Drew McIntyre came to WWE as the chosen one and eventually got fired. This allowed him to reinvent himself in the Indies, which again caught the eyes of WWE, who re-signed him. After working his ass off, winning the Royal Rumble, and beating Brock Lesnar, there was no big payoff because the biggest moment in his career happened with nobody in attendance.

After getting himself back into the title picture, the Bloodline snatched his opportunity away from him at WWE Clash at the Castle 2022. This match was considered to be the endgame for Drew McIntyre. His momentum got badly hurt after this. His feuds weren’t clicking. He was feuding with Karrion Kross, third-wheeling in the Intercontinental title scene with Gunther and Sheamus. Everyone thought it was the end of Drew’s main event career. But he proved everyone wrong!

Currently, he is having one of the best heel runs we’ve seen in a while. Sharing the spotlight with the returning CM Punk isn’t easy, but he’s made it work. And after almost two years, it is going towards where everything crumbled. Drew is now set to face off against Damian Priest for the World Heavyweight Championship at this week’s Clash at the Castle 2024 in his own country, Scotland. Let’s look at how Drew McIntyre has revitalized his career and given us arguably his best work.

Start of the Tweener Drew

After being out of action for three months, Drew returned to Money in the Bank 2023. He had a different attitude from the beginning this time. Drew confronted Gunther, leading to a match for the Intercontinental Championship. But at SummerSlam, he failed to win the title. He then slowly transitioned into a tweener (neither a face nor a heel), showing a more aggressive attitude toward fighting for himself instead of others.

Seth Rollins accepted a challenge from Drew for a World Heavyweight title match at Crown Jewel. During the segment, Damian Priest attacked Seth from behind with Dominik Mysterio rushing to the ring with the Money in the Bank briefcase. Drew, from his history with the Bloodline, was done with outside interference. He took out Dom, ruining Priest’s opportunity to cash in. This was the beginning of his downward spiral.

In the buildup to Crown Jewel, Drew went with a new slogan: “No More Broken Dreams”—a video package explaining his journey to the mountaintop. In his eyes, Crown Jewel was his version of finishing the story. But at the event, he couldn’t produce the goods.

Vendetta against Those who wronged Him

When Main Event Jey Uso got drafted to Raw, things got worse. Drew refused to side with Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn, and other faces on the Raw roster to accept Jey Uso as a member of the locker room. Drew questioned Jey’s actions as part of The Bloodline and couldn’t trust him. McIntyre lost his mind when Rollins decided to defend the World Heavyweight title against Jey and felt Rollins had something against him. During the match, Drew attacked Jey to cost him the title. He was out for blood against anyone who had wronged him in the past.

At that time, he also had a mini-feud with Sami Zayn, who questioned him about all of his complaining and said they had a similar path. Drew destroyed Sami to prove they were nothing alike.

Full Heel Turn

Drew’s relationship with the Judgment Day was on and off. One time he was preventing Damian from cashing in, another time he was helping Finn Balor and Damian retain the tag team titles. McIntyre’s heel run completely culminated when he joined forces with the Judgment Day at Survivor Series WarGames. They faced Cody Rhodes, Rollins, Uso, Zayn, and the returning Randy Orton, but they lost.

‘I prayed for this and It Happened’

On Day 1 2024, McIntyre once again failed to win the World Heavyweight title from Rollins. At this point, it seemed like he was handing out an empty promise. His chances of competing for the title at WrestleMania were also looking slim because that spot was seemingly reserved for the most talked-about return of 2023—CM Punk.

But at the Royal Rumble, everything changed. Although he was eliminated by Punk, Drew hit Punk with a Future Shock DDT and injured his tricep in the process. This was everything he needed to transform his character into one of the most despicable human beings we’ve ever seen. The Raw after the Rumble saw him beat the hell out of CM Punk, targeting his injured tricep. This started a new obsession for him with CM Punk being clowned for weeks. He walked around with shirts mocking him for his failed WrestleMania main event and became the biggest keyboard warrior known to man, taking a shot at him every chance he got.

It was the perfect way to get heat and involve his character massively.

This was ultimately the catalyst for him being pushed into Punk’s spot at Mania. After sidelining him with injury, the opportunity to headline WrestleMania was up for grabs.

Fulfilling the Broken Dream

On his way into the Elimination Chamber, he beat AJ Styles and Cody, two of WWE’s MVPs. It was a massive boost to his morale, and at the event, he went on to win by last eliminating Randy Orton to earn a rematch against Rollins at WrestleMania XL, his third shot at the World Heavyweight Championship in six months.

But things were different this time. Rollins was preoccupied with the Bloodline, which took away the spotlight from the title match. Drew urged Rollins for weeks to forget about them and focus on his title defense, but Seth saw Bloodline as a bigger threat. McIntyre’s big WrestleMania main event was different from the fairy tale story he told himself. Seth damaged his ego even more by telling him he was the least of his worries leading up to WrestleMania. The story kept repeating itself with Drew constantly reminding Seth to get his ducks in a row. It needed something to take it to the next level, and CM Punk was brought into the equation. He appointed himself a special guest announcer, but we knew shenanigans were on their way.

During Night 2 of WrestleMania XL, it was obvious Seth wasn’t at 100% after the Night 1 tag team match with the Bloodline. Drew beat Rollins clean and finally, his broken dream came true. He won the World Heavyweight title at WrestleMania with fans in attendance, but he wasn’t gracious at all. After the match, McIntyre taunted Punk, who was on commentary for the match, and this was his biggest mistake. Punk then attacked McIntyre; immediately afterward, Damian Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank contract and defeated McIntyre, ending his reign after only five minutes. Throughout the whole road to WrestleMania, Drew was alerting Rollins about how this match not being his main focus was going to cost him. But ultimately, his own obsession with CM Punk cost him the title.

What’s Next?

Now Drew has earned another shot at the World Heavyweight Championship in his home country of Scotland at Clash at the Castle: Scotland. Now the question is: can he win the title on his home ground? Because everyone knows the bigger story is Drew McIntyre vs. CM Punk. The feud is locked in whenever Punk gets medically cleared. After revealing Punk fractured his elbow on the announce table at Mania, it ironically made the feud much better. Wheels are in motion for a massive SummerSlam match. The story is intense—mixing real beef with clever storytelling. Now the only question is: will the feud be over the World Heavyweight Championship or not?