Roode's US Open Challenge at the Royal Rumble on Sunday.
The feeling was that Cole did not need to lose to Roode in under 10 minutes, so officials made the decision to switch Cole's spot with Mojo Rawley.
Dolph Ziggler was originally scheduled for Roode's Open Challenge, but plans clearly changed with Dolph returning in the rumble match. It’s been noted that there were several re-writes of the Rumble script on Sunday. It was noted by Meltzer that at least three different versions of the script were worked on during the show on Sunday.