Randy Orton could have won the lads’s Elimination Chamber match on the eponymous WWE PLE, nevertheless it seems he may not necessarily be facing Drew McIntyre at WrestleMania. In keeping with “WWE SmackDown” General Manager Nick Aldis, Cody Rhodes will get a shot on the title this Friday on “SmackDown,” throwing the WrestleMania WWE Championship match into flux.
McIntyre interfered within the finish of the Chamber match, attacking Rhodes with the WWE title belt before getting dropped by an RKO after which a Cross Rhodes. His interference did, nonetheless, allow Orton to hit an RKO on Rhodes to win the match, and afterward, Aldis was fed up with McIntyre’s shenanigans. After having to be physically held back from McIntyre during a confrontation backstage, an enraged Aldis crashed the Elimination Chamber post-show broadcast to announce that McIntyre will defend the title against Rhodes on Friday’s “SmackDown,” circumventing McIntyre’s attempts to avoid one other championship match with “The American Nightmare.”
Later within the post-show, Paul “Triple H” Levesque backed up Aldis’ decision, saying that McIntyre kept pushing and has now been pushed back. The announcement comes amid fan speculation that the WWE Championship match at WrestleMania could involve multiple individuals, with names mentioned starting from Rhodes and Orton to Jacob Fatu to Sami Zayn. Fans have also long clamored for a singles match between former stablemates Rhodes and Orton for the world title at WrestleMania, a scenario that’s now in play.