WrestleMania 36 is soon at hand. I think we’re done with the long intros. Let’s actually not waste any time with this preview.
WWE Championship: Brock Lesnar © vs. Drew McIntyre
It’s hard to quantify what Drew McIntyre is right now. He’s an underdog and yet, everyone has expected him to be in this exact spot since his return to WWE back in 2017. In fact, he was expected to be in this spot by, at the very least, the WWE brass about twelve years ago. His original run certainly did not pan out as it was intended. He petered out slowly and by the time it was over, he was part of the 3MB stable, which while fun, was essentially a group of comedy jobbers. He was expendable, which was proven by him being among many names released on June 11th, 2014.
Not to be deterred, he quickly set out on carving a new path for himself, improving by leaps and bounds, sculpting a physique that made better use of his frame and getting a makeover that made him look like one of the toughest, most fierce sons of bitches in wrestling. And he wasn’t just a look, as he could go in the ring as well. Suddenly he truly was the complete package that WWE saw nearly ten years prior.
This earned him a spot back in NXT where he was pushed hard and it wasn’t long before he became NXT Champion. Sadly that reign, and his stay there in general was cut short there by injury. But even so, he earned the respect and admiration of the NXT faithful, who managed to cheer for him even as he came out to by far the worst entrance music in all of WWE. I still miss Broken Dreams. You can’t make me stop.
But despite all the hype, when he first came onto the main roster, they had very little for him to do. It’s WWE, so that tends to just kinda happen. He was largely treading water for his first two years on Raw, where he was basically slotted into the gatekeeper heel role immediately. Anytime they wanted a face to look good and groom them for bigger things, they went through McIntyre. This included a generic grunt role where he backed up Baron Corbin for absolutely no reason.
At the very end of 2019 however, something funny happened. He turned face, and did so not through some dumb jokes, a colorful makeover or a dancing gimmick. No, he turned babyface by simply being a dominant asskicker and taking great delight in it. And whaddya know, it caught on quick and it caught on big. So big that after maybe two months of this, he won the 2020 Men’s Royal Rumble match to a huge ovation. Now, suddenly, he finds himself challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.
Though Paul Heyman expressed great mockery to Drew, he quickly made him eat his words by repeatedly laying Lesnar out in a fashion that, really, no one’s ever managed to do. All leading towards what seems like a grand moment where we crown our new big babyface. Honestly, it’s a little sad to me that his crowning moment has to happen like this after all this time. In front of no crowd, in a tiny empty venue… it’s just not how this is supposed to go. But yannow what? I don’t trust WWE enough to give it to him later if he doesn’t get it here. So let’s go ahead and do it. Drew McIntyre over. And while you’re at it, maybe consider having him come out to Shaman’s Harvest to mark the occasion. Please?
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