The fallout from Roman Reigns choosing his WrestleMania 42 opponent has sparked plenty of debate, but not all of it is about the match fans are getting. A growing segment of the audience is now asking a different question: what did that promo do to Drew McIntyre and the Undisputed WWE Championship?
That concern took center stage after Reigns confronted CM Punk on WWE Raw, framing his WrestleMania decision around pure hatred rather than championships or legacy. While the intensity of the exchange energized many fans, Bully Ray saw something else happening beneath the surface, and he wasn’t thrilled by it.
On Busted Open Radio, Ray zeroed in on how both men casually dismissed McIntyre, who currently holds one of WWE’s top titles. Punk referred to McIntyre as the “easy” option for Reigns, while Reigns himself brushed him off by citing his dominant head to head record.
Ray didn’t mince words when describing the effect. “Talk about a whipping boy, a doormat, somebody who seems secondary,” he said, reacting to the promo. “‘I was beating him for this long. Ah, who cares?’ It’s like yo mama jokes, only with Drew.” In Ray’s view, the segment trained viewers to see McIntyre’s reign as an afterthought rather than a pillar of WrestleMania season.
The issue, Ray argued, isn’t that Reigns chose Punk. It’s how that choice was framed. By belittling McIntyre on the way there, WWE risked draining the stakes from whatever match the Undisputed Champion ends up working on the biggest show of the year.
Ray even outlined an alternative approach that could have preserved McIntyre’s standing while still spotlighting Reigns’ hatred for Punk. “Imagine if Roman says, ‘I want to choose Drew. Drew holds the championship that I held for 1400 days,’” he proposed. “‘I have every reason in the world to choose Drew McIntyre, but I won’t because I hate you.’ So now you put over Drew and you talk about how the hatred for Punk is so great that you don’t want your old championship back.”
Instead, Ray believes the promo did the opposite. With Reigns officially locked in against Punk, speculation has shifted toward McIntyre defending his title against Cody Rhodes, especially given their recent history and Royal Rumble eliminations. But Ray admitted that his interest in that potential match has taken a hit.
“After last night’s promo, I know two things for sure,” Ray said. “I really want to see Roman versus Punk, and I really could care less about Drew McIntyre’s WrestleMania match.” That reaction, he emphasized, wasn’t about McIntyre’s ability, but about how the story positioned him.
This kind of critique cuts to a larger issue in wrestling storytelling. When top stars dismiss a champion too easily, it doesn’t just elevate one feud, it can quietly undermine another. Championships are only as important as the way characters talk about them on screen.
Whether WWE finds a way to recalibrate McIntyre’s momentum remains to be seen, especially with Elimination Chamber qualifiers beginning to take shape. What’s clear is that Reigns versus CM Punk has fans fully invested, and Bully Ray’s concern is that the cost of that investment may have been paid by the wrong champion.
