Major WWE Star Moving To SmackDown To Face Cody Rhodes

A former World Champion is heading to SmackDown to face Cody Rhodes.

After being eliminated from the Royal Rumble, Drew McIntyre let everyone know backstage that he wasn’t happy with how the situation played out.

According to reports in the immediate aftermath, he was upset at someone in the match “having to get their moves in.” The same report noted that McIntyre wasn’t alone in feeling that was the case. The person in question is believed to be LA Knight.

In the match, McIntyre was eliminated by Damian Priest, albeit at the second attempt, and it’s believed this will set up a match between the pair. As such a move for McIntyre from Raw to SmackDown is on the way.

Reporting in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, Dave Meltzer states that McIntyre’s move to SmackDown will soon become official as he begins his rivalry with Priest. However, the star is also slated to face Cody Rhodes in a match postponed from 2023.

McIntyre is moving to Smackdown. He’ll be working with Priest at first but the idea of him moving to Smackdown dates back long before there were any ideas for him an Priest. He’d been pushing Reigns in his promos for months for that reason.

There is also a plan right now to get to Rhodes vs. McIntyre, which was scheduled for 2023 before Rhodes ended up not winning the title that year.

Cody Rhodes To Face John Cena

Elsewhere in the newsletter, Meltzer noted that plans for Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena at WrestleMania were originally drawn up as far back as October. This will see Cena win the Elimination Chamber before going on to face Rhodes at the Showcase of the Immortals and claiming the Undisputed WWE Title for a record-breaking 17th time.

Given that Rhodes was initially set to face The Rock at the event, it means that those plans were dropped several months ago.

Cena has 33 dates remaining on his contract for 2025.