Drew McIntyre was notably absent from this week’s episode of WWE Raw, just days after storming out due to frustration over how his Men’s Royal Rumble elimination played out.
According to PWInsider.com, McIntyre’s elimination was originally supposed to happen earlier in the match, but a series of timing issues threw off the sequence. The initial plan involved McIntyre being eliminated by Damian Priest after teasing an elimination of Jey Uso. This was meant to set up a WrestleMania feud between McIntyre and Priest and was supposed to take place before Logan Paul entered the match.
However, several factors disrupted the planned sequence: LA Knight’s segments, including one involving Roman Reigns, took longer than expected, which caused delays in executing the planned eliminations. By the time Paul entered the match, McIntyre, Priest, and Uso were already off track in their planned spots. Knight accidentally backed into the trio, further disrupting their timing and resulting in McIntyre’s elimination looking clunky and uncoordinated.
McIntyre was reportedly frustrated backstage, as he felt that certain wrestlers were prioritizing their moments at the expense of the overall storytelling in the match. This aligns with his post-Rumble comments, where he expressed anger over someone trying to “get their moves in” at the cost of the match’s planned narrative.
At this time, it remains unclear when McIntyre will return to WWE programming.
