There are many divisive figures in professional wrestling, but said stars are often divisive because they're difficult or messy or hang their dirty laundry out in public. Drew McIntyre is none of these things, but he finds his offering debated as if he was.
McIntyre's a multi-time WWE Champion who has main-evented against Roman Reigns in the last calendar year while also having perhaps the most critically acclaimed company match of the last 12 months. He's a 6'5 super-heavyweight with a cleaner dive than people half his size who's still south of 40 in an era where wrestler prime is only getting older. He's chameleonic enough to play cold-hearted killer heel or WWE gameshow host babyface, and in fact, turned his career around pivoting from one to the other almost overnight in 2019.
The WrestleMania 39 Intercontinental Championship triple threat that also featured Sheamus and Gunther was universally acclaimed during and after the battle, and was elevated to contemporary classic as 'Der Ring General' celebrated his win. Cagematch.net's contributors marked it a 9.4 out of 10 based on the democratic voting, then the Wrestling Observer's Dave Meltzer gave it the full five stars. 'The Show Of Shows' contest was no fluke after several years in similar high profile spots.
He's also a wrestler that plenty of AEW fans would probably (politely) take a pass on. Is that a him thing, a company thing?
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.
