Untold Story Behind WWE Champion Drew McIntyre
"I'm going to make you a promise. I will be the first f***ing British World Heavyweight Champion".
At WrestleMania 36, Drew McIntrye beat Brock Lesnar to become the first-ever, British, WWE Champion. In the 56 year history of the belt, which the company recognises all the way back to Buddy Rogers being crowned the inaugural WWWF Champion, no man from the United Kingdom has ever held this particular piece of gold.
It's an incredible story, and one that will be retold for years via Network specials, TV documentaries, and inebriated Ayrshire pub verse, but it's one that thus far seems to be missing a small chapter. Everyone knows that Drew arrived in the "big leagues" early in his career, and that he worked his way back there after an abrupt exit, but it's in the gap in between where certain moments are being lost.
That's not to take anything away from the achievement of course. Drew McIntyre is the first-ever British WWE Champion because he's worked himself into the ground to earn that spot, and consistently delivered every time the company has asked him to. It didn't matter what roads he took to get there, the destination is deserved regardless. But the thing is, in a story that's already about sacrifice, commitment, and realising a dream, one of the most fitting chapters is the one that's not being told.
The man's time on the independent circuit from 2014 - 2017 is rightly heralded as where he regained control of his career, his reputation, and in some respects his life. You see, WWE had decided areas of his personal life meant that he wasn't worth the inordinate hype they'd bestowed upon him during his debut - Vince literally introduced him onto TV personally and called him a future WWE Champion - and jarringly tossed him down the card prior to his exit.
His last single's match for them was a losing effort against El Torito. Let that sink in.
He was quickly back in the game though, and within two months of leaving the company was crowned Evolve Champion in 2015. Video packages detailing his life are quick to showcase his incredible work in that company, as well as his seminal stints in both ICW and Impact, but it was a potentially career-ending night in Newcastle way back in 2016 that our story begins...