As PWMania.com previously reported, Drew McIntyre was pulled from WWE SmackDown a few hours before it aired, according to PWInsider and The Wrestling Observer. He was replaced by GUNTHER at the signing.
In addition to the reports of a health issue, McIntyre is also rumored to be dissatisfied with the creative and payment package offered for his next deal, according to Wade Keller, who gave an update on the situation.
Keller said, “We alluded to this that there’s been talk that he is unhappy with his current situation in WWE and I’m hearing it’s kind of a mix of creative and money and what kind of offer he’s getting for a renewal. It sounds like WWE is taking seriously the possibility that he is going to let his deal run out rather than agree to something that he believes is less than he deserves or less than he what he thinks he has coming.”
Keller continued, “He was gonna be at SmackDown and now he has been pulled so I think that situation will probably, based on what I’m hearing, be decided pretty quickly one way or the other.”
Additionally, Keller mentioned that he had heard McIntyre had suffered serious injuries in the Triple Threat Match against Sheamus and GUNTHER at WrestleMania.
“There’s a chance that he was pulled from SmackDown, in part because he is just really physically beat up from that match and so just not having to travel and him getting a day off was sort of given to him either at his request or the medical team in WWE just said, ‘yea with what he’s been through, he should have some time off.'”
Both stories appear to be true. McIntyre is hurt, but there are problems with money and creative. They are still reportedly far from coming to an agreement on financial terms.
(h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription)
