Update On When Drew McIntyre’s WWE Contract Expires
The future of Drew McIntyre in WWE has become a hot topic with a new update providing information on when Drew’s contract expires.
Drew McIntyre competed in one of the best matches of his career at WrestleMania 39 last Sunday. It was a triple threat match for the Intercontinental Championship match with Drew and his best friend Sheamus competing against GUNTHER. While GUNTHER kept his title in a grueling, physical battle, the match was praised heavily for being an all-time great match.
Going into this week’s Smackdown in Portland, McIntyre was not present at the show due to a health issue, which could mean he was banged up from the WrestleMania match.
A new report from Fightful Select notes that while there was nothing specific reported about why Drew McIntyre missed Smackdown, Drew’s WWE contract “still has about nine months on it.” Since we are in the first week of April that likely means the contract ends at the end of 2023, so Drew is probably a free agent in early 2024 if he doesn’t sign a new deal.
Coming out of WrestleMania 39 week, it was reported that Drew McIntyre is in the last year of his WWE contract with PWInsider noting that the two sides “aren’t even close” to agreeing on a new deal.
Meanwhile, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter noted that “McIntyre did tell some of his friends that and didn’t expect it to get out, but the story is accurate” and “it’s a long ways away” meaning the contract isn’t expiring imminently.
There was also a report from Wade Keller of PWTorch that Drew McIntyre is unhappy with his creative direction in WWE while also not being happy about what WWE offered him on a new deal.
Even though Drew McIntyre is a two-time former WWE Champion and one of the top babyfaces on Smackdown, the Scottish Warrior hasn’t been featured heavily on the show since last September at Clash at the Castle. That was when he failed to beat Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship due to an interfering Solo Sikoa.
On last night’s Wrestling Observer Radio, Meltzer spoke more about McIntyre’s situation.
“No, I think he’s banged up…..is that what they said that he had an illness on TV? Okay, whatever it is was before WrestleMania because he worked through WrestleMania and the WrestleMania match and whatever the situation is. The injury, banged up, or whatever it is. Getting through and doing WrestleMania and now, I don’t know how long he’s going to be out. That’s the situation and then there’s the other situation, which we’ve talked about, the contract situation, which is not related to this, but it’s gotten out this week.”
“That’s legit too in the sense they’re not close on money. It’s a long ways away. I hear people say, ‘Oh, he’s going to be at the [August 27th AEW] Wembley show.’ And it’s like, I don’t have the date, but I don’t think that’s contractually possible. I think that his contract runs well past that date. It’s a story to play out, but it’s not going to play out this week or next week.”
Considering Drew’s status in WWE as a main event performer, it’s obviously a big story that we will continue to update as more information becomes available.