WWE Announces Major Appearances From Both Royal Rumble Winners On Tonight's SmackDown

By Miles Schneiderman
Bayley & Cody Rhodes WWE

If you're invested in who the winners of the 2024 men's and women's Royal Rumble matches will be challenging at WrestleMania 40, you might want to tune into tonight's episode of "WWE SmackDown."

On Friday, WWE announced on X (formerly Twitter) that women's Rumble winner Bayley will officially declare who's she's challenging on "SmackDown." The first-ever women's Grand Slam Champion faces a choice between Women's World Champion Rhea Ripley — who would be imposing enough without Nia Jax also gunning for "The Nightmare" and threatening anyone else who dares to enter the title picture — or Bayley's own Damage CTRL stablemate, WWE Women's Champion IYO SKY. Bayley had initially seemed set on Ripley and the prospect of giving Damage CTRL all the gold after Asuka and Kairi Sane won the women's tag titles, but the story WWE has been telling since summer 2023 would suggest that Bayley vs. SKY, and a Damage CTRL breakup, is more likely.

After dropping that first bombshell on X, WWE quickly following up with another. Cody Rhodes will also be in Birmingham on Friday night, and he's scheduled to come face to face with Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. This will be the just the third time the two men have stood across from one another since Reigns' controversial victory over Rhodes at WrestleMania 39 — the first one came on "Raw" the night after WrestleMania, the second on the October 14 episode of "SmackDown." Rhodes has been adamant about challenging Reigns once again after winning his second consecutive men's Royal Rumble, but may be reconsidering following a passionate promo from World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins on "Raw," in which Rollins entreated Rhodes to challenge him, instead.

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