• Top Star Nearly Debuted As A Model In WWE
Drew McIntyre first signed with WWE in 2007 and debuted on SmackDown. In his first run with the company, he was introduced as “The Chosen One.”
Speaking on the No Contest Wrestling podcast, The Scottish Psychopath revealed that WWE originally had very different plans for his debut before the “Chosen One” character was created. He shared that one of the pitches for his character came from then-Head of Talent Relations John Laurinaitis, who wanted him to debut as “The Runway Man.”
“I was listening to him describe the character and thought, ‘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.’ And you’re like, oh my goodness. I was picturing in my head basically all my dreams were going to hell. The life’s work of a Scotsman, it was all going down the toilet.”
McIntyre then said that the idea didn’t go through thanks to former WWE Chairman Vince McMahon reading his reaction during the pitch meeting.
“The next meeting after Johnny was to go to Vince himself and pitch this idea, and I kind of sat silent, and Johnny pitched it to Vince, and I think Vince saw my face the whole time.
He just said, ‘What do you think?’ I was like, ‘Whatever you need me to do, I’ll make it work.’ But I had my head down the whole time, and I think he read me like he doesn’t want to do this.”
• “She was feeling really sick and she didn’t tell anyone” – RAW Star On Recent Impressive Match
Last week on WWE RAW, Maxxine Dupri challenged Becky Lynch for the Women’s Intercontinental Championship in what turned out to be one of the best performances of her career. The match ended in a disqualification after Lynch attacked Dupri with the title.
Speaking on The Joe Vulpis Podcast, Natalya, who helped Maxine prepare for her in-ring career, revealed that Maxxine was battling an illness during the match. Here’s what she said:
“She had a match against Becky on RAW, their most recent match, it was their second match together, but her most recent match with Becky, she lost her voice. She was feeling really sick and she didn’t tell anyone. She was pushing through.
But she sent me a little voice note during the day and she’s like, ‘I’m doing great, everything’s going great, I just lost my voice, I can’t talk.’ She had the match of her career that night. I was like, ‘You pushed through even when you were sick.’
Because here’s the thing, and I say this all the time in our ring, and I know it sounds cold, I know it sounds insensitive, but to be at this level, to do the stuff that we do – not just in wrestling but in our case it is wrestling – if you’re sick and you’re getting an opportunity to wrestle Becky Lynch, a woman who’s main evented WrestleMania, on Monday Night RAW, on Netflix, Maxxine can’t go up to our bosses, she can’t go up to Triple H and go, ‘Hey, I don’t feel good today, I’ve got laryngitis and…’
Now listen, the company’s very forward now, so they’re like, ‘No problem, we’ll get you the best (care), we’ll get you home,’ they’re great, but she doesn’t wanna do that because she knows that opportunity might not be there again. Next week something might change. Who knows.
So if you are hungry and you want something, like if it’s WrestleMania, Cody Rhodes can’t just go like, ‘Hey, I don’t really feel good tonight, I’ve got food poisoning.’ No one cares. No one gives a sh*t. If you want something, you’ve gotta push through, you’ve gotta fight.”
Maxxine has a count out and a disqualification win over Lynch, which is why RAW General Manager Adam Pearce has granted another title match in the future.
