Drew McIntyre has been out of action since he ruptured his eardrum at Survivor Series. The injury forced him to pull out of a tag team match with Sheamus against The Usos the following week on Smackdown, and that absence has quietly extended throughout the month of December. In fact, it appears he’s still not ready to return to competition.
According to ComicBook, Drew McIntyre has been pulled from WWE’s December 26th show at Madison Square Garden. He was originally set for an eight man tag team match with Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens and Sheamus against The Usos, Sami Zayn and Solo Sikoa. That’s not happening anymore. Instead, fans will reportedly get Strowman and Owens against The Usos, while McIntyre will seemingly get some more time off.
Injuries happen in wrestling, and while occasionally fighting through them in a high leverage spot (like Cody Rhodes at Hell In A Cell) sometimes happens, there’s absolutely no reason anyone should be rushing back from injury to make a random house show. Drew McIntyre should take the time he needs to come back fully healed and ready for another great run. Exactly what that run might be, however, is an open question. In fact, I’m really curious about where he goes from here.
What Will Drew McIntyre Do Next In WWE?
For portions of 2022, Drew McIntyre was positioned as the single biggest threat to Roman Reigns and the most likely to finally take his titles. He was opposite the Tribal Chief in the main event at Clash At The Castle in front of some 60,000 people, and while he didn’t get his British Bulldog moment in front of European fans, he did put on a hell of a show and further established himself as one of WWE’s biggest stars.
But after that, his appearances have been a little more ordinary. He had a multiple premium live event feud with Karrion Kross, which was nice enough. He ended the feud on top and also semi-legitimized Kross, which was a perfectly fine use of his time. Then he was added to War Games as part of Sheamus’ team, which sorta made sense given his history with The Bloodline, but to be honest, he still felt like a bit of an afterthought. And he’s been gone since then.
So, what is WWE to do with one of its biggest stars who doesn’t currently have a direction? They could always run it back with Roman Reigns, but given The Rock's possible appearance at WrestleMania 39, that seems unlikely. Do they keep him out until The Royal Rumble? Maybe he goes on a big run but is eliminated by another A-lister and they start feuding? Maybe someone like Seth Rollins or Cody Rhodes? Maybe, with all due respect to LA Knight who I love, he becomes the first major feud for Bray Wyatt?
There are a lot of possible directions WWE can go with Drew McIntyre over the next few premium live events, but what’s important is he’s not perceived to be falling down the card. With WrestleMania season approaching, he needs to be working a program with someone else who is over. He's a high leverage guy, and he should be working in key, high leverage stories. Fingers crossed WWE picks the right superstar.
