Drew McIntyre was taken from a fan signing set earlier in the day, according to PWInsider and The Wrestling Observer. GUNTHER took his seat at the signing and is unhappy with how he is being handled.
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Drew McIntyre was absent from SmackDown Friday night (April 7) due to a health concern, according to reports. According to a recent PW Torch claim, McIntyre was “physically beat up” after his Intercontinental championship Triple Threat with Sheamus and Gunther at WrestleMania 39 last weekend. However, Keller suggests that this is only half of the problem with the 37-year-old two-time WWE champion.
While the company was in Southern California for WrestleMania, rumors circulated that McIntyre is in the final year of his current WWE contract and that the two parties aren’t close to reaching an agreement. Keller’s sources provided the following information regarding the negotiations:
“… there’s been talk that he is unhappy with his current situation in WWE and I’m hearing it’s kind of a mix of creative and money and what kind of offer he’s getting for a renewal. It sounds like WWE is taking seriously the possibility that he is going to let his deal run out rather than agree to something that he believes is less than he deserves or less than he what he thinks he has coming.” H/t WrestleNews.co
According to reports over the weekend, Drew’s contract has plenty of time left on it. Whether or not that is correct, Keller believes we will learn more about McIntyre’s future soon, predicting that the “situation will probably, based on what I’m hearing, be decided pretty quickly one way or the other.”
We’ve heard from a number of wrestlers who are dissatisfied with WWE creative, and McIntyre is the second who has worked in the main event scenario and believes the business is undervaluing them monetarily. With the Endeavor transaction still in the works, WWE is unlikely to want to add a lot of money to the books. It’ll be fascinating to watch how Vince McMahon and his former Chosen One get along.
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Gunther retained the Intercontinental Championship after defeating Drew McIntyre and Sheamus in a Triple Threat match on Night 2 of WWE WrestleMania 39 on Sunday. The bout was a hard-hitting battle that is sure to be remembered as an instant classic, but the titleholder finally won with a pair of powerbombs.
The Ring General was looking for a lone opponent heading into ‘Mania, but a sequence of unexpected circumstances resulted in both McIntyre and Sheamus getting a championship shot on The Grandest Stage of Them All. McIntyre challenged Gunther to an intercontinental championship battle at WrestleMania a few weeks ago on SmackDown, but Sheamus rushed out to attack his pal.
The Celtic Warrior was surprised that the Scot was attempting to sneak ahead of him, knowing that Sheamus had been eager to get another shot at Gunther since losing to him at Clash at the Castle in September and again the following month. While McIntyre and Sheamus were debating who should fight The Ring General, a swarm of Superstars including LA Knight, Karrion Kross, and The New Day appeared, ending in a brawl.
As a result, WWE official Adam Pearce scheduled a Fatal 5-Way match between McIntyre, Sheamus, Knight, Kross, and Xavier Woods, with the winner challenging Gunther at WrestleMania. When Gunther told Pearce that he only wanted one ‘Mania opponent, the official scheduled a final No. 1 Contender’s battle between McIntyre and Sheamus.
Gunther entered the ring to degrade McIntyre and Sheamus as they were pushing each other to their limits. Both the men were then attacked from behind by Imperium members Giovanni Vinci and Ludwig Kaiser, resulting in a double disqualification. That left Pearce with no choice except to give both McIntyre and Sheamus a Triple Threat championship bout at WrestleMania.
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