5 hidden gem Drew McIntyre matches you may not have seen
The boyhood dream has finally become a reality!
This past weekend at WrestleMania 36, Drew McIntyre defeated Brock Lesnar to become the WWE Champion.
In doing so, he became the first ever UK-born world champion in the history of WWE. Despite it happening, sadly, in front of no fans due to the Coronavirus pandemic, it still represented a massive milestone in the career journey of McIntyre.
Back in 2014, he was released by WWE. Instead of dwelling on a potentially missed opportunity, he instead forged a formidable reputation across the worldwide independent scene.
Such was McIntyre's body of work during this time, he was back in WWE in the blink of an eye - less than three years following his release.
This near 36-month spell included some absolute gems of bouts you wouldn't have believed had happened - some of which we may never see again.
So here are five hidden gems of matches from Drew's spell on the indies.
#5 - vs. Cody Rhodes - What Culture Pro Wrestling - April 30th, 2017
Despite being Tag Team Champions in Drew's first WWE run, very rarely did we see McIntyre and Cody Rhodes face off on opposite sides of the ring.
By the time they eventually did, both men's careers had taken different paths. This early in 2017, Rhodes was only beginning to build his indie CV, which would ultimately lead to the formation of AEW, and arguably one of the hottest babyface runs in wrestling history.
McIntyre, on the other hand, was closing the door on this stage of his career, having re-signed with WWE/NXT. This match represented his final independent match-up.
Given that Cody and Drew are both friends outside the ring, this was a fitting finale to this chapter of the latter's career, especially when you add in the fact that another friend of McIntyre's in Stu Bennett/Wade Barrett was serving on commentary throughout the match.
He even makes a nice cameo midway through that many of his WWE fans will very much enjoy.