'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
After winning the 2020 Royal Rumble, Drew McIntyre could potentially become the first British WWE Champion and the man who finally dethrones Brock Lesnar.
It’s a remarkable story for a Superstar who, up until 2017, seemed as if his WWE career could be summed up by the phrase too much too soon.
Fans have always known McIntyre was a special talent. He had the athletic ability and the charisma as well as the height and the look needed to make it in WWE.
What he didn’t need was to be christened ‘The Chosen One’ by Vince McMahon. It was a label that ended up being a curse for McIntyre as he was too young and too inexperienced to ever live up to the title.
Instead of fulfilling his potential, McIntyre ended up being relegated to a mid-card comedy act and eventually being fired in 2014.
Being given your marching orders by WWE is something few Superstars come back from and in 2014 it was even harder to try and rebuild your status and reputation.
But for McIntyre, his firing became the liberation he needed to be able to go back to his roots and rediscover what he loved about wrestling and what the fans could love about him.
Between his firing in 2014 and his debut on NXT in 2017, McIntyre worked continuously, building up a list of accomplishments greater than anything he managed to achieve during his seven-year tenure in WWE.
He went home to compete in Scotland’s ICW, he became Evolve champion, wrestled for AAA in Mexico, entered PWG’s Battle of Los Angeles and he even held the IMPACT World Championship.
The path McIntyre took wasn’t an easy one but it eventually led him back home to WWE, where he quickly captured the NXT Championship.
While McIntyre’s run in WWE since returning hasn’t been perfect as the company has protected him more than most, all leading up to his crowning Royal Rumble win and WrestleMania match against Lesnar.
McIntyre is also walking into his match with Lesnar with the perfect storyline as his opponent is also a Superstar who found his way back to WWE.
Like McIntyre, Lesnar was also signed to WWE young and for a while, he was Mr. McMahon’s ‘Chosen One,’ even if there was no public declaration.
But unlike McIntyre, Lesnar left WWE on his own terms and when he returned in 2012 the terms were still his own.
While fans know how McIntyre fought his way back to WWE they see Lesnar, rightly or wrongly, as simply returning when he felt like it and continued to work whenever he wants.
Beating Lesnar at WrestleMania will give McIntyre the perfect end to the comeback chapter in the story of his career.
The hardworking, resilient babyface overcoming an opponent who everything seems to come just too easily for is a storyline that could resonate in the same way that Daniel Bryan did in 2014 and push McIntyre to become a true main eventer with crossover appeal.
WrestleMania ending with McIntyre holding the World Championship will be his true coronation as The Chosen One. Not Vince McMahon’s Chosen One, but the fans.
