Drew McIntyre’s brief run as Undisputed WWE Champion left many fans wondering why the company made the switch in the first place — only to give the title back to Cody Rhodes weeks later. Now a new update is shedding light on what may have been going on behind the scenes.
As previously reported, Rhodes regained the Undisputed WWE Championship from McIntyre on the March 6 episode of SmackDown. The decision sparked a wave of backlash online, with the video of the title change quickly becoming one of WWE’s most disliked uploads of the year.
According to a prior report from Self Made Pro, McIntyre was aware his reign might be short even before WrestleMania season got underway. Sources close to the Scottish Warrior indicated he understood there was a strong chance the title would change hands again.
“Drew McIntyre, according to sources close to him, would have contemplated maybe just taking some time off had he not beaten Cody for the belt at the start of the year.”
The report added that McIntyre knew the possibility of losing the title during WrestleMania season was always on the table.
“Throughout this entire process, Drew was very much aware of the possibility, and in some cases even the likelihood, that he was going to drop the championship during Mania season. So he’s not surprised or mind-blown that it’s happened. He was aware of what this reign was going to be.”
Now another report is offering more insight into why WWE put the championship on McIntyre in the first place. Speaking on The Dirty Sheets podcast, Billi Bhatti claimed the decision to move the title from Cody Rhodes to McIntyre earlier this year was part of an attempt to freshen up the main event scene. According to Bhatti, WWE officials believed the championship picture had become predictable.
“It is my understanding from speaking to sources — and I honestly would love to reveal who one of these people are because they’re quite close to the situation, but I can’t — but trust me, a lot of this centers around the fact that the title change that originally happened in Berlin came about because WWE felt that Cody Rhodes had become a little bit stale and the title picture had become a little bit predictable and stale.”
Bhatti said the idea reportedly came from SmackDown head writer Road Dogg, who pushed for a creative shift heading toward WrestleMania.
“And it was a Road Dogg pitch that came about where Road Dogg was in favor of switching up the belt and changing course for WrestleMania.”
According to Bhatti, WWE’s early WrestleMania plans looked very different from what fans may ultimately see.
“Now at the time we knew the course for WrestleMania was Cody Rhodes versus Roman Reigns and Bron Breakker versus CM Punk. So that was the direction that we were going in for WrestleMania.”
Bhatti went on to claim those plans changed after WWE saw negative fan reaction online to another potential Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns match.
“WWE were aware already of the reaction to the leak that it was supposed to be Cody and Roman Reigns… and they did know what the reaction to that was because believe it or not they are on social media.”
He added that Bron Breakker’s injury also complicated the original direction for the WrestleMania card.
“This was also aided by the fact that Bron Breakker was injured. So Bron Breakker’s win over CM Punk wasn’t going to be happening at WrestleMania… and it turns out now that Breakker’s injury was a lot more serious than they even thought at the time.”
McIntyre’s championship win may have been part of a larger creative pivot rather than the start of a long-term title reign. Instead, the move may have simply been designed to shake up the main event scene before WWE ultimately returned the title to Rhodes. The move clearly struck a nerve with fans online, and the debate over McIntyre’s short title run doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon.
What do you think about WWE putting the championship on Drew McIntyre only to have Cody Rhodes win it back weeks later? Should McIntyre have kept the title longer, or was the switch the right call? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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