"Drew McIntyre is in the position he belongs," says Danny Burch (Exclusive)
British wrestling is currently enjoying a golden period in the professional wrestling scene. Thanks to increased exposure for some of the biggest independent companies in the country and WWE's continued investment in NXT UK, there isn't a hotter place in the industry right now.
Perhaps though the cherry on top of what is already a ground-breaking time for the UK, is to see this year's WrestleMania headlined by a British Superstar for the very first time in its history. Drew McIntyre, fresh off his monumental Royal Rumble win in January, is set to challenge Brock Lesnar for the prestigious WWE Championship on the Grandest Stage Of Them All. And, according to one fellow Brit - a somewhat veteran of the game - it's no more than McIntyre deserves.
It's so good to see Drew in that position. It's where I feel he belongs. Says current 205 Live and NXT Superstar Danny Burch,
Burch couldn't be happier to see his fellow countrymen be the new standard bearer for British talent at WWE's biggest event of the year.
Our country, it’s such a small country and it never got the spotlight it truly needed. Now it has, and Drew has been a huge part of that. I’ve had many matches with Drew, I think I actually had one of his very last matches in England before he was signed the first time. I’ve known him for years and I couldn’t be happier for him to be in the position he’s in. From the fact the he went in there, got released, went away and got as much experience as he could. Then came back bigger, better and badder. It's absolutely amazing.
It's a far cry from the struggles Burch had to endure on his journey to WWE, where there was no WWE Performance Centre, no NXT UK and so few shows a month that pro wrestling was shared with a plethora of 'day jobs'. Fast forward to 2020, and those 'dark days' as Burch calls them are long gone and British wrestling is not only one of WWE's focal points but now has place on terrestrial television in the UK for the first time in twenty years.
It’s pretty mind-blowing if you consider the dark days of British wrestling and how there was no spotlight on us, and you’d only get crowds of 50-100 people on a good day. To see what it is now. I mean British wrestling, NXT UK, is on British TV - on a local network. The exposure is mind-blowing! There’s new fans, new families tuning in every week - it’s so, so good.
That exposure will see Burch cheering on his old running buddy McIntyre at WrestleMania in Tampa this April, but as a life-long fan of the business, Burch cites some classic 'WrestleMania moments' when looking back on the show of shows over the years.
Rock and Austin at WrestleMania, just because of the crowd. Austin turned heel, but still got this huge babyface reaction. The build-up video to that with Limp Biskit and ‘My Way’ was one of the best videos they’ve ever done, and I still watch that now. I’ve also got to mention the very first Undertaker and HBK match too, which was fantastic, and also Kurt Angle and Shawn Michaels from WrestleMania 21 - that’s one of the best matches I’ve ever seen.
You can catch WWE NXT Superstar Danny Burch on BT Sport, the new home of WWE. Watch WWE NXT on BT Sport 1 every Thursday at 1 am or catch up on the BT Sport App.