The second Friday night SmackDown of the year provided a shocking title change to close the show. Drew McIntyre defeated the “American Nightmare,” Cody Rhodes, to win the WWE Championship. This adds to the number of title changes that have occurred over the past couple of weeks. The world’s largest professional wrestling promotion hasn’t witnessed this much turnover in championships in this short period of time in a long time. As we gear up for the Royal Rumble and merge onto the road to WrestleMania, we reflect on all the changes that have the WWE fans buzzing.
McIntyre Adds to Major Title Changes
The “Scottish Warrior,” “Scottish Psychopath,” “Chosen One,” or whatever you want to call Drew McIntyre, you can add WWE Champion to the list. After defeating the son of the son of a plumber, Cody Rhodes, in a three-stages-of-hell match, the Scot won his third World Championship. He becomes the sixth new champion since Boxing Day!
For those who don’t know what Boxing Day is, it is also Lawson’s birthday, and those who don’t know his birthday its the day after Christmas. In the past two weeks, we have witnessed a revolution of new champions throughout WWE. It started with “Him,” Carmelo Hayes. Hayes answered the U.S. Open Challenge, defeating Ilja Dragunov, proving that Melo doesn’t miss!
We then were treated to a pre-New Year’s treat with the Usos reuniting to win the Raw Tag Team Championships, ending AJ Styles and Dragon Lee’s run. “Main Event” Jey Uso and his brother “Big” Jim captured the titles for the ninth time. We will see if their reign will surpass their record-holding 622 days!
2026 arrived, and it didn’t take long for another new champion to be crowned. SmackDown’s Giulia regained the Women’s U.S. Championship after defying the odds against Chelsea Green and her “Secret Hervice.” In Chelsea’s defense, she was still devastated from the season finale of Stranger Things.
A few days later, on the first Monday Night Raw of the new year, things got strange! As the blockbuster series Stranger Things invaded the flagship show on Netflix, two new champions were crowned. The team of Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky was successful in their matchup against the Kabuki Warriors for the Women’s Tag Team Championships. We also saw Becky Lynch regaining her Women’s Intercontinental title against the much-improved Maxxine Dupri.
Then we get to Friday. In a brutal three-stages-of-hell match between bitter rivals Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre. Fans got a nice, surprising return of the “all gas, no breaks,” Jacob Fatu. Fatu returned, attacking both McIntyre and Rhodes, which allowed McIntyre to crawl out of the cage, get both feet on the floor, and become a three-time World Champion!
With all the crazy title changes in the past two weeks, the longest current reign on the main roster is the Wyatt Sicks with the SmackDown Tag Team titles. They won them back on July 11th and continue to cause ruckus in the tag team division. Stephanie Vaquer follows that, just surpassing a hundred days.
Final Thoughts
I have been a lifelong wrestling fan, and I don’t recall the last time I saw this many title changes in such a short amount of time. With WrestleMania right around the corner, it seems like the company is setting up the opportunity for their stars for the “Grandest Stage of them All.” I am excited to see how the new champs are able to adjust and see who their ‘Mania opponents will be. All I ask after the McIntyre victory is that Cody Rhodes doesn’t win the Royal Rumble. Please, he doesn’t need it, and he is being shoved down the fans’ throats whether they realize it or not!
