WWE Announces SmackDown Main Event, Xavier Woods Issues Challenge For Survivor Series/Royal Rumble

WWE has announced a Battle for the Rule of SmackDown for this coming Friday night. The non-title bout will see King Xavier Woods lock up with WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns. The winner will be able to say they run the blue brand.

Last Friday’s SmackDown saw Woods defeat SmackDown Tag Team Champion Jimmy Uso in the main event. Per the stipulation, Uso had to bend his knee to Woods, but Reigns interrupted that post-match angle and The Bloodline ended up beating down King Woods and Sir Kofi Kingston.

After the assault, The Head of The Table stood over Woods and proclaimed, “If you show up next week, I’ll show you what a real king looks like.” As seen in the Twitter video below, Woods issued a response to Reigns and accepted the challenge for this Friday night at the Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia.

King Woods also issued a challenge to Team RAW for the WWE Survivor Series pay-per-view. As noted, WWE has announced two big 5-on-5 Survivor Series Elimination Matches for the November 21 pay-per-view – Team RAW’s Seth Rollins, Finn Balor, Kevin Owens, Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio vs. Team SmackDown’s Woods, Jeff Hardy, Drew McIntyre, Sami Zayn and Happy Baron Corbin, plus women’s division action with Team RAW’s Bianca Belair, Queen Zelina, Carmella, Liv Morgan and WWE Women’s Tag Team Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Team SmackDown’s Sasha Banks, Shayna Baszler, Natalya, Aliyah and Shotzi.

Woods wondered what the men’s teams are fighting for, and proposed that the losing team participate in a Fatal 5 Way Elimination Match, fighting for spots 1-5 in the 30-Man Royal Rumble Match that headlines the Rumble pay-per-view on January 29. The winning 5-man team would also participate in a Fatal 5 Way Elimination Match, but they’d be fighting for spots 26-30 in the Rumble Match.

WWE has confirmed Reigns vs. Woods for SmackDown, but they have not confirmed the Survivor Series/Royal Rumble challenge issued by Woods.