We are finally officially into WrestleMania season, with the results of the Royal Rumble dictating a few of the matches that will headline the card, while other moments from the night seeming to hint at what's to come.
Among those more notable moments was the elimination of Drew McIntyre, as Damian Priest eliminated him earlier in the match than expected. This happened after having a stardown with Roman Reigns, a longtime foe of the Scottish Warrior, who seemed like a great opponent for him for this year's big show.
But rumors swirled that this wasn't the planned direction for McIntyre leading up to WrestleMania and instead, he would have a feud with Priest, the guy who eliminated him from the Rumble match.
That prompted a lot of response from WWE fans online, most of whom were not pleased and felt McIntyre deserved a better matchup for the show. Since he had been moved to Smackdown, along with Priest, it was clear that was the immediate thought behind the two squaring off. But the backlash online seems to have worked in the fan's favor again, at least according to the latest speculation.
Drew McIntyre might not have a match with Damian Priest at WrestleMania 41 after all
According to those at SportsKeeda Wrestling, the displeasure from the fans about McIntyre's likely future for WrestleMania has potentially changed the minds of those on creative.
They claim sources have indicated plans might shift in a new direction for McIntyre because of it, and it's hard to argue that it's not a good idea.
Sources within WWE have informed me that the online backlash of Drew McIntyre's potential WrestleMania opponent has opened up internal discussions to reevaluate current plans. pic.twitter.com/iyi9zoHlKW
— Dr. Chris Featherstone, Ph.D. (@chrisprolific) February 11, 2025
McIntyre was part of perhaps the best storyline and feud of all 2024 in WWE, putting on multiple banger matches with CM Punk and dominating the industry in all facets of the game. He embraced the character and the hatred for his former friend, leading to some of the best WWE television of the Triple H era.
That seems to warrant a top-quality storyline and opponent for WrestleMania, but there are more reasons than that.
Besides his incredible recent work, we have also seen teases of McIntyre wanting to go after Reigns and the rest of the Bloodline for all they did to him over the past five years, mainly taking the WWE Championship off of him during the Thunderdome era. He has a vendetta against the Bloodline, which is an easy match to make, but WWE has chosen a different and confusing direction.
If the rumors are true that they're going to reevaluate their plans for McIntyre, it'll be interesting to see who it might shift from. If not Priest, some have suggested L.A. Knight instead, which doesn't necessarily feel like much of an upgrade in excitement level than Priest.
But given the direction of most other top stars, like Reigns, Seth Rollins, CM Punk, and John Cena, it's hard to pinpoint who they could match McIntyre up with in a way that makes sense. Regardless of who it might be, though, most can agree that Priest isn't the right guy, and McIntyre should have a better WrestleMania match than that.