Drew McIntyre will challenge Cody Rhodes for the WWE Championship for the third time on this reign, as promised by Nick Aldis during Friday’s “WWE SmackDown,” with spoilers coming out of the pre-taped Boxing Day show indicating that he selected the stipulation for his or her trilogy bout on the January 9 episode emanating from Berlin, Germany.
McIntyre was shown during “SmackDown” in a vignette meeting with General Manager Aldis to debate his return to TV; McIntyre had refused to permit Rhodes to maneuver on, and Aldis was willing to acquiesce his demand for one more title match, provided he pay his fines and apologize for the attack on referee Dan Engler. That segment ended with Rhodes attacking McIntyre, and Aldis was shown in a subsequent segment telling Rhodes that McIntyre now held the entire cards.
Next week’s show is as a consequence of see McIntyre play that hand, setting the bout with Rhodes for January 9 in the primary Three Stages of Hell match in over 12 years. The stipulation sees the competition between talent determined over the course of three matches in a single night, often each with their very own specific sub-stipulation; the last one saw John Cena defending his WWE Championship against Ryback in a Lumberjack match, Tables match, after which finally an Ambulance match.