Drew McIntyre is having the greatest calendar year of his career, and it’s only getting better as he has now won the second WWE championship of his career against Randy Orton. Not many WWE superstars have the ability to say they have won multiple WWE titles in their career – let alone by beating Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania in the main event for the first title and winning the second by finishing a long-term program with Randy Orton. For McIntyre, his second WWE title victory felt as though it meant more in terms of furthering his status in the company and truly cementing his status as a top-tier main eventer. Immediately after the WWE championship match, The Viper tapped The Scottish Psychopath on the back of his leg as a way of giving respect and saying “good match kid. You earned it.”
McIntyre’s career year began with a Royal Rumble victory in January, followed by a victory against Lesnar for the WWE title at WrestleMania. Drew spent the middle portion of 2020 defending his title against various other superstars – such as Seth Rollins, King Corbin, Bobby Lashley, and Dolph Ziggler (who McIntyre tagged with in 2018) – slowly building credibility before getting to the ultimate payoff rivalry later in the year of being caught over by someone who is quite possibly the greatest to ever lace up a pair of boots in Randy Orton.
These two men met for the first time in this current feud in August 2020 at SummerSlam in which McIntyre got the victory. This match was followed in September with an Ambulance match which was won again by McIntyre (not by pinfall however so the rivalry could be extended). The starting match was a Hell In A Cell match in which McIntyre gave arguably his best in-ring performance ever (taking a hellacious fall from halfway up the cell). It was capped off this Monday with Randy Orton putting the finishing touches on the process of putting over Drew McIntyre as a perennial WWE champion and one of the top superstars in the entire WWE. Drew will now go on to face The Tribal Chief Roman Reigns at Survivor Series this Sunday.
Drew McIntyre has earned a significant amount of respect from me as well as the entire WWE universe – he has done everything with grace and appreciation for what he has been given. WWE has also practiced a slow-burn over the last 13 years with McIntyre. No one thought it would take quite that long for McIntyre to come into his own – Mr. McMahon had to know it would be a long process since McIntyre was so young and had much maturing to do when he was first discovered at 22 years old. But Drew McIntyre now has a sufficient amount of perspective on life at 35 now. The maturation process in life simply takes nothing but time which requires patience, but it always happens eventually. This is a similar view the company may want to take with Big E (who is a former NXT champion Mr. McMahon almost made the face of the company once upon a time).
The next opponent on the list for Drew McIntyre may be Sheamus, especially considering the symbolism which came to fruition during McIntyre’s entrance this Monday when McIntyre planted the sword Sheamus gave to him earlier in the night into the floor. Another reason this is a likely first feud for Drew McIntyre’s second reign as WWE champion is because he already has a well-established friendship with The Celtic Warrior. Two wrestlers who are friends almost always end up embarking in a rivalry at some point in time – this is just good business. Both men have so much chemistry together based on their friendship and they were also the top rivalry in all of Europe before they both signed with WWE.
Drew McIntyre may in fact be one of the top four or five superstars who can legitimately carry the WWE into the future over the course of the next 10/15 years. Obviously this cannot be said about just anyone, but McIntyre has been through more than his fair share of struggle and rejection (he has been told no multiple times by other companies, and as much as people don’t want to hear that it will strengthen their level of resolve).
Someone’s journey toward success in this or any other industry could take a much shorter amount of time or a much longer amount of time. No set amount of time can be placed on this sort of journey, but people will always find a significant amount of meaning in the journey and the way in which the process of their entire life unfolds before their eyes. For McIntyre the magic number was 19 years. No one can waste time overthinking the process of life, because then it is not enjoyed (which is the intention of life; if you’re not enjoying life then you are not doing it right. That’s the only thing I know for sure).
Now a face vs. heel match can take place at Survivor Series between Drew McIntyre and Roman Reigns.