Cody Rhodes Beats Drew McIntyre to Retain WWE Title at 1st-Ever Wrestlepalooza on ESPN

Cody Rhodes defeated Drew McIntyre at Wrestlepalooza on Saturday to retain the WWE Championship.

After beating John Cena at SummerSlam to become a two-time WWE champion, Rhodes joined forces with Cena on the Aug. 8 episode of SmackDown.

Cena was confronted by Logan Paul and then attacked by McIntyre after Paul and McIntyre successfully teamed up in a win over Randy Orton and country music star Jelly Roll at SummerSlam.

Rhodes made the save, and Cena laid down a challenge for a tag team match pitting him and Cody against Logan and Drew later that night.

Cena and Rhodes won the match by disqualification when Paul hit Cena with a low blow, but the lasting impact was made by McIntyre, as The Scottish Warrior hit Cody with the WWE Championship belt and put him through the front of the announce table with a vicious Claymore.

The American Nightmare would not be seen again on WWE programming for more than a month, and during his absence, McIntyre renewed his rivalry with Orton.

On the Sept. 12 edition of SmackDown, McIntyre and Orton clashed in a singles match that McIntyre won with a Claymore after Orton narrowly avoided colliding with the referee.

Much like he did to Rhodes, McIntyre set up to put Orton through the front of the announce table after the match, but Cody made a surprise return and stopped Drew from doing so.

After McIntyre retreated, Rhodes offered to put the WWE Championship on the line against Drew at Wrestlepalooza, and the match was made official shortly thereafter.

At the first WWE premium live event to air on the ESPN Unlimited streaming service, Rhodes managed to retain against a tough opponent in the three-time WWE world champion.