10 Worst First Days For WWE Champions

7. Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre Big Show
WWE.com

WrestleMania 36, all things considered, was quite the creative success story.

The ethics of it could be debated for days and the standard of expectation was set way, way too high for the wrestlers within that wretched Performance Center atmosphere as a result, but WWE actually served its consumers a night of escapist entertainment in the dark days of April 2020. A fleeting moment of something to savour.

Unless you were Drew McIntyre.

Forever immortalised as WWE's newest made man during an unfathomable time, the coronation was the hollowest of any in WrestleMania history, and the disappointed new titleholder had to defend the belt straight after! Due to the company's need to film everything before a brief Florida shutdown, The Big Show was drafted in for a title match that could air on Raw the night after. McIntyre looked every bit of a guy making the best of a bad situation, but "best" had never been so tempered and "bad situation" had never been such an understatement.

It was a clunky, pandemic-y start to life on top for 'The Scottish Warrior', though it would at least become a crucial part of his character's lore in the years that followed. 

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Michael is a writer, editor, podcaster and presenter for WhatCulture Wrestling, and has been with the organisation for 10 years. Alongside the production of daily written, audio and video content covering WWE and AEW, he also provides knowledge and insights on all aspects of the wrestling industry thanks to a passion for it dating back over 35 years. As one third of "The Dadley Boyz" Michael has contributed to the huge rise in popularity of the WhatCulture Wrestling Podcast and its accompanying YouTube channel, earning it top spot on the UK's wrestling podcast charts with over 10,000 episodes and 70,000,000 total downloads. He also co-hosts Benno & Hamflett, In Your House!, Podcast Horseman: The BoJack Horseman Podcast, and has guested on long-running Sunderland AFC podcast Wise Men Say. With WhatCulture, he has provided in-person coverage of some of the biggest pay-per-views and Premium Live Events in wrestling history, including WrestleMania, Survivor Series, All In & Double Or Nothing in destinations such as New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, London and Cardiff. He has also been featured as a wrestling analyst for the Tampa Bay Times, Fightful, POST Wrestling, GRAPPL, GCP, Poisonrana, 411Mania and Sports Guys Talking Wrestling. Michael's background in media stretches beyond wrestling coverage, with a degree in Journalism from the University Of Sunderland (2:1) and a series of published articles in music and culture magazines The Crack, Pilot as well as Sunderland AFC's premiere fanzine A Love Supreme. When not offering his voice up for daily wrestling podcasts, he can be found losing it every other Saturday at the Stadium Of Light, and at Cribs gigs nationwide.