Drew McIntyre Retains WWE Championship at TLC Despite The Miz Cashing In Money in the Bank

Despite some heavy interference and a surprise Money in the Bank cash-in, Drew McIntyre still walked out of TLC as the WWE Champion. The Miz and John Morrison hit the ring late in the match, with “The A-Lister” opting to cash-in his contract in order to make it a triple threat TLC Match. Omos initially stopped Miz from winning by throwing him through a table, then chased away Morrison after no-selling a chair shot.

McIntyre, Styles and Miz eventually started battling at the top of two ladders, culminating in McIntyre knocking them both over and nailing Miz with a Claymore. The champ then climbed a ladder to retain the title.

McIntyre admitted earlier this year that a match with Styles was at the top of his list when it came to defending the WWE Championship.

The top of my wish list is AJ,” McIntyre told Sports Illustrated. “We’re two ships in the night. When I was gone from the company and headed toward Impact Wrestling, he was on the way out and I just missed him. He went to Japan and even though a lot of independent shows tried to get us together, it never worked out. AJ went to WWE, I returned to WWE, but we were both bad guys on Raw. I thought it was finally about to happen, and then he went to SmackDown. Eventually, it’s going to happen.”

The match didn’t happen earlier due in large part to Styles requesting a move to SmackDown due to backstage issues with Paul Heyman. McIntyre instead defended his championship against Seth Rollins, Big Show, Bobby Lashley, MVP, Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton (twice) before dropping the title to “The Viper” at Hell in a Cell. He reclaimed it three weeks later, and his two combined reigns will surpass 240 days by the end of the week.