WWE Championship Match Decided For Royal Rumble At SmackDown Taping (SPOILER)

**The following post includes spoilers for the New Year’s Day episode of SmackDown, that was taped December 29.**

Here’s a picture to protect you from the spoilers if you’ve realized you don’t want to know. Scroll past it with caution, or just stare at it forever.

WWE Champion Daniel Bryan’s next challenger and Royal Rumble opponent has been decided, and it is none other than the man he beat to win the title, AJ Styles.

Styles won a Fatal Five-way match at the New Year’s Day episode of SmackDown that was taped on Dec. 29 to earn the title match. Also in the match were Mustafa Ali, Rey Mysterio, Randy Orton and Samoa Joe.

Bryan defeated Styles for the title to end the latter’s 371-day reign on the November 13 episode of SmackDown, and has already retained the title once over AJ, that being in a great match at the TLC pay-per-view.

This win for AJ comes in conjunction with a new program involving Vince McMahon wanting to see a vicious streak out of him, something AJ seems to have no problem giving him.

In other Rumble-related happenings from the show, the New Day members all announced they would be participating in the 30-man Royal Rumble match

For full spoilers for the New Year’s Day episode of SmackDown, click here.

• AJ Styles
• Daniel Bryan
• Royal Rumble
• wwe

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