As was seen on this week's edition of WWEĀ SmackDown Live, the finals of the U.S. Championship Tournament took place onĀ SmackDownĀ instead ofĀ Royal Rumble,Ā and Bobby Roode defeated former WWE Champion Jinder Mahal in the finals to become the new WWE United States Champion.
Dave Meltzer ofĀ The Wrestling Observer NewsletterĀ notes that this was probably done to due timing issues for theĀ Royal RumbleĀ pay-per-view. Between the Men and Women's Royal Rumble Matches, those will likely take up about half of the four-hour show.
Meltzer also noted that an injury might have contributed to the change in plans as well, though he didn't say who exactly it was that may have been injured.