WWE News: Who was originally supposed to answer Bobby Roode's Open Challenge

What's the story?

It was announced the day before The Royal Rumble that United States Champion Bobby Roode would be defending his Championship as part of the kickoff show in an Open Challenge. Mojo Rawley was the man who accepted this challenge, which many of the WWE Universe found underwhelming, but it seems that this wasn't the original plan.

In case you didn't know...

Bobby Roode successfully defended his Championship as part of the kickoff show, after he won the United States Championship for the first time a few weeks ago. Roode only became Champion because he won the tournament that SmackDown General Manager Daniel Bryan set up after former Champion Dolph Ziggler seemingly relinquished the Championship back in December.

Roode wasn't scheduled to be part of the show until a few days prior when it was revealed that he would be defending his title in an Open Challenge and many of the WWE Universe thought that this would be when Dolph Ziggler would finally make his WWE return.

The heart of the matter

It seems that neither Mojo Rawley or Dolph Ziggler was part of the original plan for the match, Dave Meltzer noted on today's Wrestling Observer Radio that NXT star Adam Cole was part of the plans for a while, until someone in the creative department pitched the idea of Mojo Rawley answering it and losing an eight-minute match after the Glorious DDT.

Of course, Ziggler did return to WWE on Sunday night, but it was as part of The Royal Rumble match when he entered at number 30 and was eliminated after two minutes.

What's next?

Bobby Roode retained his Championship, but it seems that now Ziggler is back, he will definitely have something to say about the direction of the title that he never lost. It is expected that Dolph Ziggler versus Bobby Roode will happen somewhere down the line, whilst Adam Cole looks set to fight for the NXT Championship as part of WrestleMania weekend.

Author's Take

Whilst Mojo Rawley put up a great fight, it seems that there were a number of disappointed fans that expected someone else to answer the challenge. Adam Cole was a shock in the Rumble because he had been through hell against Aleister Black the night before at Takeover, so forcing him to go through an eight-minute match with a former NXT Champion would have been slightly harsh given the state that his back was believed to be in after that Extreme Rules match.