Drew McIntyre defeated Seth Rollins with multiple Claymore Kicks to become the new WWE World Heavyweight champion. The two top stars opened WrestleMania 40 in a big way in front of a much hotter crowd (and stadium) in Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field. Following McIntyre’s win, Damian Priest successfully cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on McIntyre.
McIntyre beat down a battle-worn Seth Rollins less than 24 hours after a violent main event against The Rock and Roman Reigns. An emotional McIntyre weeped as he finally got his moment. Seth Rollins, who sold his leg the entire match, was also weeping as he limped to the entrance way. In storyline, Rollins was crying because of the bitter defeat. Legitimately, I believe Rollins was crying tears of happiness after seeing his fellow WWE Superstar finally get his moment.
The master of trolling, Drew McIntyre attempted a GTS at one point as a not-so-subtle shot at his bitter rival CM Punk. But McIntyre was just getting started. After his win and special moment with his wife, McIntyre continued to taunt Punk by making a lewd gesture toward Phil Brooks while standing on the announce table. Punk responded by attacking McIntyre, blasting him with his protective sleeve and beating him down. Enter Damian Priest, who cashed in after 280 days. In addition to blowing a chef’s kiss, CM Punk also blew a kiss to Drew McIntyre’s wife.
And the troll got trolled.
WWE flexed its cinematic muscles through the story of Seth Rollins vs. Drew McIntyre. Timing is everything in pro wrestling. In the past, both Rollins and McIntyre have learned this the hard way.
In 2020, Drew McIntyre reached the pinnacle of WWE by winning the WWE Championship. Unfortunately, nobody was there to see it. Earlier this year, Seth Rollins injured his knee in a WWE World Championship match against Jinder Mahal. The injury put his knee and WrestleMania XL status in jeopardy.
Both Rollins and McIntyre have since recovered from their adversities—impeccably—and are now benefiting from good timing this WrestleMania season. The backlash against The Rock stealing Cody Rhodes’ WrestleMania spot forced WWE to pivot. As a result, Rhodes was reinserted in his rightful place as challenger for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championship. Rollins leveled up by joining Cody Rhodes to fight the good fight against The Bloodline, and more importantly, get the rub from The Rock.
When CM Punk returned at WWE Survivor Series, McIntyre seemed like he was set to be the odd man out this WrestleMania season. McIntyre even found himself addressing rumors about being legitimately upset and walking out of the building following Punk’s return. Seemingly made to wait yet another year for his elusive world title moment in front of a full crowd, McIntyre turned one man’s tragedy into his own triumph following a devastating triceps injury to CM Punk in the 2024 WWE Royal Rumble.
Punk’s loss turned into McIntyre’s gain as Drew stepped into what was supposed to be Punk’s role to challenge Rollins for the WWE World Championship. Suddenly, McIntyre now found himself on the doorstep of a world title win, though it’s not appropriate to call CM Punk’s injury a good timing situation. Everybody knows that.
Everybody except Drew McIntyre.
Because not only did the self-proclaimed “WrestleMania Savior” wind up in a better wrestling situation, the man reinvented himself as a habitual line-stepper. Already doing the best character work of his career as a self-righteous hypocrite, McIntyre added another layer of trolling to his gimmick. Through in-ring promos, social media and even merchandise, McIntyre used every resource at his disposal to not only remind Punk of his heartbreaking injury—but to rub it in his face.
McIntyre said he prayed for times like this. He made a t-shirt based on the cemetery meme of the guy celebrating somebody’s death, with the “death” being photoshopped to represent CM Punk’s WrestleMania main event in 2024.
Brutal.
With Rollins playing a straight man to McIntyre’s new-and-improved gimmick, the feud only got better when Punk became involved. Punk’s television return on the March 18 broadcast of WWE Raw led to a wild promo segment where Punk, McIntyre and Rollins engaged in an unscripted battle of words that went off the hinges in ways that made it feel real. At one point, Punk made a veiled reference to disgraced former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon to remind (and mock) McIntyre about McMahon anointing Drew as The Chosen One. The exchange resulted in Punk announcing himself as a special guest commentator for this world title tilt, giving this feud an extra gear that I didn’t even know it needed.
In the end, McIntyre got his moment, but so did Damian Priest who waited just under 300 days to cash in his Señor Money in the Bank briefcase at the perfect moment.
Because timing is everything.