Report Hints At Possible Major Creative Shakeup On SmackDown Tonight

With the official start to WrestleMania season just weeks away, WWE has the opportunity to really shake up the landscape of the company when Friday Night SmackDown goes live tonight in Berlin, Germany.

Cody Rhodes will defend his WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre in a Three Stages of Hell Match, the fourth (and likely final) televised title bout between these men dating back to September.

Best two-out-of-three falls will decide who wins the gold, with the first stage being a straight up wrestling match. The Scottish Warrior was granted the opportunity to pick the stipulations and he stated that he wanted to prove he was better than the American Nightmare in a traditional one-on-one contest before moving on to inflict pain and punishment in the subsequent rounds.

The second stipulation will see Rhodes and McIntyre battle it out under falls count anywhere rules, and if necessary, the third and final fall will take place inside a steel cage.

Despite having numerous opportunities over the years, Drew McIntyre has not held the WWE Championship since February 2021, when The Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on him at Elimination Chamber.

The Scottish Warrior has transformed himself into arguably the most believable, intimidating, and savage heel in all of WWE since then, and no disrespect to Cody Rhodes, but there is a sizable chunk of the WWE Universe that would like to see McIntyre be rewarded for his great work.

Apparently, there are those within the company who would like to see that happen as well.

Will WWE put Drew McIntyre over on SmackDown tonight?

The folks over at Bodyslam are reporting that there has been an internal push from multiple people in WWE to have McIntyre beat Cody Rhodes for the title tonight.

Aside from the argument that McIntyre deserves an extended run at the top, with only a brief World Heavyweight Championship reign on his resume over the past five years, a surprise title change ahead of the Royal Rumble would upset the apple cart in the best way possible.

The online wrestling community was less than thrilled by a late 2025 report that WWE was considering Cody Rhodes versus Roman Reigns III at WrestleMania 42, and even if that is still the ultimate plan, there is still plenty of time to get the belt back on Cody ahead of April's 'Showcase of the Immortals.'

One of the major issues with Cody Rhodes' two reigns as WWE Champion thus far is that they've become far too predictable. No one has ever really felt like a legitimate threat to take the title off him, save for John Cena, who did take the title off of him at WrestleMania 41.

Both Rhodes and McIntyre reportedly pitched for Cody to drop the WWE Championship all the way back at Wrestlepalooza, which obviously did not happen. Likely due to the scheduled clash between Rhodes and Seth Rollins for the Crown Jewel Championship just a few weeks later.

Will anything hold Chief Content Officer Paul 'Triple H' Levesque back from pulling the trigger and crowning Drew McIntyre tonight? We'll find out soon enough.

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