WWE Rumors on Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre, Tiffany Stratton's Injury and Oba Femi's Push

Bleacher Report catches you up on the latest news from the WWE Universe.

Reported Internal Feelings on Rhodes vs. McIntyre

Cody Rhodes is set to defend the WWE Championship against Drew McIntyre in a Three Stages of Hell match on Friday night's episode of SmackDown, and there is reportedly support within WWE for a surprising result.

According to BodySlam.net (h/t WrestlePurists), there is a "push internally from multiple personnel" in WWE for McIntyre to beat Rhodes for the WWE title on Friday.

Rhodes is in the conversation as the face of WWE, and while McIntyre is a top star in his own right, he has not had a sustained run as world champion since 2021.

On top of that, Royal Rumble is just a few weeks away, which marks the unofficial start of WrestleMania season.

Taking the WWE Championship off Rhodes at this time of year would be a huge decision, and it could completely change the WrestleMania 42 outlook.

Of course, Rhodes could always win the title right back in a rematch at Royal Rumble, but it is fair to wonder if it would be worth disrupting his reign only to give the title right back to him.

With that said, McIntyre has shown many times over that he is deserving of another run as WWE champion, and an argument can be made that having him lose another big match would damage his character and credibility.

If nothing else, the report adds an element of intrigue since most fans likely assumed Rhodes would win and retain ever since the match was announced.

Stratton Reportedly Dealing with Injury

It has been over two months since Tiffany Stratton last appeared on WWE programming, and the reason for her absence has finally come into focus.

According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter (h/t Wrestle Features), Stratton has been on the shelf with an injury.

No additional details regarding the nature or severity of the injury were provided as part of the report.

Stratton's last on-screen appearance for WWE came on the Nov. 1 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event when she dropped the WWE Women's Championship to Jade Cargill.

That loss ended a 301-day title reign for Stratton, and it marked only her second defeat of 2025.

It is unknown how much longer Stratton will be out or when she will be cleared, if she hasn't been already. However, now would be the perfect time for WWE to get her back in the fold.

Royal Rumble is approaching, and Stratton would be one of the top contenders to win the women's Rumble match if she is part of it.

Also, with WrestleMania 42 just a few months away, WWE would unquestionably love to start setting up some storylines and potential matchups for one of its top stars in the women's division.

WWE Reportedly High on Oba Femi's Potential

Ahead of Oba Femi's official call-up to the main roster, WWE officials reportedly believe the sky is the limit for The Ruler.

According to Meltzer (h/t WrestlePurists), people in "high places" in WWE believe Femi is going to be "the biggest major player of all," ahead of other incoming call-ups such as Trick Williams and Je'Von Evans.

Since Femi's impressive performance against Rhodes in a draw on Saturday Night's Main Event last month, WWE has been airing vignettes hyping him up on Raw and SmackDown.

On Tuesday's episode of NXT, it was all but confirmed that Femi is main roster bound, as he left the NXT Championship belt in the ring following his successful title defense against Leon Slater.

Many of NXT's top stars have been getting called up in recent weeks, including Williams to SmackDown and Evans to Raw.

Regardless of where Femi ends up, it seems abundantly clear that there are huge plans and expectations for him moving forward.

The 24-year-old former University of Alabama shot put star made his in-ring debut in late 2022, and he quickly rose to the top of NXT, holding the NXT Championship twice and the North American Championship once.

Femi more than proved himself in the ring and on the mic, and there is every reason to believe he will be a multi-time world champion and potential WrestleMania main eventer on the main roster.