As seen during the November 7th 2025 edition of WWE SmackDown, Cody Rhodes vs. Aleister Black was interrupted by Drew McIntyre. SmackDown general manager Nick Aldis responded to the situation by announcing that McIntyre was suspended.
According to Dave Meltzer of F4WOnline.com, the suspension storyline was created because of a film project for McIntyre. While the exact movie wasn’t confirmed, it was previously reported that McIntyre landed a role in Amazon MGM Studios’ Highlander reboot. Former WWE star Batista, who is also in the movie, noted to collider.com that filming begins on November 28th.
Batista stated the following about his training…
“I’ve been training since then, with a couple weeks in California. So I’ve been training for quite a bit. And it’s a grind. Not only did I have… the physical stuff, the stunt training, the sword fight training, the fight training. But Chad [Stahelski] has also asked me to put on a few pounds, so I’ve been on weight training on top of that as well. So it’s been a grind.”