Smackdown was filmed on Tuesday night, with the show now airing on Thursday nights. Emanating from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the show was promoted around the in-ring return of Daniel Bryan. The show started with Bryan's match against Kane. Unfortunately it was cut short when Jamie Noble, Joey Mercury, Seth Rollins and Big Show got involved. That set up a six man main event for later, after Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns ran in to save Bryan. Bray Wyatt did a promo and declared his intention to win the Royal Rumble. In reality, he's a big outside bet. The Miz and Damien Mizdow and Alicia Fox defeated The Usos and Naomi. It was then announced that The Usos vs Miz and Mizdow would take place at Royal Rumble for the tag team titles. Paul Heyman was being interviewed when Seth Rollins interrupted. Rollins said that he wanted to cash money in the bank in on Lesnar, but Heyman said The Beast wasn't there. Natalya beat Nikki Bella with the sharpshooter. It was a non-title match, but there's definitely a feeling that Nattie's stock is on the rise. Big Show did an interview and said he was going to win the Rumble. Kane said the same thing. Bad News Barrett defeated Sin Cara and retained the Intercontinental Title. Dean Ambrose said he was going to win the Royal Rumble. Well, he's got a much better chance than Kane or Big Show, at least. Bryan, Reigns and Ambrose defeated Kane, Big Show and Rollins. Triple H came out at the end and announced it would be Kane vs Bryan next week, with the stipulation that if Bryan loses he'll be out of the Royal Rumble. Could that actually happen, could Bryan be out of the Rumble? It seems unlikely given the backlash last year, but there's certainly an issue with having both Bryan and Reigns in the Rumble. Both are going for the same spot, and whoever loses, is going to see their status stalling.
