WWE Rumors on Cody Rhodes, Randy Orton, Drew McIntyre, Rhea Ripley, Jade Cargill and Royce Keys

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

Rumored Plans for Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre Undisputed WWE Title Match

Amid all of the speculation about what the undisputed WWE title match is going to be at WrestleMania 42, the next big domino to fall will be on Friday night when Cody Rhodes challenges Drew McIntyre for the championship on SmackDown.

Per PW Insider (h/t Wrestle Features), the "expectation" right now is that Rhodes will beat McIntyre to win the title in part because WWE wants to deliver the oft-teased bout between the American Nightmare and Randy Orton.

Orton earned a guaranteed title shot at WrestleMania 42 by winning the men's Elimination Chamber match on Saturday.

PW Insider's report notes the decision to change the title this week, if that ends up being the direction WWE goes, does not rule out the possibility of a multi-person match for the undisputed championship at WrestleMania with McIntyre and/or Jacob Fatu potentially being included.

It was also suggested that WWE could have McIntyre and Fatu square off in a singles bout on the Grandest Stage of Them All.

This does add credence to the idea that this WrestleMania doesn't have as much enthusiasm around it has in recent years because there seems to be a lack of clarity with the direction.

WWE has given teases over the past year or so of a Rhodes-Orton showdown for the title, so that would make sense as a WrestleMania match. Hopefully this doesn't leave McIntyre out in the cold because he's been one of the best heel characters in the promotion for two years now and should be featured in a marquee match on the biggest show of 2026.

WWE Pleased With Buzz From Ripley-Cargill Online Feud

Even though there are conflicting stories about how real the recent online war of words between Rhea Ripley and Jade Cargill is, it does seem to have made people within WWE happy to see it add hype to their upcoming WrestleMania match.

Per Fightful Select (h/t Steve Carrier of Ringside News), WWE is "satisfied with the buzz" Ripley and Cargill have generated from their back-and-forth interactions on social media.

After Ripley won the women's Elimination Chamber match to secure her title shot against Cargill at WrestleMania, the two traded barbs on X in a way that's very common for WWE stars building up a feud.

Things seemed to take a turn when Cargill made a reference to Ripley having extensive conversations with the creative team.

That comment prompted other superstars, specifically Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, to jump in and support Ripley.

Per Fightful Select (h/t Carrier), the comment from Cargill about Ripley speaking with creative was one that raised eyebrows within WWE as potentially crossing a line.

"We would never include a mention of creative as a part of that, it undermines the point," one person within WWE's creative team said.

In a since-deleted post on her Instagram Story (h/t Shounak Chakrabarti of ClutchPoints), Ripley wrote: "Not having fun. Not friends. Learn to work and never lie to defame someone's real human character by 'breaking the 4th wall.'"

On Tuesday's episode of Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t Bryan Rose of F4WOnline.com), Dave Meltzer explained that a lot of the situation was a work between Ripley and Cargill, but some of the comments directed at Cargill do match things people behind the scenes in WWE have thought at times.

Regardless of any potential real-life animosity, Fightful's report notes neither woman has any backstage heat and the expectation is they will "handle business professionally" in the ring at WrestleMania 42.

Cargill, who won the SmackDown women's title from Tiffany Stratton on the Nov. 1 episode of Saturday Night's Main Event, has been criticized for her lack of title defenses over the past four months.

Even though that would be more of a creative issue than a Cargill-specific since she's not the one booking herself, her title reign has definitely felt lackluster considering it seemed like she was being positioned to be one of the top women's stars on SmackDown.

At the end of the day, Cargill is getting a WrestleMania match against Ripley. It will be the biggest test of her career to this point, so we will see how things play out in the build over the next six weeks.

Updated Plans for Royce Keys

Despite making his WWE debut at the Royal Rumble, Royce Keys has yet to appear on television since with no clear indication of when he will be back.

During a recent WrestleVotes Q&A session (h/t Carrier), the feeling is that Keys will end up on SmackDown but there isn't necessarily a timeline for that to happen:

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing. We had speculated for months that SmackDown was the place for him. It certainly does seem like that's going to be his home. He was backstage Friday night… Don't know when he's showing up on TV. Hopefully they have an idea. Hopefully this is part of the plan."

Keys, the former Powerhouse Hobbs from his tenure in AEW, debuted in WWE during the men's Royal Rumble match on Jan. 31. He entered at No. 14, eliminated Damian Priest and was later thrown out by Bronson Reed.

It's plausible that WWE's initial plan for Keys was a feud with Reed, but Reed suffered a torn biceps during an Elimination Chamber qualifying match on the Feb. 23 episode of Raw that required surgery.

Michael Cole announced on Monday's episode of Raw that Reed will be out indefinitely.

Keys was backstage at SmackDown multiple times in February, including wrestling two dark matches on Feb. 13 and 27. He defeated Nathan Frazer and Alex Shelley in singles bouts.

Given that WWE is also in the midst of building up WrestleMania, it wouldn't be a surprise if the creative plans for Keys are held off until after that show.

WWE usually treats the post-WrestleMania Raw and SmackDown as a chance to reset by bringing new people up from NXT or having marquee free-agent signings debut, so that scenario could be in play for Keys.

Given that WWE had Keys debut in the Rumble and eliminate a former world heavyweight champion from the match, it's safe to assume there will be significant plans for him in 2026.