WWE Smackdown: Drew McIntyre’s Future To Be Decided Through “A Number Of Factors”

In one of the marquee matches for Night Two of WrestleMania 39, Drew McIntyre and Sheamus will challenge Gunther for his Intercontinental Championship in a Triple Threat Match. If recent reports are any indications then one of these superstars could be having his final ‘match, tonight at the Grandest Stage of Them All.

According to the reports of PWInsider, Drew McIntyre’s contract with WWE will be up in due course. While it’s not up imminently, it’s in the final year and both sides aren’t close to agreeing to terms of a new deal. Following this, numerous outlets have doubted whether this Sunday marks the top WWE Superstar’s final WrestleMania match given the two parties don’t agree to a new deal.

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This is certainly an unprecedented scenario given that Drew McIntyre is an absolute gem of a worker in the WWE. Back in the day, he did carry the Raw brand on his broad shoulder as the WWE Champion during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In recent times, he has also worked while being hurt to showcase his workhorse personality. In January 2022, he returned within a month from an injury.

Drew McIntyre to wait until the end before WWE contract renewal

In an update to the contract situation, per Fightful, Drew McIntyre’s contract will indeed be up “within the next nine months.” This number effectively takes him through the end of 2023 and possibly into 2024. Fightful added that the former WWE Champion is waiting until the end of the deal is more imminent before he signs anything new, “as there [are] a number of factors to consider.”

This tradition of talent waiting to enter contract negotiation talks until it gets close to the expiry date had been a common practice in WWE “towards the end of the Vince McMahon era.” It’s unknown whether the same situation continues under even Paul “Triple H” Levesque.

After a gap of three years, Drew McIntyre returned to WWE in 2017 after spending time on the independent scene and IMPACT wrestling. He won the WWE Championship in the main event of WrestleMania 36 in 2020, just after the pandemic began. He also competed for that title again at WrestleMania 37 which ended in a losing effort against Bobby Lashley.