Opinion: Drew McIntyre is wearing out his welcome in the WWE title picture
On last night's episode of WWE RAW, Drew McIntyre defeated Kofi Kingston to get yet another shot at Bobby Lashley and the WWE Championship. While the result was largely predictable and makes sense from a storyline perspective, McIntyre is quickly wearing out his welcome in the title picture right now.
Since last year's WrestleMania, McIntyre has been in every WWE Championship match, sans the one-week feud between the Miz and Lashley. If you want to count his 2020 Royal Rumble victory as his introduction into the title scene, he has been in the title picture for 18 months now.
WWE is pushing Drew McIntyre's title angle too much
The main issue with McIntyre right now is that he keeps getting title rematches when it isn't needed. For example, he lost fairly cleanly at WrestleMania 37. While MVP did distract him, it wasn't like he physically attacked McIntyre.
Although he did not take the pinfall at WrestleMania Backlash, McIntyre did lose the match in the record books. Meanwhile, Kofi Kingston defeated Randy Orton and Lashley on the same night. Even if McIntyre did assist Kofi, he still won.
So who sounds more deserving of a title opportunity at this point? Kofi himself even mentioned this in one of his promos that McIntyre keeps getting title shots after title shots.
McIntyre is knocking on the door of having fans turn on him, as they did with Roman Reigns pre-2019. The parallels are eerily similar in the fact that they both kept getting title opportunities even when they weren't needed.
It could also diminish fans' perspective on Lashley's title reign as well since this will be the fourth time McIntyre has faced Lashley since March - one match on RAW, the Triple Threat Match at Backlash, and their matches at WrestleMania and the upcoming Hell in a Cell PPV.
There are plenty of compelling feuds that McIntyre could have outside the title scene.
He could have feuded with Mustafa Ali, who along with RETRIBUTION was in McIntyre's business last summer. Not only would it be interesting and fresh, but it could also elevate Ali to the next level, which is long overdue in many fan's opinions.
He could also reprise his feud with Sheamus from earlier this year, but it would have meant this time as it would be for the United States Championship. It would also elevate the prestige of the US title, seeing as it would have two former world champions feuding over it.
McIntyre could also feud with the recently returned Jinder Mahal. It's a feud fans have been curious about ever since last summer, as the two have lots of history with one another dating back to their days in 3MB.
It would be a missed opportunity for WWE not to have McIntyre and Mahal feud before a potential Superstar Shakeup. As you can see, there are plenty of people that McIntyre can feud with outside of the WWE title scene. It's up to WWE to be creative enough to figure it out.
It's not Drew McIntyre's fault at all. It is not like he is demanding that he remains in the title scene forever. This is entirely a WWE creative problem, more specifically a WWE babyface problem. In recent years WWE has had the issue of not knowing how to book babyfaces very well.
Except for a few guys, such as Daniel Bryan, WWE either overexposed their babyfaces to the point of fans turning on them. Or they book them strong up until they win the title, then the booking gets weaker over time, such as Kofi Kingston's WWE title reign.
If WWE is not careful with McIntyre after Hell in a Cell, assuming he loses to Lashley once again, he could fall down that same hole.
What are your thoughts? is Drew McIntyre being overexposed on WWE RAW? What can they do to rectify the issue they have with booking babyfaces? Sound off in the comments section below.