As you can see in the above video, during the closing moments of SmackDown Live tonight (Feb. 14), after Bray Wyatt successfully defended his WWE World title in Triple Threat against John Cena & AJ Styles, Royal Rumble winner Randy Orton revealed that he will take the unprecedented step of choosing to not use his WrestleMania title shot. The Viper told Wyatt, a man Orton pledged his allegiance to following their feud last Fall:
As long as you are the master and I am the servant, I refuse to face you at WrestleMania.
Which obviously leaves plans for Orlando up in the air on the blue brand.
Kicking off Talking Smack, General Manager Daniel Bryan addressed the issue, and revealed the solution he and commissioner Shane McMahon have come up with:
BREAKING: @WWEDanielBryan announces a #1Contender #BattleRoyal NEXT WEEK on #SDLive to replace @RandyOrton, who refuses to face Bray Wyatt! pic.twitter.com/f9WCD4D6Tz
— WWE (@WWE) February 15, 2017
No word yet on who will be involved in the battle royal, but you can expect Luke Harper to be in the mix. He kept his storyline with Wyatt going tonight by attacking Bray before the Triple Threat.
What do you think of this development, Cagesiders?