More On Drew McIntrye's Strange Disappearance During WWE SmackDown Main Event

As noted earlier this morning, Drew McIntyre is not injured after the strange disappearance during Tuesday's WWE SmackDown main event, which saw The New Day win a six-man match over Drew and The Bar. McIntyre had been in control of Woods at one point, but he disappeared during a commercial break and was never seen on TV again. Fans in the arena saw McIntyre walk away from the ring and to the back, indicating an injury. The report from this morning noted that the walk out by McIntyre was planned as WWE officials wanted to protect McIntyre following his WrestleMania 35 loss to Roman Reins because they need him to be a top guy. The idea on Tuesday night, according to Wrestling Observer Radio, was that WWE officials wanted McIntyre nowhere near the losing side of a match right after the Reigns match, and the idea was that when fans watched on TV, they would forget McIntyre was even in the match.

In an update, the original plan for Tuesday's post-WrestleMania 35 edition of SmackDown had McIntyre vs. WWE Champion Kofi Kingston in the singles main event, according to PWInsider. The match was changed to the six-man match as the day progressed, but there's no word yet on why they nixed the singles match, but it could have been to help protect McIntyre.

It was also reported that WWE cut time from the six-man main event. The finish of the match was to focus on The New Day beating The Bar and there was no time to explain taking McIntyre out of the equation, according to PWInsider, and that is why Drew was instructed to return to the back.