Photo credit: WWE.com.
Drew McIntyre survived Sheamus, Randy Orton, AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy and Kofi Kingston in an Elimination Chamber match in the same pay-per-view titled on Sunday to retain the WWE Championship. But he did not leave the event with the belt.
The Miz won the Money in the Bank briefcase and secured an easy victory over the exhausted champion to end the show.
Between the exhausting fight in the Chamber and an attack by Bobby Lashley, McIntyre had nothing left in the tank to defend himself against the A-Lister. And that overshadowed an incredible performance by the now former champion in defending the title.
Sheamus seemed ready to eliminate McIntyre after hitting him with the Brogue Kick inside the chamber. However, Styles came off the tightrope and caught the Celtic warrior with a phenomenal forearm.
This left McIntyre and Styles as the last two remaining stars. As with Sheamus, The Phenomenal sought to put the Scotsman aside with his characteristic movement.
However, The Scottish Warrior caught him with a Claymore kick on the way down and claimed victory.
Shortly after his victory, McIntyre was brutally defeated by Lashley, who lost the United States championship earlier in the evening.
In the weeks before the Elimination Chamber, it looked like McIntyre would be tasked with defending the WWE title in a singles match against Sheamus, after his former friend turned on him.
After McIntyre defeated Goldberg in the Royal Rumble to retain the WWE title, Sheamus defeated him with a Brogue Kick the following night on Raw, and the Scotsman vowed to beat him in the Elimination Chamber. Instead, WWE called an audible.
In the February 8 edition of Raw, WWE official Adam Pearce opened the show by announcing that McIntyre would put the belt on the line against five former WWE champions in an Elimination Chamber match.
Shane McMahon returned to WWE programming after months away to applaud Pearce’s decision, although it looked like it was actually Shane-O-Mac’s decision and the officer was simply doing as he was told.
Sheamus did not like the fact that his fight for the singles title was eliminated, and McIntyre was surprised by the decision, but he accepted and acknowledged that the WWE champion has to expect the unexpected in The Road to WrestleMania.
At the Elimination Chamber, McIntyre had to deal with several Superstars with whom he had rivalries during his reign. In addition to his new rivalry with Sheamus, McIntyre has renewed his problems with names like Orton and Styles.
The Scottish Warrior had several PPV fights against Orton in the summer and fall, and he even lost the WWE title to The Viper at Hell in a Cell in October, but won it soon after.
McIntyre also held the title against Styles in a game of Tables, Ladders & Chairs at the TLC in December.
All the aforementioned Superstars took their revenge on McIntyre, while Hardy and Kingston tried to position themselves for yet another WWE title dispute as well.
In the end, McIntyre overcame the odds and won five of the best fighters WWE has to offer. But one problem with being the champion is that there will always be a target on your back, especially when someone is holding the money in the bank’s briefcase.
Instead of McIntyre, The Miz is now about to enter WrestleMania 37 with the WWE Championship.
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