Latest Rumors On WWE WrestleMania 42 Creative Plans After SmackDown Title Change

The road to WrestleMania 42 seemed to get a bit clearer this past Friday on "SmackDown," when Cody Rhodes put an end to Drew McIntyre's Undisputed WWE Championship reign, winning the title for the third time. The victory now puts Rhodes on a collision course with long-time friend Randy Orton for WrestleMania, though the path WWE took to get there has many speculating that this was not the original plan WWE had in mind.

As it turns out, the original plan was for McIntyre and Rhodes to settle their differences at WrestleMania instead of "SmackDown." PWInsider Elite reports that Rhodes vs. McIntyre in a Hell in a Cell match was the original pitch for the Undisputed WWE Championship match. The idea behind the match was to "play off" the injuries Rhodes and McIntyre had suffered in their past Hell in a Cell bouts against Seth Rollins and CM Punk respectively, as well as Rhodes and McIntyre's January cage match as part of Three Stages of Hell, where McIntyre won the title from Rhodes.

Ultimately, WWE instead made the call to pivot back to Rhodes as champion in order to face Orton, while McIntyre is now expected to face Jacob Fatu, whose involvement in the "SmackDown" match helped cost McIntyre the championship. It was further noted that WWE's ongoing restructuring of the WrestleMania card due to various injuries helped influence WWE's decision to go with Rhodes vs. Orton over Rhodes vs. McIntyre.

On Sunday's "Wrestling Observer Radio," Dave Meltzer echoed the idea that Orton vs. Cody and McIntyre vs. Fatu were the WrestleMania matches. However, he stopped short of saying the card wouldn't change again, revealing he had "not been told that 100%" that the matches were happening.