Drew McIntyres rise back to the top of WWE on the January 9, 2026, edition of SmackDown may have excited fansbut thats not how things were originally booked to play out.
According to Bryan Alvarez on the January 12 episode of Wrestling Observer Live, the Undisputed WWE Title match was originally slated to be a triple threat between McIntyre, Cody Rhodes, and Jacob Fatu. The plan was set, until Fatu vanished from TV with a dental injury.
The shift turned out to be a major win for McIntyre, who defeated Rhodes in a brutal 3 Stages of Hell match in Berlin. The third fallcontested inside a steel cagefeatured the surprise return of Jacob Fatu, who laid waste to both competitors. Despite the chaos, McIntyre managed to escape the cage and win his fourth world title.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful later added that the decision to put the Undisputed WWE Title on Drew McIntyre wasnt last-minuteit was strategic.
The matchs shocking finish wasnt all creative team eitherboth McIntyre and Rhodes pitched the ending to WWE officials earlier that day, according to Bodyslam.net, proposing a title change to add weight to the WrestleMania build.
Now, with Fatu back in the picture and McIntyre carrying the gold, WWE seems to have circled right back to its original plansjust with a lot more heat behind them. Its unclear whether the triple threat will still happen down the line, but the groundwork is clearly there.
Do you think WWE should still run the triple threat match this year? Or was Drew McIntyre vs. Cody Rhodes the right call all along? Sound off in the comments and let us know what youd book next.
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