Rating The Champ: Drew McIntyre

Welcome to a new series on the website, called Rating The Champ. This will follow my prior World Title Series, where I reviewed each and every WWE Heavyweight Champion in history from Hulk Hogan’s first title win in 1984 all the way to the current days. Money in the Bank cash-ins will not be included for obvious reasons, unless it was a proper match (ie: Rob Van Dam at One Night Stand 2006). Royal Rumble and battle royales won’t be included as well.

In this new series, I will rate all the PPV matches from each and every WWF/E Heavyweight Champion in history. To be fair, since this is the WWF/E title, I’ll only rate their PPV matches in the WWF/E. In this first edition, we’ll be looking back at the PPV career of the one and only, current WWE Champion, Drew McIntyre.

2009

2010

• Vs. Kane – WWE Intercontinental Championship (Elimination Chamber) **
• Money in the Bank Ladder Match (WrestleMania XXVI) ***1/2
• Vs. Kofi Kingston – WWE Intercontinental Championship (Over the Limit) *1/2
• Vs. Kofi Kingston – WWE Intercontinental Championship (Fatal 4 Way) ***1/4
• SmackDown’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match (Money in the Bank) ****
• Tag Team Turmoil – WWE Tag Team Championship (Night of Champions) **
• W/ Cody Rhodes vs. John Cena & David Otunga – WWE Tag Team Chapionship (Bragging Rights) *
• W/ Team Del Rio vs. Team Mysterio (Survivor Series) ***1/4

2011

• SmackDown’s Elimination Chamber Match – World Heavyweight Championship (Elimination Chamber) ****1/4

2012

• Vs. Brodus Clay (Royal Rumble) DUD
• W/ Team Johnny vs. Team Teddy (WrestleMania XXVIII) **
• W/ 3MB vs. Del Rio, Miz & Brooklyn Brawler (TLC) 1/2*

2017

• Vs. Bobby Roode – NXT Championship (TakeOver: Brooklyn) ****1/4
• Vs. Andrade Cien Almas – NXT Championship (TakeOver: WarGames) ****

2018

• W/ Dolph Ziggler vs. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins – WWE RAW Tag Team Championship (Hell in a Cell) ****1/2
• W/ The Dogs Of War vs. The Shield (Super ShowDown) ***1/2
• W/ Team RAW vs. Team SmackDown (Survivor Series) ***1/2
• Vs. Finn Bálor (TLC) ***

2019

• W/ Corbin & Lashley vs. The Shield (Fastlane) ****1/4
• Vs. Roman Reigns (WrestleMania 35) **
• Money in the Bank Ladder Match (Money in the Bank) ****1/4
• Vs. Roman Reigns (Stomping Grounds) ***3/4
• W/ Shane McMahon vs. The Undertaker & Roman Reigns (Extreme Rules) ***3/4
• W/ Team Flair vs. Team Hogan (Crown Jewel) ***1/2
• W/ Team RAW vs. Team SmackDown vs. Team NXT (Survivor Series) ****1/4

2020

• Vs. Brock Lesnar – WWE Championship (WrestleMania 36) 1/2*

TOP FIVE

5. MITB Ladder Match (Money in the Bank 2019)

The other participants were Baron Corbin, Finn Bálor, Ricochet, Andrade, Ali and Randy Orton. At this point in his career, Drew McIntyre was still a heel.

He spent the match forming short partnerships with fellow bad guys Orton and Corbin, only to turn on them with his vicious Claymore finishing move.

Near the bout’s end, Drew suplexed Bálor onto a ladder followed by a slam on Ricochet onto Bálor, until Orton’s RKO would take him out of the match as Brock Lesnar would escape with the briefcase.

4. RAW vs. SmackDown vs. NXT (Survivor Series 2019)

The participants were Drew McIntyre, Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Kevin Owens & Ricochet for RAW ; Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, King Corbin, Mustafa Ali & Shorty G for SmackDown ; Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, WALTER, Matt Riddle & Damian Priest for NXT.

During the match’s first few minutes, Drew had the job of letting WALTER run wild on him before putting him away in controversial fashion with the Claymore. Later on, he’d stop the Braun/Lee tease before being a victim of Braun’s crazy comeback.

He finally teased “kicking Ciampa all the way back to NXT”, only to eat a Reigns spear and be eliminated. This entire match did a great job of putting Keith Lee over like a million bucks, despite being ultimately won by Team SmackDown.

3. Vs. The Shield (Fastlane 2019)

This was during a time McIntyre was feuding with the returning Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins was getting ready for his Universal Title clash with Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, Lashley would battle Finn Bálor for the Intercontinental strap, Baron would wrestle Kurt Angle in his final match while Ambrose was on his way out of the company.

In what would be The Shield’s final match on PPV, Drew mostly went after Reigns to get the heat and almost got a count-out win over Dean, who eventually got back in just before ten after a Claymore. Drew would finally be the victim of a Shield Triple Powerbomb through a table, before the faces finished Corbin inside the ring for the win.

2. Bobby Roode (NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn 2017)

In 2017, Drew Galloway was signed back to WWE three years after being released. A former World Champion in companies such as TNA/Impact and WCPW, Galloway returned under his former ‘Drew McIntyre’ persona on the NXT brand.

At TakeOver: Brooklyn 2017, Drew challenged Bobby Roode for the NXT Championship, and was in trouble as Roode went after Drew’s neck. After his former finishing move, the Future Shock DDT, was not enough to get the job done, McIntyre captured the gold with a Claymore Kick.

McIntyre would hold the belt for a little over three months, dropping it to Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas at TakeOver: WarGames in November.

1. Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins (Hell in a Cell 2018)

After his run in NXT, McIntyre made his return to the main roster after WrestleMania 34 in 2018. He joined forces with Dolph Ziggler and pretty much gave him a reign with the Intercontinental Title, before capturing RAW’s tag straps.

This was indeed one of the matches that put Drew over as a tough motherf*cker the most, overpowering both Dean and Seth while his partner DZ mostly struggled.

Drew would continue to dominate until the final sequence, which saw Drew break up Rollins’ Superplex + Falcon Arrow sequence on Ziggler with a Claymore mid-move, allowing Ziggler to land on top for the win.

Overall average rating:

2.31/5

Thank you for reading. I’ll see you next time, where I’ll be looking at current Universal Champion, Braun Strowman.