KB’s Review: I Choose You Drew!

Have you ever heard terms such as “can’t miss prospect”, “blue chipper”, “the next big thing” and various other similar statements? I certainly have in all of my years watching wrestling and various other sports. Most of the time though, there’s almost no way to live up to the hype and the people who receive such accolades are always falling by the wayside, not being nearly good enough to reach such lofty goals.

However, I’d put my money on Drew McIntyre being able to make it work. I’ve been a fan of this guy for years and the more I see of him, the more blown away I am by him. I don’t remember the last time I saw someone who had every single thing needed to be a top level star wrapped into one package. He has the size, the look, the experience, the talking abilities and the presence to make it work, and there seems to be the chance that he could put it all together to pull it off.

Seriously, this guy looks awesome.

Drew McIntyre makes his awe-inspiring entrance: NXT TakeOver: WarGames (WWE Network Exclusive)

Today we’re going to take a look at McIntyre and see why there is so much potential there. This won’t be so much a look at his current story (though I’m sure that will come up) but more a general look at everything he’s done so far and why he could be as good as people think he might be. You don’t get a prospect like him every day and if WWE is smart, they’ll capitalize on what they have.

First and foremost, McIntyre looks like a star. He’s 6’5, 265lbs and looks like a combination of a mountain man and a seasoned athlete. You can put him on a poster or just on TV and casual people are going to pay attention to him. He’s taller than Edge, Randy Orton and Triple H, which is pretty rare air outside of the traditional big guys. Simply put, he looks like someone who could beat you up and that’s not something you get enough of these days. I know the smaller wrestlers are more popular these days and that’s rather cool, but sometimes you need someone big and strong who stands out in a crowd.

Compare this to the way he looked in his first WWE run. He still had the size, but McIntyre would be defined more as a pretty boy than as someone who looked intimidating. His Chosen One character (with the AWESOME music) was fine, but it’s only going to get you so far. The look was fine for what it was but it wasn’t exactly going to allow him to rise up to the top of the card like he had the potential to do. Changing the look to something far more impressive gives him several feet in the door and gets your attention that much faster.

Getting beneath the outer shell though, you have the experience. McIntyre turned thirty three years old last month, which means he’s far from old, but he’s been wrestling for seventeen years. That’s two years less than John Cena, who is in his early 40s and pretty much at the end of his career. McIntyre could be doing this for a very long time and with that kind of experience, he actually knows what he’s doing after wrestling around the world for a long time. That’s a valuable asset and something that deserves a special look of its own.

Think this might get some reactions on Monday Night Raw?

Drew Galloway Vows To STAND UP In Epic Speech! (Mar 6, 2015)

McIntyre has wrestled all over the world, including in England, Scotland, Ireland, WWE, Impact Wrestling, Evolve and elsewhere with success nearly everywhere. Above all else, it helps so much to have someone wrestle in so many places for the sake of letting him learn different styles. You’re only going to get so much out of learning the same style that WWE has taught to all of its rookies and developmental projects so bringing in something different makes you stand out.

It helps so much to wrestle a style that mixes together various kinds of wrestling. Maybe you have a mixture of the British technical style with the hard hitting power style that McIntyre is more physically suited for, plus some of the more indy based Evolve style. That makes for an interesting hybrid and a good bit more interesting than the same WWE style that everyone works. Incorporate that in while also making it your own and see how much more you stand out from the crowd.

Perhaps on top of everything though, you have the fact that McIntyre left and came back. As someone once said, “How can I miss you if you’ll never leave?” McIntyre was in WWE for a few years but fell down through the floor in importance, becoming a member of the 3MB comedy stable. That wasn’t something you’re likely to recover from if you’re still there, so having him leave was one of the best things that could have happened.

McIntyre left and took the indy circuit by storm, including winning the Impact Wrestling World Title. That kind of resume and series of performances turned him into someone that the fans wanted to see again. By the time he was back, aside from just having a few people laughing about the former stable, fans wanted to see what this big guy who was supposed to be the next big thing back in the day was doing now. Then he made his WWE return back at Takeover: Orlando to a big reaction because he had been gone long enough to get your attention all over again. Imagine how many people in WWE could benefit from that idea.

Just look at how much better Ziggler is now that he’s no long….this.

Kerwin White's New Caddy : Nick Nemeth

Consider the guy that McIntyre has been paired with at the moment: Dolph Ziggler. How long has Ziggler been around and how many people (myself included) now roll their eyes whenever he comes out? Ziggler has worn out his welcome and there’s no spark there anymore. In the old days he would have gone to some other company, worked another style against fresh opponents, and come back as a different guy who the fans had forgotten enough to make him matter again.

In other words, he would have done exactly what McIntyre has done to great results. McIntyre came back and hit the ground running, becoming NXT Champion (a big deal) in just a few months. Leaving completely recharged him and turned him into a fresher version of the same beast that everyone expected him to be all those years ago. It’s a case of turning a negative into a positive, which doesn’t happen very often in WWE. Again: how many people could benefit from doing exactly the same thing that McIntyre did? It worked for him, so why can’t even more people do the same thing?

Finally, and probably the most important, McIntyre comes in with a resume already established. Sure he won the NXT Title last year, but he’s also a former Intercontinental and Tag Team Champion in WWE alone. Those are some title wins that are going to give you a reason to think McIntyre is that good and capable of becoming a bigger star in the future. Imagine how much better Jinder Mahal might have seemed had he done, you know, ANYTHING before becoming World Champion.

McIntyre is a rare case of having every single thing that you can ask for in a wrestler put together in one package. He’s big, strong, athletic, knows how to talk, has experience, and has been enough of a success to become a top star either in WWE or in any other place he happens to work. If WWE plays their cards right, he could be a top level star for a long time to come. Hopefully he’s away from Ziggler sooner rather than later to get rid of the albatross around his neck. Once that’s gone, there’s no reason to believe McIntyre won’t be a very big deal in a hurry like the chosen one he was before and should be again.

Thomas Hall has been a wrestling fan for over thirty years and has seen over 50,000 wrestling matches. He has also been a wrestling reviewer since 2009 with over 5,000 full shows covered. You can find his work at kbwrestlingreviews.com, or check out his Amazon author page with 27 wrestling books. His latest book is the NXT: The Full Sail Years Volume III: From Dallas To New Orleans.

Get the latest and greatest in professional wrestling news by signing up for our daily email newsletter. Just look below for “GET EXCLUSIVE UPDATES” to sign up. We are proud to offer our popular Wrestling Rumors app and encourage you to download it for an optimized user experience. It is available for Android and also on iOS. Thank you for reading!