WWE Hot Take: A Randy Orton Win vs. Drew McIntyre Would Be Huge Blow to Raw

WWE hesitating and then deciding in late September to have Randy Orton take the company's top title off Drew McIntyre would be so, so WWE.

And not in a good way.

Were WWE desperate for Orton to get the title off McIntyre, it would have made more sense to do it earlier in the year when he was red-hot during and right after his feud with Edge, which was paused because the Rated R Superstar suffered an injury.

But now? It would be a huge mistake.

Alas, that sounds like it could be in the works heading into Sunday's Clash of Champions pay-per-view, with Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter reporting that the title match is an ambulance match so that they company can "protect McIntyre from taking a pin while getting the title off him" (h/t Randall Ortman of Cageside Seats).

Which is hilarious, not just a mistake. The idea that WWE's top champ getting taken out in an ambulance after losing his title will somehow protect him is downright absurd. There's this stigma that "eating a pin" is somehow terrible. But leaving a main event in an ambulance is better?

Wackiness of the whole execution aside (yes, it just requires a closed ambulance door to win, and others could interfere, etc.), McIntyre losing at all to Orton would be a bad look for all involved.

Though it's not through any fault of his own, Orton's losing steam. He was doing some of the best work of his career—which is saying something—earlier this year. But much of that had to do with his sheer level of hatred for Edge. With Edge gone, he got inserted into the title scene, which made sense, but it always had the feel of a holdover situation, not one that would see him emerge with the title.

Meaning his suddenly winning it now would just make things worse. He already lost to McIntyre at a bigger event and has since traded wins with Keith Lee. Not that there's anything wrong with his putting over the next generation of stars, but re-upping this feud with McIntyre and putting him in an ambulance while stealing the title just wouldn't work well.

And keep in mind this would do a massive disservice to McIntyre.

The company's top guy had a ton of resources invested in him to get to this point, including making the entire men's Royal Rumble almost about him before he took down Brock Lesnar. With the Beast Incarnate predictably skipping out on this audience-less era, McIntrye has flawlessly carried Raw and pay-per-views with a shockingly good title run.

McIntyre hasn't been that type of top guy who turns off fans because he's so painfully scripted or just a good guy. He's a badass champion who straddles the line of good and evil, and it still feels like we're in the early stages of his run.

Along the way, McIntyre has made something from nothing several times. It's 2020, and he made a feud with Dolph Ziggler look amazing while telling a good story. He's got fun matches out of the likes of MVP, Bobby Lashley, Baron Corbin and others.

Throwing that all out now wouldn't make sense. Some top guys are just better in chase mode. Think Seth Rollins and how fans turned on him once he earned the top title. But when he's chasing it, he's the company's hottest commodity.

That's not the case with McIntyre. He's fun as a fighting champion, and it's thrilling to see what he will do next and with whom. Take the title off of him and put him back in chase mode, and WWE runs the risk of derailing him for good at a time when it can't afford to have a performer like him lose momentum.

If possible, WWE might want to get McIntyre his special moment in front of a live crowd at the next WrestleMania after his big win over Lesnar at last year's 'Mania didn't have fans there to react. It sounds good on paper—but it's a huge risk on multiple levels.

McIntyre's moment in front of a live crowd might just be him putting down a returning Lesnar at 'Mania again, not needing to regain his belt in the process. There's just a different dynamic with him as champion, which is a testament to the quality of his work and run.

Which loops back to Orton and this silly idea of an ambulance match. It would be the worst kind of shock possible just to get a reaction. Based on McIntyre's run, it doesn't hurt the product that it's predictable he's not losing and is in a holding pattern until Lesnar returns.

Given the shaky standing of Raw and viewership in general, WWE would take a huge, unnecessary risk by having Orton dethroning McIntyre. Things need to change (Hi, Retribution) on Raw, but McIntyre's reign as champion isn't one of them—he's arguably the only thing going that isn't making fans groan.