Planned WWE Championship Match At Royal Rumble 2026 Major Update

WWE

A major update has emerged on the planned Undisputed WWE Championship match at Royal Rumble 2026 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

With the Rumble set to take place on January 31 and Saturday Night’s Main Event a week prior on January 24, an announcement was made during today’s January 9 episode of SmackDown.

The Undisputed WWE Championship match will be contested for in a singles match at Royal Rumble.

The challenger will be determined by the winner of a four-way match at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Next week’s SmackDown in London, England will play host to four singles matches with the winners of those advancing to the SNME four-way.

Those four singles matches next week will be Randy Orton vs The Miz, Matt Cardona vs Trick Williams, Damian Priest vs Solo Sikoa, and Sami Zayn vs Ilja Dragunov.

The winners of those four matches will compete in the SNME four-way, and the winner of the four-way will then challenge for the WWE Championship at Royal Rumble.

Today’s SmackDown plays host to the WWE Championship Three Stages of Hell match between defending champion Cody Rhodes and challenger Drew McIntyre.

With the show still in progress, this page and story will be updated with the result of that match when it has concluded.

UPDATE: Following the return of Jacob Fatu, it was Drew McIntyre who defeated Cody Rhodes to become WWE Champion in the steel cage round of the Three Stages of Hell match on SmackDown.

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• wwe
• Royal Rumble
• saturday night's main event

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