Former WWE Champion "Medically Disqualified" From SmackDown

By Liam Crowley

WWE SmackDown will be without one of its top stars this Friday. Former WWE Champion Drew McIntyre took to social media to announce that he is currently "medically disqualified" from competition and will therefore be unable to wrestle at Friday's show. McIntyre was previously scheduled to team with Sheamus to challenge The Usos for their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles. At the time of this writing, it's unclear as to if the title bout will be scrapped entirely or if McIntyre will be replaced. It's worth noting that Sheamus is aligned with both Butch and Ridge Holland in The Brawling Brutes, meaning he would not have to look far to find a new partner.

"Unfortunately I am medically disqualified to compete this Friday on SmackDown," McIntyre wrote. "I don't like to miss any shows as everybody knows but I promise I'll be back soon."

It's unclear what McIntyre's injury is or when he suffered it. The Scottish Warrior worked a grueling match at WWE Survivor Series, competing inside WarGames alongside Sheamus, Butch, Holland, and Kevin Owens. While he could have suffered a stinger in that bout, he did work a WWE live event the very next day. According to CageMatch, McIntyre has not wrestled since that live event.

It was reported this past summer that McIntyre had been working through a "rough" back injury that put his headlining Undisputed WWE Championship match against Roman Reigns at WWE Clash at the Castle in jeopardy. While he would be pulled from some live events, McIntyre would work through the injury and compete as scheduled at Clash at the Castle. Mentions of this back injury had been scarce since September.

McIntyre has been a fairly healthy competitor over the course of his in-ring career. His most significant injury came at NXT Takeover: WarGames in a title defense against Andrade "Cien" Almas, where he suffered a torn biceps en route to a loss. This would end up being McIntyre's last NXT match, as his next WWE appearance came on the main roster in April 2018. He would align with Dolph Ziggler and pursue tag gold throughout 2018.

Stay tuned to ComicBook.com for updates on Drew McIntyre's WWE status.

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