Best and Worst of SmackDown before Royal Rumble: Popular Superstar keeps losing, Big mistakes made in the main event (January 29th, 2021)

#2 Worst: The Roman Reigns-Kevin Owens promo battle on SmackDown

Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens

As much as we love Kevin Owens and his role on SmackDown, we have to admit that Adam Pearce or Shinsuke Nakamura would have made for more interesting Universal title challengers at the 2021 Royal Rumble.

Instead, Adam Pearce manipulated the situation with the "card subject to change" line, and Kevin Owens was handed a free spot. Now, we know that KO was deprived of a Universal title win on TLC and the Christmas episode of SmackDown, but at this stage, he isn't a fresh opponent for Roman Reigns.

The two SmackDown stars will compete for the Universal Title in a Last Man Standing match. While we don't doubt that it will deliver, the promo battle on SmackDown was a bit underwhelming.

LIVE | "You're not supposed to be here... you're a pawn! Everything revolves around ME!" - #UniversalChampion @WWERomanReigns! #SmackDown #WWEAustralia pic.twitter.com/Qhfwubbu3t

— WWE Australia (@WWEAustralia) January 30, 2021

It turned out to be one of those "Don't talk about my family" kind of promos from Kevin Owens. He did outdo Roman Reigns, however, prompting The Tribal Chief to take a remote and switch his side of the screen off.

The Head of the Table has heard all he needs to hear...#SmackDown @WWERomanReigns @FightOwensFight @HeymanHustle pic.twitter.com/KJGNgNsWeH

— WWE (@WWE) January 30, 2021

Who will walk into SmackDown next week as the Universal Champion?