WWE may have noticed that Drew McIntyre was nowhere to be seen at SummerSlam on Sunday night.

In the weeks before the show, speculation suggested McIntyre would be on WWE's second-biggest show of the year in one way or another.

Some reports suggested he would be in Shane McMahon's corner for his match vs Kevin Owens, while others reported he would have a match against Cedric Alexander, who he has been feuding with over the past few weeks.

However, none of those things happened, as The Scottish Psychopath never made an appearance on the show, and for a good reason according to reports.

Ringside News reports that Dave Meltzer of Wrestling Observer Radio stated WWE was protecting McIntyre during SummerSlam to keep him out of any situation that might cause him to lose any heat with the crowd.

It's good to hear WWE is doing this for McIntyre, as it shows they're finally pushing the button on him and potentially propelling him to the top of the card.

At the start of 2019, many WWE fans thought the company would be pushing The Scottish Psychopath towards one of the main title pictures throughout the year in WWE following his split from Dolph Ziggler.

However, since then, McIntyre has never really received an opportunity to chase either the Universal or WWE title, but now that could be about to change.

Since McIntyre competes on Raw, logic would suggest he could be the next challenger for Seth Rollins, who beat Brock Lesnar at SummerSlam to become the Universal Champion for the second time.

The Scottish Psychopath as well is arguably the biggest heel on the Raw roster right now, if you take out Lesnar.

Since Lesnar is only part-time too, a spot could be open for him step into the Universal title picture.

Time will tell, but for now, the fact that WWE kept McIntyre off the SummerSlam card to protect is a good sign for his future as the company wants him to look as strong as possible.