TJR: Review Of WWE Ranking Drew McIntyre’s 10 Greatest Moments (VIDEO)
This is a review of a Youtube video that WWE posted counting down Drew McIntyre’s 10 Greatest Moments.
As usual, I’ll provide context for those moments and share my thoughts as we go through the countdown. Remember, this is WWE’s list, not my list.
Drew McIntyre has had a very interesting career in WWE from when he started as a guy in his early 20s in the late 2000s to where he is now. Vince McMahon, the former WWE Chairman, decreed in a famous promo on Smackdown that Drew was a “future World Champion” and that led to Drew being nicknamed “The Chosen One.” That first run saw Drew become an Intercontinental Champion, but he didn’t break through to the main event level. When he was a part of the 3MB “music” group, it was mostly a comedy and it led to Drew getting released in June 2014.
While he was away from WWE, Drew re-invented himself and became a better all-around performer thanks to some great promos on the indies while his match quality improved as well. In early 2017, WWE came calling again with Triple H bringing Drew back to the NXT brand. After a run as the NXT Champion (that also saw him suffer a torn bicep that needed surgery), Drew was moved to the Raw roster in April 2018. In early 2020, WWE turned Drew into a babfyace that saw him win the Royal Rumble to meet Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36. Unfortunately, there were no fans in attendance at WM36 due to COVID-19, but Drew still got his WrestleMania moment by beating Lesnar in a few minutes to become the WWE Champion for the first time. In the two-plus years since then, Drew has become a main event player as one of the biggest babyfaces in WWE.
In less than two weeks on Saturday, September 3rd, the “Scottish Warrior” McIntyre will challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed Universal Title at Clash at the Castle in Cardiff, Wales. It will be home turf for Drew since he’s from the UK and it’s a match in the UK in front of 70,000 screaming fans that will likely want him to win.
Here’s the top ten countdown from WWE’s video with some comments from me.
10. Defeats Goldberg
This was Royal Rumble 2021 with Drew defending the WWE Title against Bill Goldberg. It was Drew’s second run as the WWE Champion. I remember people being worried that Goldberg might actually win this match, but that didn’t happen. The finish saw Goldberg miss a Spear attempt, then he hit the turnbuckle and Drew bounced back with a well-placed Claymore Kick for the win.
9. Tag Team Championship Win With Cody Rhodes
A lot of people might not even remember this, but Drew is a two-time Tag Team Champion in WWE. The team of Evan Bourne & Mark Henry lost the titles to Drew and Cody Rhodes at Night of Champions 2010. Cody got the win with the Cross Rhodes on Bourne. Drew and Cody only held the titles for about one month.
8. Retains The WWE Championship In TLC Match
Drew defended the WWE Title against AJ Styles at the December 2020 TLC pay-per-view event. The Miz was the Money in the Bank contract holder, so he had his friend John Morrison say that Miz was cashing in. Drew ended up finding a way to win after he shoved a ladder over to knock down Styles & Miz at the same time. Drew hit Miz with a Claymore Kick followed by Drew climbing the ladder to retain his WWE Title.
7. Tag Team Championship Win With Dolph Ziggler
When Drew joined the Raw roster in April 2018 he was aligned with Dolph Ziggler as a heel duo. They captured the Raw Tag Team Titles against The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) in September 2018. They won with a Claymore Kick-Zig Zag combo move on Axel.
6. Intercontinental Championship Win
Drew’s first title on the WWE main roster happened at TLC 2009 when he defeated John Morrison to win the Intercontinental Championship. Drew did a dreaded eye poke (that the referee didn’t see) and Drew hit a double arm DDT for the pinfall win. The move was called the Scot Drop at the time, but it would be renamed the Future Shock DDT later in his career.
5. Wins Elimination Chamber Match
It was the 2021 Elimination Chamber pay-per-view when Drew defended the WWE Title against five opponents: Randy Orton, AJ Styles, Jeff Hardy, Kofi Kingston and Sheamus. The finish of the match came down to McIntyre and Styles with AJ going for a Phenomenal Forearm off the ropes, but Drew hit him with a Claymore Kick in midair. Drew covered to win.
What wasn’t shown in the video is that Bobby Lashley attacked an exhausted McIntyre after the match and The Miz cashed in the Money in the Bank contract to win the WWE Title. However, this is a Drew list, so of course, they are going to leave that out.
4. Taps Out Kurt Angle
It was one of Kurt Angle’s last matches on Raw on November 5, 2018. Drew faced the WWE Hall of Famer in a singles match on Raw. Drew trapped Angle in an Ankle Lock with a heel hook on the mat, Angle tried to fight it as best he could and then Angle tapped out to give Drew the win. There wasn’t a title on the line or anything like that, but it was a big win for Drew.
3. NXT Championship Win
Bobby Roode defended the NXT Championship against Drew at NXT Takeover Brooklyn III on August 19, 2017. Roode hit the Glorious DDT, but he chose not to cover Drew. That led to Drew hitting a headbutt followed by the Claymore Kick for the pinfall win to become the new NXT Champion.
2. WWE Championship Win (For The Second Time)
Randy Orton defend the WWE Championship against Drew on the November 16, 2020 episode of Raw in a No Disqualification Match. Orton set up for the RKO, Drew shoved him off and Drew hit the Claymore Kick for the pinfall win to become the WWE Champion for the second time. This was in the “Thunderdome Era” of WWE when fans at home were on the screens instead of a crowd due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
1. Royal Rumble Match Win
This was from Royal Rumble 2020 with Drew in the final two of that match. What they didn’t include in this video was earlier in the match when Brock Lesnar dominated the first of the Rumble, but Ricochet gave Brock a low blow kick and Drew hit him with a Claymore Kick to eliminate Brock. What they did show is Drew in the final two with Roman Reigns. After fighting Reigns from eliminating him, Drew hit Roman with a Claymore Kick and tossed Reigns out of the ring to win the Rumble match. At the time, COVID-19 was just in its early stages and it this was less than two months things shut down in mid-March. At least this moment had a big crowd that cheered loudly for Drew’s big win.
Final Thoughts
I thought the list was good in terms of showing championship moments in Drew’s career. With that said, I’m very surprised that they didn’t show Drew beating Brock Lesnar for his first WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36 in the WWE Performance Center. I realize that WWE didn’t like the idea of a WrestleMania with no fans, but it was still Drew’s first time winning the WWE Title and to me that should absolutely be considered one of the greatest moments of Drew’s WWE career. Everything else is fine if you’re only going to include matches without showing promos or brawling segments like when he laid out Lesnar on the ramp on Raw prior to WrestleMania 36.
Will there be another major championship moment in Drew’s career on September 3rd when he faces Roman Reigns at Clash at the Castle? I don’t know, but I’m excited to see what happens.
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That’s all for me.
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John Canton
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