Drew McIntyre has his sights set on the Undisputed WWE Championship, and his motivation goes beyond simply holding the title. In a new interview with Peter Rosenberg to promote his title match against Cody Rhodes at tonight’s Wrestlepalooza, McIntyre revealed that winning the championship is a key part of his strategy to secure a match with John Cena before his expected retirement in December.
McIntyre shared his frustration that he may not get the chance to have a proper program with Cena and believes that holding the WWE Championship is the only way to get his attention. McIntyre agreed with Rosenberg’s take that Cena’s recent run as a heel character was a “wasted opportunity,” suggesting that some of that time could have been used to build a feud between them.
“Call it selfish all you want. I just know, and I talked so much trash during the time because I know what he’s capable of, and it’s so much more, and we’re seeing it right now… I just know how good he is, what he’s capable of, and I ran my mouth, I talked trash because it was just quite frankly pissing me off watching it because I know how good he is,” McIntyre said.
Now, with Cena’s in-ring career seemingly nearing its end, McIntyre feels a sense of urgency. “Now we’re seeing how good he is but what’s pissing me off now is it’s at the finish line and I might not get that opportunity so I need that title. I need to dangle that carrot or something in front of him that’s gonna make him pay attention and go, alright, maybe I go over here, and I’ll show Drew what’s up”.
McIntyre is confident that if he can get Cena in the ring, he can prove that he belongs at the very top of the industry, just as he did in his verbal battles with CM Punk. “I want him to because I want to be able to prove to the world I can stand on my own two feet with everybody just like I did with (CM) Punk, when he was gonna tear me to shreds on the mic, and absolutely eviscerated him to the point he was begging for his other tricep to get torn so he could get more time off so I would stop shredding him on the microphone…”.
While they have not yet had a one-on-one premium live event match, McIntyre and Cena have shared the ring several times in 2025. Their most recent encounter was on the August 8th episode of Friday Night SmackDown, where McIntyre teamed with Logan Paul in a losing effort against the duo of Cena and Cody Rhodes. That match only fueled McIntyre’s desire for a singles program with the 17-time world champion. First, however, he must get through Rhodes tonight at Wrestlepalooza and win the Undisputed WWE Championship to put his plan into motion.
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Cheap Heat with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.
