Roman Reigns Responds to Drew McIntyre’s Surprise Appearance on WWE SmackDown

Drew McIntyre made a surprise appearance on this week’s Friday Night SmackDown, claiming that he would beat Randy Orton for the WWE Championship on Monday and face Reigns at Survivor Series in the scheduled Champion vs. Champion match. Reigns scoffed at McIntyre, saying that nobody watches Raw or cares about what McIntyre is doing now that Reigns is back on SmackDown dominating as “The Tribal Chief.” Jey Uso ran in to challenge McIntyre to a match and wound up losing, leading to another staredown between McIntyre and Reigns.

The two continued their war of words on Twitter, with McIntyre stating, “Forging a legacy for myself, no family to open doors for me. First I beat Randy and reclaim my WWE Title, then I’m coming for you Roman.” Reigns once again brushed him off.

Reports of Reigns vs. McIntyre being the main event of Survivor Series popped up last month, but a later report stated WWE had McIntyre drop the WWE Championship to Orton at Hell in a Cell so the two could have a higher-profile match down the road (ideally WrestleMania). Triple H even went so far as to compare it to The Rock vs. Steve Austin’s WrestleMania trilogy back at New York Comic Con.

“[Hearing that] was a surprise, but I was very appreciative on such a high compliment,” McIntyre said on the In The Kliq podcast back in late October while responding to Triple H’s comment. “Hunter – he’s the one who brought me back to WWE. He’s watched my entire career evolve and then devolve, and then re-evolve in front of his eyes. So it’s cool now, at this stage, that they can see me at such a level.”

“I think the thing is to keep us on the path we’re currently on,” he continued. “Roman, keep doing what he’s doing with his new character, and me finally being myself. Actually, I think it’s more Roman being himself. Both of us are being ourselves now and keep developing these characters to get to the point where everybody knows them inside and out, and we take them as far as we can possibly take them. And eventually, when we have that big match down the line, it can be at that high, high level. Even if we did it sooner, it would still be a big match because, you know, Roman’s been the standard-bearer for the longest time. The past seven, eight years, he’s been the top dog, big dog, main-eventing four WrestleManias in a row. But now he’s taken this turn where he’s basically saying, ‘Hey, I did all this stuff, look at me.’ Rather than the humble Roman we knew from the past, he’s saying, ‘I did it. No one else could do it.’ I think on the flip side, the way I’ve been going, I’m proving I can do it. I am doing it, and I’m going to continue to do it. I think it’s going to be an interesting clash of some ‘Chosen Ones’ when it finally comes.”