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What's the story?
Bobby Roode successfully defeated Jinder Mahal in the finals of the United States Championship tournament to become the new United States champion on this week's WWE SmackDown.
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In case you didn't know...
After winning the United States Title at Clash of Champions in a Triple Threat match against Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode, Dolph Ziggler cut a promo stating the WWE Universe wasn't worthy and abandoned the US Title in the middle of the ring, leading to a tournament being announced to crown a new champion.
New Champs in WWE! More RIGHT HERE
In the first round of the United States Title Tournament, Bobby Roode successfully beat Baron Corbin to advance to the next round, whilst Jinder Mahal triumphed over Tye Dillinger. To advance to the finals, Bobby Roode had to overcome Mojo Rawley, and Jinder Mahal had to halt Xavier Woods' US Title hopes.
The heart of the matter
Bobby Roode advanced to the finals of the tournament after beating Mojo Rawley, and Jinder Mahal joined him by beating Xavier Woods after the rest of The New Day chased off The Singh Brothers.
The tournament final, which was originally announced for the Royal Rumble Pay-Per-View was pushed forward to next week. However, following an altercation between the two finalists, SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan moved the final forward to this week's SmackDown LIVE.
With the Singh Brothers banned from ringside, and Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon watching on, Bobby Roode was able to counter a Khallas attempt into the Glorious DDT to become the new United States Champion.
What's next?
Well, obviously Dolph Ziggler is next. Clearly, he's coming back to reclaim his title that he never officially left. What happened to the 30-day, no compete clause? But in all seriousness, I'm not sure. The WWE announced the final of the tournament at the Royal Rumble and will have moved it forward two weeks for a reason. We'll have to wait and see what it is.
Author's take
I'm happy for Bobby Roode, he's a great talent and deserves to be a WWE title holder. But I do hope that Ziggler ends up coming back soon.
