News: WWE Announces WWE Champion Drew McIntyre Tested Positive for COVID-19, McIntyre to Comment on Raw Tonight
There was one major match announced for WWE Raw tonight: WWE Champion Drew McIntyre facing an old rival in Randy Orton in what was going to be a non-title match. However, that’s not going to happen now.
The following announcement was made by WWE on their website this afternoon:
Drew McIntyre has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been placed in quarantine.
Check back to WWE.com for more updates as they become available.
That means McIntyre vs. Orton is off tonight and McIntyre will likely be at home during Raw. It is expected that Orton will still be wrestling on Raw against a different opponent.
On last week’s Raw, McIntyre beat Keith Lee to retain the WWE Title. After the match on Legends Night, WWE Hall of Famer Goldberg challenged McIntyre to a WWE Title match. It was likely that WWE would have announced McIntyre vs. Goldberg for the Royal Rumble PPV on January 31, but the company will likely wait to do that.
It has also been reported by Fightful Select that McIntyre is one of several wrestlers that tested positive for COVID-19 following the New Year’s holiday. There have been cases that have affected wrestlers that work for WWE on Raw/Smackdown, plus AEW Dynamite and Impact Wrestling. A lot of wrestlers live in the state of Florida, they hang out and that’s how it can spread.
It is interesting that WWE announced it on their website. My guess is that Drew is okay with it and WWE might have felt they needed to be honest with the fans since Drew was advertised for a big match on Raw and now he won’t be on the show. This isn’t any different than what pro sports teams have been doing when they announce it when a player has COVID-19. In WWE’s case, they have done injury angles like last year when Apollo Crews tested positive for COVID-19, they said he was hurt and then he was back in action a few weeks later.
In an update on the story, WWE announced that McIntyre will comment on the situation on tonight’s episode of Raw.
TJR Thoughts: First of all, I wish Drew the best and good health to him as well as his family.
Every person and situation is different when it comes to COVID-19. There are NFL players that get it and are playing like ten days later, such as Alvin Kamara of the New Orleans Saints yesterday, who had a great game. Same with NBA players. We don’t know how long Drew might be out. If he’s not feeling ill then he might be back in a week or two and still be able to wrestle at Royal Rumble on January 31. We just don’t know right now.