From The Rumor Mill: Possible plans for the United States Championship at WrestleMania 

What's the story?

Bobby Roode defends his United States Championship against Randy Orton this weekend at Fastlane but it seems that this feud could be far from over ahead of the biggest event of the year.

In case you didn't know...

Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal and Randy Orton have been embroiled in a feud over the past few weeks surrounding the Championship but shockingly Mahal was left out of the match this weekend at Fastlane since Orton and Roode are going one-on-one for the Championship in Columbus, Ohio.

Jinder recently defeated Orton on this week's episode of SmackDown Live after Bobby Roode provided the distraction and Mahal was able to get the win after a Khallas to set up a future match between himself and Orton, who's currently the number one contender for the United States Championship.

Jinder also referred to himself as the uncrowned United States Champion on Instagram following Tuesday's show which has many fans wondering if he will be a late addition to this weekend's match.

The heart of the matter

Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer discussed future plans for the United States Championship on the most recent instalment of the show, where he revealed that Bobby Roode would defend against Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal at WrestleMania.

This was obviously a match that was thought to be taking place at Fastlane but WWE has decided to delay it for a month and instead have a triple threat match for the Championship at the biggest event of the year.

What's next?

Bobby Roode will defend against Randy Orton at Fastlane but since these two stars are set to be in the same match at WrestleMania, this match could essentially go either way. If Orton wins the title, Mahal has already pinned him so he would have a bigger claim for a match at WrestleMania, whilst Roode would have his contractual rematch.

Author's take

We are now just a month out from the biggest event of the year and it seems that all the plans for the event are being finalised as WWE presents their final pay-per-view event on the Road to WrestleMania this weekend. The United States Championship has been pushed down the ranks somewhat since AJ Styles and Kevin Owens were fighting over it, but at least now it seems that Roode could lift the credibility of the mid-card title back up in the coming weeks.

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