Drew McIntyre Reveals His WrestleMania Dream Match [Exclusive]

Drew McIntyre may be WWE Champion, but his WrestleMania 42 status remains uncertain. The Scottish Warrior defends his title against Cody Rhodes on SmackDown, tonight (March 6). Win and he defends against Randy Orton in Las Vegas in mid-April. Lose, and who knows?

While so much is up in the air a little over a month removed from the Showcase of the Immortals, McIntyre knows who his dream defence would come against.

The four-time World Champion recently spoke exclusively to SPORF around the imminent launch of 2K Games’ WWE 2K26. Amid his disgust at long-term rival CM Punk being made the cover star, this year, McIntyre was still game for a spot of fantasy booking.

WWE 2K26 Provides Endless Dream Matches

Given that the roster for WWE 2K26 is the franchise’s biggest ever, with over 400 playable characters, there is plenty of opportunity to book all the wildest and weirdest dream matches your mind can comprehend.

Want to take control of ECW’s Original Gangsta New Jack and pit him against Hulk Hogan? Have at it. How about finally giving the world CM Punk vs ‘Stone Cold’ Steve Austin? Or perhaps The Rock vs Roman Reigns? Eddie Guerrero vs Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart, anyone? You can do it on WWE 2K26.

So with so much opportunity within the new game to realise, virtually at least, some of the dream matches that got away, we put the question to the reigning WWE Champion as to who would be his dream opponent to defend his WWE Title against at WrestleMania.

Drew McIntyre Books His Dream WrestleMania Title Match

“If I was picking anybody, I was a big Bret Hart fan growing up,” McIntyre begins.

“He was my guy. But at the same time, his arch rival, Shawn Michaels. Nobody really brings a better game at WrestleMania than Shawn Michaels. That’s why they call him Mr.WrestleMania.

“So if I could just bend the rules a little bit. Triple threat; Me, Bret, Shawn. Straight wrestling match.”

McIntyre’s own WrestleMania record is a heavy hitting run of marquee matches. He has two World Title victories to his name at the Granddaddy of ‘em All. But both are slightly tainted memories. The first, his inaugural WWE Title victory, over Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36, came inside an empty WWE Performance Center, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Scottish Warrior’s second title victory, when he captured the World Heavyweight Championship from Seth Rollins at WrestleMania 40, is also a bitter memory for McIntyre. His post-match gloating brought forth an attack from CM Punk, allowing Damian Priest to cash in his Money In The Bank contract and dethrone McIntyre only five minutes after he became champion.

Lessons From The Undertaker

When it comes to WrestleMania, there are few superstars as synonymous with the show than The Undertaker. The Hall of Famer won 21 bouts in a row at the Showcase of The Immortals. Then Brock Lesnar dropped jaws around the world when he added a ‘1’ in the L column at WrestleMania 30.

But The Streak forever remains a part of ‘Mania folklore, and McIntyre revealed how the owner of that streak helped him out during the early stages of his career.

“He was unbelievable to be on the road with,” McIntyre explains. The pair shared locker rooms up and down the road while a young Drew McIntyre was a fresh faced rookie on the SmackDown brand, back in 2009.

“I wish my wrestling IQ was remotely close to his, back in the day. There were so many lessons that I didn’t understand. But then years later the lightbulb went off. I bet there’s a million lessons that I just can’t remember. It took so long for me to understand what he meant.

“I was going out there, I was thinking so much about the moves that I’d planned in my head. ‘I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do this, I’m gonna do that. People are going to love me.’ What he was saying was to relax and be present. If you’re not relaxed and present, the fans can tell. They can see it in your eyes, they can see it in your body language.

“Fans aren’t truly going to make an emotional connection unless they know who you are. It took years for that lightbulb to go off.

“And when it comes to the physical aspect of our industry, I’ve watched him in more pain backstage than I’ve ever seen anybody. Then he’d go to ring and give it 150 percent. You’d watch him and you’d never know he was in as much pain as he was backstage.

“The guy gave everything to this industry, and I admire him for that. I’m the same, nowadays. I give everything to this job. I had mentors who love it that much they gave everything.

“And nowadays you have people, I won’t name names, I feel like they’re just in it because they want to be famous. They want to make money. You’re never going to truly succeed if that’s your mentality. You have to love it. If you love this job you’re going to get everything you ever wanted.”

Drew McIntyre defends his Undisputed WWE Title against Cody Rhodes tonight/tomorrow morning on WWE SmackDown, live on Netflix in the UK from 1am.

For more information on WWE 2K26, visit the game’s official website, become a fan on Facebook, follow the game on TikTok, X, Instagram, and subscribe on Twitch and YouTube. Official campaign hashtag #WWE2K26.