Drew McIntyre’s first WWE run could have looked very different. The former World Champion recently appeared on the No Contest Wrestling podcast. He talked about topics such as his upcoming Saturday Night’s Main Event match against WWE Champion Cody Rhodes and his world title run during the pandemic.
The Runway Man
During the talk, McIntyre was asked about his ‘Chosen One’ gimmick and if the company had any other plans for him before that. Drew revealed that there were multiple ideas, one of which was for the Scottish star to debut as ‘The Runway Man,’ pitched by the then-head of talent relations, John Laurinaitis.
“I was listening to him describe the character and thought, ‘Oh no.’ Then he went ‘The name, the Runway Man, you’re going to have your own model runway and you’re going to walk down like a model.’ And you’re like, oh my goodness. I was picturing in my head [that] basically all my dreams were going to hell. The life’s work of a Scotsman, it was all going down the toilet.”
Drew McIntyre originally made his WWE debut in October 2007. He wrestled a few matches on the main roster before being sent down to FCW. The wrestling veteran reappeared on SmackDown in August 2009. A month later, then-WWE Chairman Vince McMahon promoted him on-screen as a future main eventer, which was the origin of his ‘Chosen One’ gimmick.
How Vince McMahon Reacted
Explaining how he managed to avoid becoming The Runway Man, McIntyre claimed that McMahon had seen the trepidation on his face when they went in to pitch the gimmick.
“The next meeting after Johnny was to go to Vince himself and pitch this idea, and I kind of sat silent, and Johnny pitched it to Vince, and I think Vince saw my face the whole time. He just said, ‘What do you think?’ [I was like] ‘Whatever you need me to do, I’ll make it work.’ But I had my head down the whole time. and I think he read me like he doesn’t want to do this.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit No Contest Wrestling podcast with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. You can watch the full interview on the No Contest Wrestling YouTube channel.
