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Drew McIntyre's reign as WWE Champion is certainly going to be an interesting one and what seems to be all but certain is that he's going to walk into SummerSlam as the WWE Champion. Why? Because his opponent is Dolph Ziggler - a man with whom he has a history.
This history, of course, refers to the night after WrestleMania 34 in 2018, where Dolph Ziggler brought Drew McIntyre back to RAW after four years and forged an alliance that lasted till the end of the year. They were Tag Team Champions as well, but that was more of a "prop" in their storyline.
Either way, Ziggler jumped ship from SmackDown to Monday Night RAW and told Drew McIntyre that he was "owed" a title shot. The Scotsman, being the fighting champion that he is, accepted his challenge and set up a match for Extreme Rules.
While Riju Dasgupta has covered the reasons behind Ziggler being Drew McIntyre's opponent, I'd like to focus on five superstars who we feel are better-suited opponents for Drew McIntyre at WWE Extreme Rules 2020.
#5. Mustafa Ali takes on Drew McIntyre
Mustafa Ali might be a surprising name on this list, but hear me out. He was rumored to be the Mystery Hacker on SmackDown, an angle that could be on hold or has been canceled. If you're thinking that Ali isn't ready for the WWE title picture, we must remember that just early last year, he was in a position to challenge for the WWE Championship (and even did so at Fastlane) before losing out.
WWE should ideally have taken the hacker angle to Monday Night RAW in an interesting way to bring Ali into the fray. While it's hard to imagine him being a heel, anything is possible in WWE.
Ali would have been a perfect opponent for Drew McIntyre in the ring as the "big man-little man" dynamic tends to work well. Moreover, McIntyre's run as WWE Champion has seen two great title defenses so far against Seth Rollins and Bobby Lashley.
He's had a string of solid matches and we would expect him to have his best one yet against Ali. Either way, it appears as though Ali might resume his regular babyface role. But a match against Drew McIntyre would have been great, even if it weren't in the main event of the PPV.
McIntyre vs Ziggler doesn't appear to be the main event of the PPV either.
#4. Bobby Lashley
We could understand the argument of people saying that Drew McIntyre already defeated Bobby Lashley clean, but ask yourself this: Is Dolph Ziggler in 2020 a more legitimate WWE title challenger than Bobby Lashley?
Lashley hadn't had momentum all year, but WWE started doing well with him post-WrestleMania 36 as they paired him with MVP and slowly transitioned out of his pairing with Lana.
Protecting Lashley and having him run through his opponents made him a credible WWE Championship challenger, and at Backlash 2020, he had what was arguably the match of the night against Drew McIntyre, where he jumped him early on but ended up losing thanks to Lana.
Tom Colohue suggested that WWE is "desperate" to book Bobby Lashley vs Brock Lesnar for SummerSlam 2020. If that's still the case, we can understand why WWE would want to protect him. But even after losing at Backlash, it would still have been better to see him challenge Drew McIntyre again over Dolph Ziggler.
#3. Aleister Black
One of the problems we have with adding Aleister Black on this list is that it exposes a clear fact about Monday Night RAW - that there is a lack of top heel challengers for the WWE Championship. This could have been one of the reasons why Ziggler was brought over from SmackDown to challenge Drew McIntyre (also added to the fact that they have a history).
Aleister Black seems to be on a hiatus, but before he was, the Dutch Destroyer was among the most consistently-pushed WWE superstars on the roster. He wouldn't necessarily have to beat Drew McIntyre, but it could have made for an intense face vs face feud.
Of course, one could argue that it's far too soon to put Aleister Black in the WWE Championship picture, but since he doesn't have an active streak as he did in NXT, it wouldn't do too much harm for him to lose to Drew McIntyre as long as the two would deliver in a match.
#2. Brock Lesnar
While this might be an unpopular opinion, we don't think that Brock Lesnar should be challenging Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at SummerSlam 2020. While they could have a solid main event, longer than 4 minutes to do justice to their WrestleMania 36 clash, the reality is that Brock Lesnar doesn't need another WWE title shot nor does Drew McIntyre need another win over Lesnar to legitimize his WWE title reign.
As mentioned earlier, a Bobby Lashley-Brock Lesnar match at SummerSlam sounds far more interesting. Not just because it's a dream match, but the fact that Bobby Lashley returned with the objective of facing Brock Lesnar means that he truly deserves it after over two years.
Brock Lesnar normally returns around SummerSlam time, but it would have been beneficial to bring him back early as Extreme Rules 2020 to be the challenger for Drew McIntyre's crown. It would have been the perfect place for Lesnar to put Drew McIntyre over, again.
Even in defeat, a match against Lashley would be a marquee bout for the biggest party of the summer. He would have been a far more exciting opponent for Drew McIntyre than Dolph Ziggler.
#1. Randy Orton
Randy Orton, without a doubt, would have been the best WWE Championship challenger for Drew McIntyre. He faced Edge in "The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever" in Backlash 2020 and had a fantastic main event - an intense contest with incredible storytelling.
Ultimately, he "injured" Edge, who tore his triceps, and is rumored to be out for the rest of the year. We believe that this may not be the case after Edge appeared on the latest episode of RAW. However, we'll elaborate more on that in "things WWE subtly told us on RAW".
Either way, Orton has been doing the best heel work of his career. He defeated Edge and has all the momentum on his side. This would have been the perfect opportunity to book Drew McIntyre vs Randy Orton. Right now, Orton is the biggest heel name who can challenge Drew McIntyre. Moreover, a win over Orton would do wonders for the WWE Champion.
Add a solid stipulation for Extreme Rules 2020 and we're guaranteed an instant classic.
