Drew McIntyre and Jacob Fatu will settle a feud that has run nearly six months when they meet in an Unsanctioned Match at WrestleMania 42. Nick Aldis made the announcement on the most recent episode of SmackDown after weeks of chaos between the two men.
The stipulation fits a rivalry built on an unseen backstage attack, a title cost and constant violence. Jacob Fatu was taken out of action after being attacked backstage by an unknown man, then returned and accused McIntyre of being behind it. He later cost McIntyre the WWE Championship, and the two spent all three hours of last week’s SmackDown brawling, ending with both men falling from the railing into the abyss.
In storyline, an Unsanctioned Match is treated as a no disqualification bout in which the referee is there only to count the pinfall and WWE does not take responsibility for what happens. That opens the door for McIntyre and Fatu to use whatever weapons they want, which is exactly what this feud has been building toward. Fans had expected a Last Man Standing Match or a Street Fight instead, a sign the company was still looking for a way to raise the stakes without ending the fight too quickly.
There are still three weeks left before WrestleMania 42, and that matters because this program has not cooled off at all. The match announcement gives both men a clear path to the stage, but it does not answer the bigger question: whether either one can survive the damage long enough to make it there in one piece.
