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Drew McIntyre beat Brock Lesnar to become the WWE Champion at WrestleMania 36. However, he was not the only WWE superstar considered for that major push. Released superstar Aleister Black, now known as Malaki Black, was being considered to face Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, but Vince McMahon decided to go with The Scottish Warrior.
McIntyre won the WWE title in front of no crowd due to the pandemic and went on to carry the company during the ThunderDome era. Aleister Black, on the other hand, remained in the mid-card and was later released from the company as part of budget cuts. He joined AEW but has allegedly been granted a release by them.
Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer stated that Drew McIntyre and former NXT Champion Aleister Black were in the race to face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36. It was Vince McMahon's final call that decided it would be Drew McIntyre instead of Aleister Black.
''The plan was for Lesnar to lose. The two main people under consideration at first were McIntyre and Black, but Vince chosen McIntyre. That was long before the pandemic,'' said Meltzer
Check out his tweet below:
Drew McIntyre on what it meant to defeat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania
The former 2-time WWE Champion Drew McIntyre spoke about what a great moment it was to beat Lesnar at WrestleMania. Despite their being no crowd, he said that he realized the importance of that WrestleMania moment. It gave the fans an escape from what was happening all around due to the COVID-19 pandamic.
“When I started to understand the gravity of the situation, we were the only gig in town, we were bringing people an escape with Wrestlemania, my match was last, it had a bit of a feel good story, it could really put some smiles on faces across the world, with a happy ending to Wrestlemania, if I beat Brock and won the title. It was something that was really big to me and when I won the title it meant the world to me and I had my moment,' told McIntyre to The Rack Radio Show (H/t:Tjrwrestling)
Drew McIntyre recently faced Roman Reigns at Clash at the Castle but failed to become the WWE Universal Champion. Both of his WWE title wins came in when there were no live crowds. Hopefully, McIntyre will get his big moment soon.
