Drew McIntyre Picks Tougher Rival Between Cody Rhodes and CM Punk

Drew McIntyre has beaten the best of the best during his time in WWE.

Seth Rollins, Brock Lesnar, Sami Zayn, Bobby Lashley, Jey Uso, and many others have fallen to McIntyre and his Claymore throughout the years. Outside of defeating Lesnar at WrestleMania 36 in 2020, his feuds against both CM Punk and Cody Rhodes have been the most memorable.

McIntyre has spent a great deal of time in the ring with both of those rivals. Punk and McIntyre wrestled on three different occasions. They first locked up after a nearly year-long feud at SummerSlam in 2024. McIntyre won that match, which also saw Rollins serve as the special referee.

McIntyre vs. Punk 2 was a Strap Match that took place at the Bash in Berlin show that same year. Punk was victorious in that one. The blowoff match for the feud took place at Bad Blood in October of 2024. In that match, Punk defeated McIntyre inside of Hell in a Cell.

The Rhodes vs. McIntyre feud progressed in a similar fashion. First, Rhodes defeated McIntyre at Wrestlepalooza last September. They ran the match back at the November Saturday Night's Main Event and Rhodes was victorious once again. In January of 2026, McIntyre defeated Rhodes to win the WWE Championship in a 3 Stages of Hell Match.

Drew McIntyre names the tougher opponent

So, with those two feuds as premiere moments of the last two years of WWE programming, who was the tougher enemy for McIntyre? In an interview with Complex Graps, McIntyre admitted that CM Punk was the harder rival.

"I mean, Punk is the worst human being on planet Earth," McIntye said. "So, I can start with that. He's a genuinely horrible, horrible person. I won't take away his toughness, Cody as well. They can take an absolute beating like no other and I've gave them absolutely everything.

"In the end, Punk defeated me at Hell in the Cell. Not because he was a better man, but because of severe blood loss and I was breaking my back on the steps. Eventually, we'll have another showdown where I take him down."

McIntyre still made a point to put over Cody Rhodes.

"For Cody, he's a little different in the sense that I know how good he is. I know how great he is and he could just rely on his talent. Go on that. I don't know why he just has to be the golden boy, has to take every little shortcut he can, whether it's on screen, off screen, and play this big smiley guy. I know part of that is really him, but I know part of it is not him."
Drew McIntyre

McIntyre and Rhodes renewed their rivalry on last night's episode of SmackDown. McIntyre interfered in the men's Elimination Chamber match last weekend, which prompted Nick Aldis to force McIntyre into a title defense against Rhodes.

With the WWE Championship on the line, Cody Rhodes won back the title and his spot in a title match at WrestleMania. Rhodes will now face Randy Orton for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.

WrestleMania airs live on ESPN Unlimited and Netflix internationally on April 18 and April 19 from inside Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.