Current NXT Star Was Originally Supposed To Answer The U.S. Open Challenge

During John Cena’s United States Championship reign in 2015, he would heavily revive the prestige of the title by issuing open challenges for any competitor backstage. During this time, names such as Kane, Neville, Sami Zayn, Stardust, Zack Ryder, Bad News Barrett, Kevin Owens, Rusev, Dean Ambrose, and Cesaro all stepped up to the plate, but were unable to defeat Cena for the title.

Cena would eventually get dethroned by Seth Rollins at SummerSlam, which you can view the match below.

John Cena vs. Seth Rollins: SummerSlam 2015: WWE Network

When Bobby Roode won the United States Championship tournament, WWE announced that he will also have an Open Challenge at the Royal Rumble preshow. The WWE Universe speculated a variety of names. After much suspense, the ultimate person who answered the challenge was former Hype Bro Mojo Rawley.

Despite this lackluster choice, another person was reportedly originally supposed to be Roode’s opponent.

According to F4WOnline, via WrestlingINC, NXT star Adam Cole was slated to fill that spot. However, plans changed when WWE felt as if losing in under 10 minutes to Roode on the preshow would hurt any momentum.

Instead, Cole was a surprise entrant in the Royal Rumble match at number 23, and lasted nearly seven minutes before getting eliminated by Rey Mysterio. Dolph Ziggler was also a consideration, but ended up being number 30 in the Royal Rumble.

Follow Chris Featherstone on Twitter @chrisprolific, and the Pancakes and Powerslams Show @cravewrestling.