McIntyre Wins The Gold, What Happens Next?!

I thought WWE's decision to strap up Drew McIntyre as Undisputed WWE Champion was quite a cool move when I saw it play out live as I watched Smackdown yesterday evening.

The Scot won the Three Stages of Hell match against Cody Rhodes in the main event from the show filmed in Berlin. It now opens up many side streets along the road to April's biggest show on the WWE calendar.

I had a feeling Rhodes would carry the title all the way through to WrestleMania 42 where he would face-off against Roman Reigns in the marquee bout of April 19th.

It could still happen. Obviously. However, we now get to see how the title finds its way back to Rhodes. Or to Reigns.

Or not?

I'm keen to see who McIntyre defends the title against at the Royal Rumble in three weeks from today. On Smackdown, it was announced that there will be four singles matches on next Friday's show from Wembley Arena. The winners of those contests will then square-off in a Fatal 4-Way match on the January 24th edition of Saturday Night's Main Event. 

The four qualifiers are:

Damian Priest .vs. Solo Sikoa

Matt Cardona .vs. Trick Williams

Randy Orton .vs. The Miz

Sami Zayn .vs. Ilja Dragunov

I made what I believe to be a reasonable prediction in THIS POST last night. I stated that Sami Zayn winning the title shot for the Rumble makes sense to me when you consider Zayn will be a strong babyface to the Saudi audience. 

Seems quite perfect on paper, if I say so myself.

No, I'm not suggesting Zayn beats McIntyre for the strap. I'm stating it's a perfect babyface versus strong heel match for that night.