Update on top matches planned for the WWE Royal Rumble PPV

As noted earlier, Roman Reigns retained the WWE Universal Championship in a Steel Cage match against Kevin Owens on Friday Night SmackDown.

The Owens-Reigns feud appears to be done and now Reigns will move onto his next opponent at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view on January 31.

Dave Meltzer noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan was earmarked for the Rumble pay-per-view. A couple of weeks ago on Talking Smack, Bryan kind of hinted that Reigns could be next opponent after he moved on from Jey Uso.

However, it was noted in the Observer that there is no clear direction right now for the Rumble and things could have changed a half dozen times by now.

Another match that was earmarked for the Rumble is Bobby Lashley defending the United States Championship against Matt Riddle. That match looks to be a lock to happen in the next several weeks but again, nothing is for sure right with no clear direction. It’s also worth noting that there’s been more of a push this year to have some feuds end on Raw and SmackDown so it’s possible that one or both of the matches listed could happen on free/cable TV.