3-time Champion highlights major issue with Drew McIntyre vs. Happy Corbin at WrestleMania 38
Joey Mercury does not believe WWE’s decision-makers should have allowed Drew McIntyre to kick out of Happy Corbin’s End of Days at WrestleMania 38.
McIntyre survived the finishing move in the closing stages of the eight-minute match before defeating his long-term rival with a Claymore. Heading into WrestleMania, no superstar had ever kicked out of Corbin’s move since he began using it more than seven years ago.
Mercury, a former WWE producer and three-time Tag Team Champion, told WSI’s James Romero how he would have booked the End of Days spot:
“You can go for that End of Days and then have Drew keep getting out of it [reversing the move], and then the announcers can bring up the point, ‘What if he would have hit the End of Days? Nobody ever kicked out of that move.’ You never see it because he never had a chance to hit it, and then you keep your finish safe," said Mercury. [22:02-22:22]
Superstars often kick out of finishing moves in high-profile WWE matches at WrestleMania and other premium live events. Before WrestleMania, Happy Corbin’s End of Days was arguably the most protected finisher in WWE.
Joey Mercury's storyline idea for Happy Corbin's End of Days
.@DMcIntyreWWE just did something no man has ever been able to do and kicked out of the End of Days!!! #WrestleMania https://t.co/vXrx2K6YiH
WWE has been known to revolve storylines around famous finishers in the past. In 2015, for example, the RKO was banned from being used when Randy Orton challenged Seth Rollins for the WWE Championship at Extreme Rules.
Mercury thinks WWE should have capitalized on the End of Days’ success rate by using the move as part of a match stipulation:
“Then you have possible stipulations later if the finish is over and it’s been a good job protecting it until now, where you see matches where it’s been like against Randy Orton but the RKO is banned, or John Cena but you can’t use the F-U, Attitude Adjustment," Mercury continued. "I think it [the End of Days kick-out] just threw away his finish.” [22:24-22:52]
Happy Corbin’s eight-month undefeated streak in televised singles matches also ended at WrestleMania 38. At the time of writing, it is unclear if his storyline with McIntyre is due to continue on SmackDown.
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