10 Biggest WWE Creative Success Stories Of 2018
8. Drew McIntyre
Tellingly, we were shown Drew McIntyre's main event credentials throughout 2018. We weren't told of them.
Instantly, we were conditioned to receive this new, ultra-shredded McIntyre as a difference-maker. Drafted in by Dolph Ziggler to make a difference to his ailing career, we were made to wait, even on weekly three-hour episodes of RAW, for the full brunt of his force. WWE took a measured approach to the Scottish Psychopath (the nickname still needs work), and in doing so, we were quietly conditioned to receive him as a big deal. Cutting bellowing promos to underscore his intimidating presence, but not too many of them, WWE distanced McIntyre from the more mundane heel tropes. He wasn't a coward. He stood up to Braun Strowman. He didn't bait and switch the crowd with obnoxious material, nor roll his eyes at them. With a rare efficiency, he made threats - and he delivered upon them.
All this would be for nought, in 2018, if he couldn't get it done in the ring. He could: at Hell In A Cell, he made the difference to his and Ziggler's Tag Team Champions credentials by matching the athleticism of Seth Rollins and putting him away with the brute force of his Claymore Kick finisher.
Propelling himself back to the top turnbuckle and sending his opponents thudding to the mat, this main event-level act is both workhorse and powerhouse - an interface between office and public WWE presented without being really, really f*cking overbearing about it.