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It's official! Randy Orton will be challenging Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam 2020. It was expected. While Brock Lesnar was seemingly planned to be in the main event of SummerSlam again to face Drew McIntyre in a WrestleMania 36 rematch, Tom Colohue reported that WWE didn't want to bring in Brock Lesnar because they feel he's "too big" to perform in the Performance Center.
Either way, Randy Orton is the right choice to be Drew McIntyre's opponent for two main reasons - one, he's been the best heel on the entire roster since the pandemic and has been doing his best work since then; and two, there simply isn't a bigger or better name available.
Drew McIntyre accepted his SummerSlam challenge before his match against Dolph Ziggler and it's now official. To top it all off, he ate an RKO out of nowhere at the end of a show.
Here are five signs that Vince McMahon won't allow Randy Orton to defeat Drew McIntyre at SummerSlam.
#5. It doesn't make much sense to end Drew McIntyre's title reign now to Randy Orton
Drew McIntyre won the WWE Championship this past April (technically March, if you count the fact that it was pretaped) and is now well over 100 days into his WWE Championship reign. He's been a great Champion so far and he's been the perfect representative of the WWE Championship during the pandemic era of WWE.
While we certainly miss the crowds and the reactions, he's done well despite having no crowds. What many people don't understand is the pressure it is to be in the position he's in, let alone during the pandemic era.
If Drew McIntyre loses the WWE Championship to Randy Orton, it would be a title change for the sake of a title change.
#4. It took a lot of time and effort to build Drew McIntyre
In the 2020 rise of Drew McIntyre, one major part that was often overlooked was Vince McMahon's prophecy from 2009. Back then, he called out the young Drew McIntyre and made a declaration that the Scotsman would become a World Champion in the future.
While we all know how it didn't pan out the first time, it seems as though in the second attempt, he was determined to make his prophecy come true. And in 2020, it finally did - crowd or no crowd.
It took Drew McIntyre two years after his "re-debut" on the main roster to reach the pinnacle of his career and months before that, WWE was careful to push and protect him accordingly, even if he wasn't heavily featured in a storyline.
It took a lot of work, time, and overall effort to establish Drew McIntyre as a main event star and WWE won't want to ruin that by having him lose the title to Randy Orton.
#3. Randy Orton as the WWE Champion won't make a big difference to the ratings
It's no secret that RAW and SmackDown ratings have been going through a big slump - hitting record low numbers. There's no doubt that the lack of crowd and crowd reactions have something to do with that, but WWE will still want to do the best they can and attract the best viewership they can.
That's the reason why they've been putting many PPV-quality matches on free TV - such as Randy Orton vs Big Show a week ago. Even Asuka vs Sasha Banks was a PPV-level match shown on free TV.
Either way, Randy Orton is going to be a major needle-mover, as he's doing the best work of his career. At this point, it's going to be hard to imagine anyone who can singlehandedly bring the ratings back up.
While Randy Orton would make for a great Champion, his 14th reign doesn't seem necessary and it won't bring back major ratings.
#2. Edge isn't returning until 2021
Edge suffered a tricep injury at Backlash 2020 in 'The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever'. It resulted in The Rated-R Superstar undergoing surgery that's expected to keep him out of action until early 2021.
While a Royal Rumble surprise return is certainly possible, Dave Meltzer said that WWE is planning a trilogy bout between Randy Orton and Edge for WrestleMania 36. As a result, there's a possibility of McIntyre dropping the WWE title to Randy Orton. Sportskeeda's Lennard Surrao wrote:
"The reason why that may happen is because WWE reportedly wants Randy Orton to go over McIntyre, which would then lead to a match between The Legend Killer and The Rated-R Superstar. WWE might just want to increase the stakes for the third and final match between Edge and Randy Orton."
Meltzer said that this would be counterproductive as WWE needs to build new stars and we couldn't agree more. If Randy Orton is to get another World title run, wouldn't it be better to happen when Edge is available?
#1. Beating Randy Orton will be the second-most significant win of Drew McIntyre's career
Drew McIntyre's two most significant career wins came in 2020. The first was his incredible Royal Rumble victory and the second was his win over Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36. While it took place inside an empty arena, there's no doubt that the Lesnar win ranks as the most important win of his career.
Drew McIntyre has had a few great title defenses so far, overcoming Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, and Dolph Ziggler ahead of SummerSlam. All title defenses have been solid matches and have done well to establish his legitimacy as the WWE Champion.
Not that he needs it to legitimize his title reign, but beating a legend in Randy Orton when he's at his late-career peak would be the second-most significant win of his career and the most significant title defense he's had so far.
Randy Orton has truly taken it to another level these past few months and having McIntyre beat him would further establish his top babyface status.
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