WWE Changes Chris Jericho's Roster Status, WWE United States Title Feud Continues (Video), 205 Live
- The feud between Shinsuke Nakamura and new WWE United States Champion Rusev continued on tonight's SmackDown episode. Rusev called out Nakamura for what he did to get Lana hurt last week, but Nakamura lured Rusev into a backstage attack instead. Lana was not on TV this week to sell last week's angle. There's no word yet on if Nakamura vs. Rusev will take place at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view later this month. Above is video from tonight's segment.
- WWE taped the following matches tonight in Jacksonville, FL for Wednesday's WWE 205 Live episode:
* Noam Dar vs. Tony Nese
* Hideo Itami vs. Cedric Alexander to earn the final spot in the WWE Cruiserweight Title Fatal 4 Way at the Royal Rumble
205 Live spoilers for this week are at this link.
- WWE moved Chris Jericho to their Alumni roster this evening after his All Elite Wrestling signing was revealed at their big Double Or Nothing rally in Jacksonville, not far from the WWE SmackDown TV tapings in the same city. Jericho noted in a video that he is with AEW for the "long haul" and it appears he will wrestle his first match at their big debut Double Or Nothing event in Las Vegas on May 25.
A fan tweeted these screenshots of Jericho's roster move:
wwe .com has Chris Jericho on the alumni page
he last appeared on WWE programming in April at the Greatest Royal Rumble pic.twitter.com/u8J0OkU8Sf
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) January 8, 2019