We may have just found out WWE’s plans for the United States Title.
As seen on this week’s episode of SmackDown Live in Rosemont, IL at the Allstate Arena on the USA Network, SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan has announced a tournament for the WWE United States Title following Dolph Ziggler's recent actions show that he has voluntarily relinquished the belt.
Later in the show, two first-round matches took place that saw Bobby Roode defeated Baron Corbin and Jinder Mahal defeated Tye Dillinger.
As of this writing, there’s no word yet on other first round matches, who Roode and Jinder will face in the second round or when the finals will take place
Corbin is listed as the United States Champion on upcoming Smackdown Live shows that are taking place at the end of this month and in January.
On some shows, Corbin is listed as defending the United States Championship against Bobby Roode and Dolph Ziggler.
As usual, the card can change but Ziggler’s absence from WWE television is storyline related and it has nothing to do with an injury.
Ziggler has been with the sports entertainment company for over a decade. He signed with WWE in 2004 and was placed in the company’s developmental brand, OVW.
He was called up to the main roster in 2006 during the McMahon - DX storyline. After that storyline ended, the group did as well, and Ziggler has been on his own since then.
During his time with WWE, he has held several different titles. He held the World Tag Team Championship once, United States Championship once, Intercontinental Championship five times, and World Heavyweight Championship twice.
He also won the Money in the Bank ladder match back in 2012 where he would go onto defeat Alberto Del Rio for the World Title on Monday Night Raw in 2013. At one point, many fans thought he was the future of WWE.
WWE sent out the following on the storyline:
After Dolph Ziggler seemingly "voluntarily relinquished" the United States Championship just two days after winning it at WWE Clash of Champions, the title’s future has come into focus. On the Dec. 26 edition of SmackDown LIVE, General Manager Daniel Bryan revealed that the next champion will be determined via an Eight-Superstar tournament featuring some of Team Blue’s biggest names.
First Round Matches
Bobby Roode def. Baron Corbin
Jinder Mahal def. Tye Dillinger
Who will take hold of the star-spangled championship? Tune into SmackDown LIVE every Tuesday at 8/7 C on USA Network to find out!