Three Stages Of Hell For Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre Undisputed WWE Title Match Revealed

Next week, “The American Nightmare” and “The Scottish Psychopath” are going to hell.

But what three routes will they take to get there?

On Friday night, we got the answer.

During the first episode of WWE SmackDown of the New Year of 2026 on January 2 at the KeyBank Center in Buffalo, New York, Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and his bitter rival and upcoming title challenger Drew McIntyre appeared in a newsworthy segment.

The segment featured the announcement regarding what the stipulations will be for their “Three Stages Of Hell” three falls title tilt next Friday night on the January 9 episode of WWE SmackDown.

Those are as follows:

STAGE NO. 1: Traditional Match
STAGE NO. 2: Falls Count Anywhere
STAGE NO. 3: Steel Cage

Featured below is a detailed recap of the Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre segment from the 1/2 episode of WWE SmackDown the featured the announcement regarding the stipulations for their Three Stages of Hell match scheduled for 1/9 in Berlin, Germany.

Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre 3 Stages Of Hell Revealed

It’s time to see what the three stages of hell will be for Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre. The show returns to a brief Oba Femi video package and then we return inside the KeyBank Center, where “The American Nightmare” makes his way out and heads to the ring.

As always, Cody asks the fans what they want to talk about. He asks how does one obtain the richest prize and the most sought after belt. He says he is not the biggest, fastest or strongest. But what separates him is simple, it is his mentality when approaching anyone in a WWE ring.

The fans sing Cody, Cody Rhodes. He raises the Championship in the air and says his mentality when approaching anyone is he gets there early. He wants them to see him seeing them. That is the secret, when they see the Championship, they see him, They think the money, the fame, the suits, the jet, the bus, the fans.

And then comes the envy and Drew McIntyre reeks of envy. But he is grateful for it, he is thankful for it. He is glad that Drew became this mountain to climb and he cannot wait for the fight. But in the spirit of an arena that is important for him and fans that have rallied for him, he is going to say an even bigger secret.

He says when he sits in the back and smiles, he plays dumb. When the Unreal cameras think they are capturing something, they are playing checkers, he is playing chess. No one asks him what he sees. When he sees Drew, he sees lunch. You can call yourself the Final Boss, the Tribal Chief, the Game, the Greatest of All Time.

But he is the one who calls himself the champ. And that does not change in Berlin. We see Drew McIntyre on the big screen standing outside. He says Cody is predictable because he is old school, he is traditional. In a world full of shades of gray, Cody is as vanilla as it gets. He thought hard about the stipulations.

Drew says the first stage is a straight wrestling match, he will prove to Cody that he is the better wrestler. Fall number two, the falls will count anywhere. And if by some miracle it is 1-1, they go to a third fall, it is inside an old school steel cage. No outside interference, no bs, two men enter, one Champion leaves.

He has broken Cody mentally and next week, he will break him physically. That is if Cody is still Champion because if Cody touches him, he is stripped of the title. They will have a lesson in self control. He wanted to have the conversation on the Cody express, Cody’s home away from home but Cody wasn’t there.

He said he let himself in, he saw some gifts from his wife and kids. There was one item that stood out to him. Drew holds up a picture of Cody with his dad, Dusty. He says he wishes Dusty was still there today to see the man Cody is today but he knows Dusty is looking up truly ashamed.

He says he knows a lot of people think it will be a cold day in hell before he is Champion again but he hopes Dusty has a coat because it is about to get very chilly. Drew throws the picture on the floor and Cody runs to the outside. WWE officials stop Cody and tell him he is not there.

We see Drew in the ring with a garbage can. Cody runs towards the ring but he is stopped by security and Nick Aldis. Drew holds the picture of Cody and Dusty, he tells him happy new year. Drew lights the picture on fire with a lighter and throws it in the garbage can. Drew gets in front of Cody, who is held back from attacking.

If interested, you can check out our complete WWE SmackDown results for January 2 here at WrestlingHeadlines.com.

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