Rollins Eliminates Usos From Interfering at the Rumble, Plus What Brand Split?

As WWE was gearing up towards the Royal Rumble, this week's SmackDown ignored the brand split and brought in Seth Rollins, Big E, and Kevin Owens to tell a few respective stories heading into a premium live event where stars from both the red brand and the blue brand would be front and center. Not only that, but SmackDown saw the return of Eric Bischoff, Summer Rae and included a few celebrity appearances. Not everything was a win, but WWE was able to inch themselves closer to a big event and set up some potentially big developments. Here are your winners and losers for SmackDown, January 21, 2022:

Winner: Opening Promo

Roman Reigns and the Usos opened the show to celebrate Reigns and his 508 days as Universal Champion. The longest-reigning champion in the title's history, his celebration was short-lived as Seth Rollins came down to the ringside area to interrupt. Telling The Head of the Table that the Usos were also the longest-reigning SmackDown Tag Champions ever, Rollins tried to get inside Reigns' head by saying the Usos were the real lifeblood of The Bloodline. Rollins even dropped a Jon Moxley reference in The Shield to suggest Reigns has never been the main guy. Rollins then suggested a tag match between himself and a partner versus the Usos. If the Usos lost, they couldn't be ringside for the Rollins vs. Reigns match at the Rumble. If Rollins and his partner lost, Rollins would lose his chance to challenge for the title.

This promo started a bit slow, but once Rollins showed up, things picked up. Kevin Owens appeared by Rollins' side and agreed to help him later in the night. Clearly a babyface on the night, the match result was going to be predictable, but the match itself would be fire. The video package was smart and the Moxley reference will certainly get the WWE Universe talking.

Loser: Kofi Kingston Defeats Madcap Moss

In another instance where a Raw Superstar jumped over to SmackDown, Big E appeared by the side of Kofi Kingston to take on Madcap Moss. The idea was to even out the odds after Happy Corbin caused a distraction to Moss could pick up the win last week. Kingston got the pin in a match that didn't last incredibly long and when Corbin thought to get involved, Big E backed him off and delivered a Big Ending on Moss for good measure.

There was nothing wrong with this match, other than it was another instance of WWE's 50/50 booking and it didn't do much to further any sort of storyline. The big takeaway was probably that Big E was on the show reminding everyone that as the Royal Rumble nears, anything can happen.

Loser: Natalya vs. Aliyah

In a rematch from last week, Natalya was looking to exact a measure of revenge following a record-breaking loss. This match was clearly longer than last week, but it wasn't meant to do much more than bring back Xia Li. Li debuted a few weeks back and then mysteriously disappeared. Now, apparently, she's back to save Aliyah, who won the match when Natalya got herself disqualified by refusing to stop kicking her opponent while in the corner. The entire thing was a bit awkward.

Winner: Eric Bischoff Offers Adam Pearce Some Guidance

After Sonya Deville screwed Naomi again -- this time acting as the official in Naomi's match versus Charlotte Flair and calling for an early bell during a submission attempt -- Deville wound up backstage where she was surprised to see Bischoff talking to Adam Pearce. It was clear the former GM and head of WCW was giving Pearce advice about being a good leader. Pearce told Deville that he reached out to WWE higher-ups and urged them to book a match with Naomi for next week.

Not only is it good that WWE might finally bring a resolution to the Deville and Naomi saga, but if they're hinting that Bischoff might be working his way to WWE as an official, that's an interesting twist that could have some fascinating results. The downside here is that Pearce is, all of a sudden acting like a saint or that he hasn't had his share of questionable moments as a WWE official.

Winner/Loser: Sami Zayn Zaps Himself... Kind Of

The segment wasn't great, but Sami Zayn is so good, he actually made the 10 minutes of goofiness entertaining. The idea was that Zayn was going to prove he was tougher than Johnny Knoxville by zapping himself with a cattle prod. The only problem was, he didn't turn it on. Knoxville came to the ring and zapped Zayn while the WWE sound crew failed the two men. Even will all of that, this could have been much worse.

Winner: Rollins Gets The Usos Booted From The Universal Championship Match

The Usos were sure to cause a problem for Rollins if they were able to accompany Reigns to the Royal Rumble so Rollins was willing to put his opportunity on the line in a tag match to close the show. All he had to do was beat The Usos. Smartly, that meant a DQ would qualify as a loss and that's exactly what Rollins got Roman Reigns to do; get his cousins disqualified.

This was as good a match as you would expect from the four men involved. So too, the WWE Universe is clearly behind Rollins as a good guy in this rivalry. With Owens playing shotgun, all of the elements worked well to further the storyline heading into the title bout.

SmackDown Match Results:

* Kofi Kingston defeats Madcap Moss after delivering Trouble in Paradise after throwing Moss off the ropes.

* Aliyah wins over Natalya by disqualification

* The Viking Raiders defeat Los Lotharios with the Viking Experience, cementing their status as No. 1 contenders for the SmackDown Tag Team Championships.

* Charlotte Flair defeats Naomi after Sonya Deville called for the bell, but Naomi didn't actually submit.

* Sheamus defeated Ricochet in a one-on-one match that featured the return of Ridge Holland. This was a fairly one-sided match.

* Seth Rollins and Kevin owens defeated The Usos after Roman Reigns interfered in the match and got his cousins disqualified. Rollins was happy because it meant The Usos could not be ringside for their WWE Universal Championship match at The Royal Rumble.