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Drew McIntyre Exposes the Reality Behind Last Week’s Heinous Attack on Cody Rhodes on SmackDown
Cody Rhodes Reveals WWE’s New Locker Room Leader Following in The Undertaker’s Footsteps in 2025 2 Cody Rhodes and John Cena (via WWE)

A week after driving Cody Rhodes‘ head through the announce desk with a Claymore kick, Drew McIntyre turned up to SmackDown with an explanation. Did anyone expect him to apologize? That’s not how he operates. In fact, the Scot turned the tide on the WWE Champion by pinning the entire blame on Rhodes for what happened last Friday.

McIntyre took everyone down memory lane to make them recall the ending sequence to last week’s tag team showdown that saw John Cena delivering an AA to Logan Paul. ‘The Scottish Warrior’ broke up the count to save ‘The Maverick’ and had Cena lined up for the Claymore kick. Rhodes, however, caught the Scot right on his chin with a kick and took him out of the ring.

‘The Scottish Warrior’ stepped out of the ring to present a close picture of what transpired at the scene. He asserted that the former AEW EVP drove him face-first into the ring post after the match had already ended in a DQ. So, as per McIntyre, it was Rhodes who initiated the brawl and not the other way around. ‘The American Nightmare’ cleared the commentary table and was about to put the 6’5″ wrestler from Ayr through it.

Having said that, McIntyre decked Rhodes’ face with the WWE title belt in self-defense, and the rest is history. In a scathing rant, the Scot deemed Rhodes as a nobody without his story and the championship belt he’s currently holding. At last, the former WWE Champion claimed that he’s not a bad guy in this situation, but he would do extremely violent things if provoked. McIntyre wished ‘The Prodigal Son’ to get well soon before exiting.

Cody Rhodes compares SummerSlam glory to finishing his story at WrestleMania XL

While Cody Rhodes was absent from this week’s SmackDown, the fans could definitely expect him to be back when WWE heads to Dublin next Friday. He’s still fresh off his second world title win in WWE. At SummerSlam, the former AEW star ousted John Cena in a street fight that received a five-star rating from Dave Meltzer. Rhodes had embarked on his journey to regain the coveted prize since the moment he was screwed out of it at WrestleMania 41.

‘The American Nightmare’ recently spoke to Jimmy Traina of Sports Illustrated. Rhodes explained why the SummerSlam coup against Cena felt more cathartic to him than the culmination of his story at WrestleMania XL.

He alluded to silencing all his naysayers by going through the tough grind of regaining the WWE title and proving to the cynics that he was indeed the right choice of the upper management to be pushed in such a capacity.

The first time, WrestleMania 40, was a completely different feeling because I felt like I was capturing something that involved so many people……….This one felt, selfishly, for me, in terms of, ‘See, I told you.’ Not in a mean-spirited way, but ‘I told you.’ I was the right guy for the job and I’ve been the right guy for the job.

Cody Rhodes via Sports Illustrated

Whereas there wasn’t any such feeling attached to it when he was gunning to take down Roman Reigns at WrestleMania last year. In fact, back then, he had to finish the story for each and every character that was involved to make their bout the sheer spectacle it turned out to be. More importantly, ‘The QB1’ had to dig deep and get the job done for his late father, ‘The American Dream’ Dusty Rhodes.

Cody Rhodes seems likely to oppose Drew McIntyre at Clash in Paris

With Clash in Paris, the next PLE stop in WWE’s calendar, it does seem like the plausible destination for a Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre showdown. There wouldn’t have been a more stifling start to Rhodes’ current title reign than a psychotic McIntyre breathing down his neck with full steam ahead.


(Video) Drew McIntyre Claymores Cody Rhodes Through the Table in Epic Brawl on SmackDown 1 Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes [via WWE]

For someone who has gotten agonizingly close to capturing the world title on multiple occasions in 2024, McIntyre is a man possessed. ‘The Scottish Warrior’ is likely to use the misery he had suffered in recent months in his favor against ‘The American Nightmare’.

In a fascinating fact, McIntyre is one of the five men in WWE, apart from The Rock , Roman Reigns, John Cena, and Solo Sikoa, to have pinned Rhodes since his return to WWE at WrestleMania 38. Could the Scot do it again? Because that’s all he needs to become a three-time world champion in WWE.

This article first appeared on FirstSportz and was syndicated with permission.

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