– Adam Cole put on an extraordinary Extreme Rules match with Aleister Black at NXT Takeover: Philadelphia over the weekend. He followed that up with making an appearance in the Men’s Royal Rumble match the following night. It turns out WWE originally had other plans for Cole at the Royal Rumble instead of being in the over-the-top-rope bout. Wrestling Observer Radio reports that the original pitch for Cole had him answering Bobby Roode’s United States Title Open Challenge.
That plan was cancelled, however, as WWE officials realized it wasn’t a good idea to have Cole lose an eight-minute match on the kickoff show. The United States Title Open Challenge saw a ton of last-second changes, as Dolph Ziggler was also planned to answer the call.
Instead Ziggler appeared in the Royal Rumble match at number 30 and Mojo Rawley wound up taking on Roode on the pre-show for the strap. Cole entered the Rumble at number 23 and was eliminated by Rey Mysterio.
– WWE posted the following video of Sami Zayn and Becky Lynch after their Mixed Match Challenge loss to the team of Alexa Bliss and Braun Strowman. Sami blamed the WWE Universe for the loss and also contemplated if their loss was a result of having too much of Lynch’s birthday cake prior to the bout:
