411’s WWE Chronicle: Drew McIntyre Report

411’s WWE Chronicle: Drew McIntyre Report

-Air date: 04/04/20
-Run Time: 39:55

-WWE Chronicle is next up for me as I continue going through some of the new content released on the Network. This has also proven for be a good series with the Dean Ambrose one being one of the best programs I’ve ever seen from the Network. This one focuses on Drew McIntyre and should be interesting considering everything going in the world right now. This show follows a WWE superstar around and Drew is a great choice considering he is headlining Mania, but I am curious how they handle talking about the change of venue and no fans in this piece. Let’s get to it!

-March 11, 2020: London: A producer asks Drew if he has considered that this could be postponed or canceled. He has thought about and thinks it’s just part of a comic strip called “Bad Luck Drew.” He talks about being released and then coming back and getting a Mania Main Event and it being canceled. Would be just his luck.

-Chronicle: Drew McIntyre – The following took place from Jan 26, 2020 to April 1, 2020

-March 25, 2020: Social Distancing as the Producer meets with Drew via a video call. Drew talks about what the past 14 days have been like as he has felt boredom, anger, frustration, and then realization.

-We then get this on air graphic which actually states the cause of all these problems for the first time on WWE programming I believe: “With the spread of COVID-19 causing a global pandemic government officials called for citizens to self-quarantine, and large gatherings were strongly discouraged. WrestleMania 36, originally set to emanate in front of a capacity crowd at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida, would now be held at WWE’s Performance Center in Orlando, Florida with no fans present.”

-The producer talks about how this is different for him compared to all the other ones he has made. Drew says that this is fitting as a way to tell his story as he isn’t going to get the Daniel Bryan or Kofi Kingston moment.

-We travel back to 21 year old Drew debuting in WWE as he was brought out by Vince McMahon and hyped as a future World Heavyweight Champion. Drew comments that he has won 0 World Titles in the WWE. He says he was a liability in the WWE at time and deservedly got fired.

-A graphic tells us that Drew made his debut in Oct 2007 at 21 years old. He was considered a future World Champion and found some success as a IC and Tag Champion, but was released in June 2014 without realizing his full potential. Drew talks living with Sheamus in Tampa in an apartment and then Sheamus bought a house and they lived there. Drew met his wife there and she also moved in for a bit. Eventually he and his wife got there own apartment and a few days later he was fired. They told him there was a chance to work again down the line and he told them they definitely would.

-Jane 26, 2020: Royal Rumble – Houston, TX: Drew is amazed by the atmosphere already and there aren’t even any fans in the stadium. Oh man, the irony! Brock murders everyone through the first half of the Rumble, but Drew (with the help of Ricochet) gets to eliminate him to a massive pop from the crowd. Like many I figured that was setting up their Mania program and Roman was going to get the Rumble win. The WWE smartly went all in on Drew though and gave him the push of eliminating Brock and winning The Rumble.

-Drew gets a standing ovation backstage and a big hug from Roman. Vince tells Drew that it is time to go now and Drew thanks him for everything he has done for him and his family. The utter joy in Drew’s face is fantastic here and you can’t help but feel good for the man. He is checking his phone and is amazed by all the texts and messages he is receiving from friends and family. They are all part of it and reacting the same way he is. He talks about his wife being with him when he got released and supporting him as he acted like a rock star outside the ring.

-Drew has a sit down with Charly and he talks about how he has always been described as having potential. He has yet to reach that potential and now he is starting to scratch that and Brock knows it.

-He is off to a news station in San Antonio to talk about his Rumble win. He talks about the video from a pub in Glasgow and the reaction they had when he won The Rumble. I’m sure most have seen it by now as it was shared all over Twitter. He mentions he has seen reactions like that before, but during football (soccer) games.

-The host of the talk show asks him if he ever thought he would return to the WWE. Drew says no as he was very bitter and fueled by the anger. He soon realized that he was the only person he could blame and the chip came off his shoulder. He knew he needed to get back and show the WWE world he wasn’t the guy playing air guitar.

-Drew meets with some friends before RAW and they are proud of him. Drew points at the Mania sign and laughs that he is just practicing. Drew cuts his promo on RAW and doesn’t drag things out and picks Brock Lesnar as his Mania opponent. He then runs through The OC before Brock comes out and drops him with the F-5.

-He tells the producer that he always saw Brock as the measuring stick and that a match with him was the dream. In his head his goal was to be as believable as Brock Lesnar and do promos as well as Paul Heyman. It was all in his head and he knew it likely would never happen, but it’s what drove him.

-We travel back to FCW and Drew wins the FCW Title. Drew is outside the old FCW arena and talks about how that is where he learned to be a wrestler as he didn’t have much training in Scotland. He tells a story of Vince coming to visit FCW and he didn’t have a match. Keirn realized this and wanted to give Drew a chance, so he gave him a match. Unfortunately his opponent was horrible and blown up, which made Drew look bad so he kicked him in the ribs as hard as he could and he thinks Vince liked the intensity he brought.

-The producer asks Drew what changed him as a person and his wife, Kailtyn, answers the question. Drew says he had to fake it until he made it a lot of times early in the company. Drew is given a new shirt and he mentions it was pointed out to him that Brock has a large sword on his chest and he has one on his shirt: The Claymore. He is happy that things have fallen in place, and that he will be headlining Mania in his home for the last 12 years: Tampa. Poor Drew!

-Drew shows the producers one of his ring jackets and it was only used once and that was in a match with Jinder Mahal on Superstars the day before 3MB was formed. Jinder is here and talks about Drew deserving this spot. They traveled together for years and still train together. Jinder says this is all due to hard work and there is nothing about this that is luck. They both have perspective because they were each released. I guess Heath Slater just needs to get his release and he will get a World Title run or Mania Main Event spot.

-March 2, 2020: RAW in Brooklyn: Drew knows how big the spot is and that he is just taking it one day at a time. He is looking forward to the last RAW before Mania and then it will get real. I kind of feel for Drew here as you can feel his excitement in the moment, but we all know what’s coming. Heyman cuts a promo and as they leave, Drew kicks Brock’s head off with a Claymore on the ramp. Good moment! Drew says that felt believable and he reminded people that he is an aggressive guy ready for Brock.

-Back to the home and Drew’s wife talks about how he was handed things at first, but now puts the in the work. He is deserving of what he gets now and that has helped his confidence. Drew talks about working in Scotland and how he and Sheamus were the big feud. He admits he developed a big head because he was fast tracked to the main roster after only 3 weeks in FCW.

-March 9, 2020: RAW: Drew blows through Rowan and kills the spider to end that storyline.

-We get a montage of all the news stations discussing COVID-19 and how it has tanked the stock market and brought havoc to Italy. It’s announced as a global pandemic and everything is about to change.

-Drew is doing a photo shoot in London and a friend is reading Drew’s wikipedia page. He asks Drew how weird of a kid he was. He says he was always a tall kid and into strange stuff. He would send for magazines from America about the inside secrets to pro-wrestling so he could learn how things worked backstage.

-Next up he meets with DJ Ace and they discuss all his nicknames. He always loved The Scottish Terminator and jokes that The Scottish Psycho Path always hurt his feelings. He discusses being the first Brit to win The Royal and Rumble. He is looking forward to visiting Scotland again. That moment is going to send him into overdrive.

-Drew arrives in Scotland and a news brief tells us all flights to the US are now banned. Drew tells the producer he is pissed off because things are getting messed up with what’s happening in today’s climate. He doesn’t know what this means for Mania, but of all the emotions he has been feeling he is mostly pissed off. He hasn’t slept and he is feeling pretty concerned.

-Drew via the video call tells the producer he woke up at 3:30 AM for some reason and then got a call from WWE that they needed to pull him out of Scotland and get him back to the US.

-March 16, 2020: RAW is from The Performance Center and they announce Mania will also be coming from The Performance Center as well. They had footage of Drew watching the announcement and you can see the disappointment on his face. He admits he would be lying if he said this is what he looked forward to as a kid. Mania was going to be in his backyard in Tampa and now that’s not going to happen. The match is still on though and he will be fighting for the title. He talks about guys holding the company up when it got hard, but this is more than just hard times for the company. This is hard for everyone and he wants to be the guy to hold things together. His Mania moment will be getting through things and getting things back to normal.

-April 1, 2020: Drew and Kaitlyn spend time together and Drew admits everything being about him doesn’t mean as much now. He can’t be too disappointed because things are obviously a lot worse for people all over the world. At the end of the day he is still wrestling for the WWE Title at Mania.

-Drew wraps up by saying it is hard to put the last few months into words. He has gained perspective on his place as an entertainer, husband, and on his place in the world. If he can give a brief moment of relief to someone watching, then he has done his job. This was supposed to be a redemption story, but it is much more now. He knows the fans won’t be there, but he will feel them like he did in Houston, and in Brooklyn, and all over the world. It won’t be his WrestleMania moment, but will be OUR MOMENT

-Awesome! I actually got chills from that ending voice over from McIntyre. This was an amazing piece of business because of them not ignoring what was happening with COVID-19. I appreciate that while they won’t mention what is happening on RAW, SmackDown, NXT, they left it all in for this show. You can feel Drew’s joy and then his pain, and it’s okay that he is angry about what he is missing out on. There are billions of people around the world that have felt hurt, and angry over things that have changed. That is human nature. Props to Drew for not shying away from being pissed off, but also realizing there are more important things happening in the world that helped put Mania being inconvenienced in perspective. This was a great watch and will be something worth watching weeks, months, and year from now as things get back to some semblance of normal to remind us of this time. Highest recommendation to watch. Thanks for reading!