Drew McIntyre

Drew McIntyre is known today as WWE’s Scottish warrior, striding to the ring in a kilt with his sword, named Angela, and a glare that tells the crowd he is ready for a fight.

For many fans, he is the first British and only Scottish world champion in WWE history. The man who dethroned Brock Lesnar in 2020 and later went to war with CM Punk over the World Heavyweight Title.

His path began in Ayr and Prestwick on the west coast of Scotland, where he grew up loving football and thinking about playing professionally before wrestling tapes and magazines pulled his focus to the ring. His parents agreed to support that dream as long as he stayed serious about education

As a teenager, his family moved to Portsmouth in southern England, which gave him access to the Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA) Academy. He began training there at the age of 15 under Mark Sloan, with help from experienced British wrestlers like Doug Williams. This involved taking long train rides to and from training while also balancing his schoolwork with his new dream.

He kept that promise to his parents, finishing a criminology degree in Glasgow while already working small shows, and by 2003 he was wrestling in British Championship Wrestling (BCW) as “Thee” Drew Galloway, a cocky, arrogant heel.

Through the mid-2000s, he continued to wrestle across England and also began wrestling in Scotland and Ireland, working in promotions like Irish Whip Wrestling (IWW) and the then-growing Insane Championship Wrestling (ICW), where he would go on to become the inaugural ICW World Heavyweight Champion.

His size, height and athleticism caught WWE’s eye, and in 2007 he signed a developmental deal and headed to Florida Championship Wrestling (FCW).

Short main-roster appearances on SmackDown came and went, but the real turning point was a 2009 reboot on television when Vince McMahon personally introduced him as a future world champion and the “Chosen One.”

Over the next year, he won the Intercontinental Championship in December 2009 and the WWE World Tag Team Championship with Cody Rhodes (then “Dashing” Cody Rhodes) in September 2010, beginning to look like a long-term top star.

Unfortunately, this push slowed as injuries and shifts in creative direction piled up, and by 2012, he was repackaged as the comedy rock band trio 3MB with Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal.

Instead of dominating, he was losing quick matches and playing for laughs. In June 2014, WWE released him turning the former “Chosen One” into a free agent in his late twenties.

Outside WWE, wrestling again as Drew Galloway, he rebuilt himself from the ground up. He returned to ICW in 2014, feuding with Jack Jester and becoming a traveling world champion who defended the ICW title in places like Denmark to give it more prestige.

In the United States, he worked for EVOLVE and Dragon Gate USA, winning the EVOLVE Championship, EVOLVE Tag Team titles, and the Open the Freedom Gate Championship, while also hitting high-profile indie promotions like Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG).

As his reputation grew on the indie scene, he moved back onto national television with TNA, where on the March 15, 2016 episode of Impact, he cashed in his Feast or Fired briefcase on Matt Hardy to win the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. He would later defend the title against Jeff Hardy and Tyrus before losing it to Lashley at Slammiversary that June.

During this period, he and his wife, Kaitlyn Frohnapfel, created a “Drew McIntyre 2.0” mission statement focused on dominating the British scene. The goal was to build a strong character and prove his talents so much that WWE would have to call him again. And the plan worked.

In early 2017, WWE announced his return through NXT, and that August, he defeated Bobby Roode at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn III to win the NXT Championship, only to suffer a torn biceps in November.

When he returned from injury, McIntyre was called up to the main roster on Raw in April 2018. He was heavier, more intense, and had more confidence on the microphone.

Teaming with Dolph Ziggler, he captured the World Tag Team Championship a second time in September 2018 and spent the next couple of years portrayed as a ruthless enforcer who relished hard-hitting brawls.

In the ring, he wrestled like a fast heavyweight, using big boots, suplexes, and heavy chops before snapping off his Future Shock DDT or the Claymore, which is a running single-leg dropkick that often came after the crowd counted down from three. His Glasgow Kiss headbutt and lariat added to a style that felt direct and physical rather than flashy.

By late 2019, fans had warmed up to his dry humor and blunt honesty. A gradual turn to a fan favorite paid off the next year on January 26th at the 2020 Royal Rumble. Entering at number 16, he blasted Brock Lesnar with a Claymore after a Ricochet low blow, eliminating him, and then threw Roman Reigns over the top rope to win the match.

At WrestleMania 36 on April 5th that same year, held in an empty Performance Center because of the COVID-19 pandemic, McIntyre defeated Lesnar to win the WWE Undisputed Championship, becoming the first British and only Scottish world champion in company history.

Through 2020, he carried the title in the silent ThunderDome setting, defending against Seth Rollins, Bobby Lashley, Dolph Ziggler, and Randy Orton before briefly losing the belt to Orton in October and regaining it in November on Raw.

As crowds began to return to the arenas, McIntyre moved back into his role of chasing championships again. He failed to regain the title from Lashley at WrestleMania 37, then later headlined Clash at the Castle in Cardiff in September 2022 against Roman Reigns, coming agonizingly close before interference from Solo Sikoa cost him the Undisputed Championship in front of a UK crowd hungry to see him win at home.

Around this time, his entrance leaned fully into Scottish imagery, with a long leather coat, kilt, and a large broadsword. The original sword was a real piece taken from Vince McMahon’s house after management suggested he carry one as part of his presentation.

McMahon even helped map out how McIntyre would walk with it and drive it into the stage, and later encouraged him to name the sword Angela in tribute to his late mother.

In 2024, he finally achieved a world title win in front of a live stadium crowd. On Night 2 of WrestleMania XL, he defeated Seth Rollins to claim the World Heavyweight Championship.

However, after the match, he approached CM Punk, who was commentating at the event, and began to taunt him. This led to CM Punk attacking him and allowed Damian Priest to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase and take the title, resulting in a reign that officially lasted just under six minutes.

That injustice fueled a bitter feud with Punk. McIntyre won the 2024 men’s Money in the Bank match in Toronto and tried to cash in later that night, but Punk again assaulted him and cost him the title, making Drew one of the rare wrestlers to fail a cash-in.

The rivalry continued into Clash at the Castle 2024 in Glasgow, where McIntyre challenged Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship in front of his home fans.

Punk once again ruined his chance, sliding in as a replacement referee for the injured official, and stopping his count at two. This created one of the year’s loudest crowd reactions and turned their feud into a long, deeply personal saga.

Today, McIntyre remains a key figure on WWE’s SmackDown brand, often presented as a hardened veteran who calls himself the most honest man in the company while targeting Punk, Roman Reigns, and other top stars.

He signed a new multi-year deal in April 2024 that Fightful and other outlets report will keep him in WWE until at least 2028, and he has begun branching into acting with roles in films like an upcoming Highlander reboot alongside Henry Cavill.

For now, though, his main stage is still the wrestling ring. Week after week, he brings the experience of someone who has been hyped, fired, rebuilt, and crowned, and now steps forward with a clear sense of purpose.

His aim is to turn this stage of his career into a lasting world title run in front of full arenas, one that reflects the long road from Scottish prospect to one of WWE’s defining modern stars.