As PWMania.com previously reported, Sheamus and Drew McIntyre both managed to secure pins during Friday night’s WWE SmackDown Fatal 5 Way to choose a new #1 challenger to WWE Intercontinental Champion GUNTHER for WrestleMania 39. The match ended with Sheamus and McIntyre exchanging words, and the referees arguing over who had won.
The winner of Sheamus vs. McIntyre will face GUNTHER at WrestleMania, WWE later confirmed. Since a Triple Threat has been speculated about for a while now, it appears that next week’s match will also be controversial.
WWE noted in their preview for next week, “After this past week’s Fatal 5-Way Match for a chance at Gunther’s Intercontinental Championship ended in a double victory for Drew McIntyre and Sheamus, the fallout was nuclear. Both The Scottish Warrior and The Celtic Warrior butted heads over who should have won whilst Gunther bemoaned to WWE Official Adam Pearce over the outcome. As such, Pearce made the call for McIntyre and Sheamus to face each other next week, with the winner being granted an opportunity for the Intercontinental Title against Gunther at WrestleMania. With McIntyre and Sheamus being at odds in recent weeks, the match will surely be a barnburner, much like the previous times the two warriors have collided. Which Superstar will come out on top? Find out next week at 8/7 C on FOX!”
In another segment on SmackDown, GUNTHER ripped into Adam Pearce for not carrying out his responsibility to confirm one new challenger, warning that this negligence would not be tolerated. At that point, Pearce scheduled the match for the following week, and GUNTHER declared he would watch.
After SmackDown, Sheamus tweeted his support for the Imperium leader.
“For once i agree with Gunther. The challenger for the #ICTitle is singular.. it’s time to send this grave-robbing bastard back to scotland. #smackdown,” he wrote.
The complete tweet from Sheamus is included below, along with related videos:
For once i agree with Gunther. The challenger for the #ICTitle is singular.. it’s time to send this grave-robbing bastard back to scotland. #smackdown
— Sheamus (@WWESheamus) March 11, 2023
