The Forbidden Lore Of WWE's Drew McIntyre
He invented his Claymore finish by accident, not design; when the 3MB member was clad in his 1980s-style rock “star” leather trousers, he attempted a big boot. The trousers were so tight that he had to kick up his other leg just to get himself off the ground. Sensing that there was something to it, he developed both the flying aspect and crowd interaction element over the subsequent years. It was a cool move, but his rock n’ roll fantasy camp gimmick lacked the obnoxious charm of even WCW’s 3 Count stable.
Drew’s problem is that he did not resemble nor work like the popular internet darling of the day. WWE fans got behind Daniel Bryan and CM Punk, and to a lesser extent Dolph Ziggler, because, in a time before workrate inflation, they offered a refreshing, exhilarating contrast to the methodical, power-based WWE style and larger, slower main eventers. McIntyre, in gimmick and wrestling style, was not remotely cool.
In the ring, he was good, not great - not that he received many opportunities to prove people wrong. He was neither nothing nor something; tall but not imposing, not slow but not tremendously exciting, either. He sensed this, too; when he was inevitably released from his WWE contract on June 12, 2014, he set about transforming himself physically. The process would take time; when he debuted for TNA Wrestling in February 2015, he didn’t look like a man reborn. He was a typical ex-WWE guy, in that he looked bigger in a different ring, but only relatively. He was still pale, and lacking in definition, but things were happening already.
As Drew Galloway, the rebuild almost happened in plain sight. The problem that faced him in WWE was a familiar foe on the independent circuit. He was cooler than he was, almost by default, but he wasn’t the man generating the most buzz beyond WWE, like CM Punk in 2005, or Bryan Danielson a year later. Who was more interesting in 2016?
An earnestly improved Drew McIntyre, or Kenny Omega: the warp-speed big match genius with his retro-cool ‘80s bad guy look?
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