WWE Championship match announced for WrestleMania (w/ Heydorn’s Analysis)

The WWE Championship match for WrestleMania is set.

At the start of this week’s episode of Monday Night Raw, WWE announced that Drew McIntyre would challenge Bobby Lashley in the main event of WrestleMania 37. The match will be for Lashley’s WWE Championship.

https://twitter.com/WWE/status/1371612480204595201

Drew McIntyre lost the WWE Championship at the Elimination Chamber PPV event. After winning the Raw Elimination Chamber match, McIntyre was attacked by Bobby Lashley before Miz cashed in his Money in the Bank contract to win the title. The next night on Raw, it was revealed that Lashley attacking McIntyre was part of a deal made with Miz and that Lashley was to receive a title shot in return. The following week, Lashley defeated Miz to win the WWE Championship and set up the clash with Drew at the biggest show of the year.

Ahead of WrestleMania, McIntyre will face Sheamus at the Fastlane PPV. WrestleMania will stream live on Peacock in the United States and on the WWE Network internationally. The event is a two night affair on April 10 and 11 from Raymond James Stadium in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Heydorn’s Analysis: Well, this match in general isn’t a surprise. The surprise was that McIntyre simply got dropped in the spot. On one hand it makes sense as he lost the title illegitimately. McIntyre should be line after what happened at Elimination Chamber. The kicker is that Fastlane is on Sunday and McIntyre has a match with Sheamus. In that scenario, it’s obvious Drew is going over, but adding number one contender stakes to the bout gives the match a stronger reason for existing and provides Drew with a mountain to climb to get his shot. If Fastlane wasn’t a show and WrestleMania was the next PPV event, announcing Drew as the contender works well. Fastlane muddies that up and streamlining the show as part of Drew’s journey back to the title match gives people a reason to invest.

CATCH-UP: WWE reportedly sets new goal for fan attendance at WrestleMania 37 (w/ Heydorn’s Analysis)