How AEW Should Debut Drew McIntyre

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?

Anecdotally, it appears to be a bit of both.

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