Early in his WWE career, Drew McIntyre successfully dreamed broken dreams as “The Chosen One.” Under another pitched gimmick, however, his dreams could have instead been put in jeopardy.
During an appearance on “No-Contest Wrestling,” McIntyre recalled the fashion-centric character idea that almost followed him in his return to WWE’s main roster in 2009. “John Laurinaitis was Head of Talent Relations at the time and telling me at Florida Championship Wrestling, which was there prior to the NXT we know today, the original developmental, and he built it up. He built it up,” McIntyre said. “I was listening to him describe the character and thought, ‘Oh no, oh no, 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.’ I was picturing in my head basically all my dreams were going to hell. The life’s work of the Scotsman, it was all going down the toilet.”
Despite being personally against “The Runway Man” gimmick, McIntyre was still willing to play it out on-screen if then-WWE CEO Vince McMahon approved of it. While in a backstage meeting with Laurinaitis and McMahon, McIntyre specifically told McMahon that he’d make due with whatever was needed for WWE television. In the same breath, though, McIntyre kept his head down — something McMahon seemed to recognize as a sign of apprehension.
“I think [McMahon] read me like he doesn’t want to do this,” McIntyre said. “Thankfully they let me play closer to myself [as The Chosen One]. But I learned years later it was nowhere close to myself because it took me until I returned to WWE after getting fired where I finally found myself as a wrestler and as a human.”
McIntyre Thoroughly Prepared For Potential Role As ‘The Runway Man’
Before Vince McMahon officially pulled the plug on presenting McIntyre as “The Runway Man,” the Scotsman did extensive online research on how to walk like a model. To better look like one, he also lost about 35 pounds.
“Shane Helms, The Hurricane, described me as an avatar,” McIntyre said. “I used to have the ponytail at the time and Avatar was the big movie. If you painted me blue, I would have just looked like a giant avatar. I lost so much weight. It turns out I didn’t need to lose all that weight because I was coming in as an ass-kicking Chosen One when I thought I was going to be this runway man. I was practicing walking the imaginary runway backstage and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I’ve got two left feet. This is going to absolutely bomb.’
“Could have been a disaster,” he continued. “I wonder what I’d be doing in Scotland right now if I was a runway man because I would not have succeeded in WWE.”
In September 2009, McMahon appeared on “WWE SmackDown” to formally re-introduce McIntyre as “The Chosen One,” further describing him as highly intelligent, handsome, aggressive, and a future World Heavyweight Champion. Though the latter element wouldn’t truly materialize until 2020, McIntyre did capture the WWE Intercontinental Championship just three months after McMahon’s proclamation.
In the present day, McIntyre is known as “The Scottish Warrior,” often donning an edgy-version of a kilt, long dark vests, and a sword.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit “No-Contest Wrestling” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
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