What happened to Drew McIntyre at Clash at the Castle 2022?

Despite being built as the hometown hero, McIntyre failed to win the title against Roman Reigns. Instead of a crowning moment, the event concluded with a controversial singing segment involving Tyson Fury.

Why does the author criticize WWE's booking of Drew McIntyre in Europe?

The author argues that WWE consistently fails to capitalize on McIntyre's momentum in Europe by overbooking finishes and relying on lazy tropes rather than letting him perform as a top-tier wrestler.

What does the author suggest for the Bash in Berlin main event?

The author suggests that WWE should avoid cheap patriotic narratives and instead book a high-intensity, brutal match. They specifically recommend a singles match against Gunther to satisfy the demanding German wrestling audience.

How does the author describe the German wrestling audience?

The German audience is described as smart, demanding, and deeply rooted in a vicious wrestling culture. They prioritize high-quality ring work and brutality over generic babyface promos or pandering.

What is the 'European' trope the author warns WWE about?

The author warns that WWE often treats all non-American wrestlers as a monolithic entity when touring Europe. They caution that assuming the German crowd will automatically treat a Scottish wrestler as a hometown hero is a mistake.

WWE is repeating the same mistake with Drew McIntyre in Europe

The Scottish Psychopath goes to Germany

Bash in Berlin 2026 is looming on the calendar, and naturally, Drew McIntyre is plastered across the promotional material. WWE loves to trot him out whenever they cross the Atlantic, painting him as the quintessential European final boss. It makes sense on paper. He is massive, hits incredibly hard, and commands the kind of crowd reactions that most of the roster would kill for.

But there is a glaring problem. WWE's track record of booking McIntyre on European soil is notoriously frustrating. The creative team seems fundamentally unable to understand how to capitalize on his momentum when the cameras are rolling outside of North America.

Think back to Clash at the Castle in Cardiff in 2022. That should have been his crowning moment, a generational victory in front of 62,296 screaming fans. Instead, we got the infamous singing segment with Tyson Fury while Roman Reigns walked up the ramp with the gold. They built an entire stadium show around the premise of the hometown hero finally dethroning the tribal chief, only to rip it away for the sake of extending a title reign that was already long in the tooth.

The "Foreign Heel" Trap

We saw shades of this again in Glasgow. You put the man in his hometown, build the entire premium live event around him, and still find a way to overbook the finish. It is a cynical way to book your top stars. Now we are heading to Berlin, a city with a deeply rooted, vicious wrestling culture. The wXw fans who will pack the arena do not want a cookie-cutter WWE main event. They want violence. They want the guy who used to tear the house down on the independent circuit during his exile from the company.

My biggest fear for Bash in Berlin is that WWE defaults to their laziest trope. They have a bad habit of treating any non-American wrestler as a monolithic "European" entity when they travel to the continent. McIntyre is Scottish. Berlin is Germany. The crowd will respect him, but they won't automatically treat him as a hometown hero just because he shared a landmass with them.

If Triple H and the creative team try to force a cheap patriotic narrative, it is going to backfire. The German crowds are notoriously smart and notoriously demanding. They respect ring work above all else. You do not pander to them with cheap heat or generic babyface promos about working hard. You give them a twenty-minute clinic in brutality.

The Gunther Problem

Booking the right opponent for McIntyre in Germany is half the battle. You cannot put him in there with a pure sports entertainer and expect the crowd to eat it up. They need someone who can go blow-for-blow, strike-for-strike. Naturally, the conversation turns to Gunther.

If WWE is smart enough to pull the trigger on that rematch, Bash in Berlin becomes an instant classic. We saw them beat the absolute hell out of each other at WrestleMania 39 alongside Sheamus in what was arguably the match of the weekend. A singles match between McIntyre and Gunther on European soil? That is a license to print money. It bypasses all the cheap booking tricks and relies entirely on two massive dudes chopping each other into oblivion.

But there is a catch. Gunther is the Ring General. He cut his teeth in Germany. He is the closest thing to a hometown hero the Berlin crowd will have. If you put McIntyre against Gunther, McIntyre has to play the heel, or at the very least, the aggressive tweener. And WWE has historically struggled to book McIntyre with nuance when he isn't playing the clear-cut good guy or the unhinged villain.

They risk turning the match into a confusing mess of allegiances. We have seen it before when WWE tries to push two heavily supported international stars against each other. The crowd simply chooses their favorite, and the entire planned narrative falls apart. WWE needs to decide right now whether McIntyre is walking into Berlin as a conqueror or a challenger.

A History of Missed Opportunities

The frustration surrounding McIntyre's European booking is rooted in his entire second run with the company. When he won the Royal Rumble and defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36, it was in front of zero fans. He carried the company through the hardest television tapings in wrestling history, working empty arenas in the Performance Center and the ThunderDome.

He earned the right to have his massive stadium moment. Yet, every time the opportunity arises, WWE flinches.

Cardiff 2022: Loses to Roman Reigns due to Solo Sikoa's interference.
Glasgow 2024: Loses to Damian Priest due to CM Punk's interference.
WrestleMania 40: Wins the title, only to lose it five minutes later to a cash-in.

It is an exhausting cycle for the fans who genuinely want to see him succeed. How many times can you watch a guy get screwed over before you stop caring about his chase? The chaser narrative only works if the payoff actually happens. Right now, McIntyre is the boy who cried wolf, constantly promising destruction and constantly falling short when it matters most.

Time to Pull the Trigger

Bash in Berlin 2026 cannot be another chapter in the "Drew gets screwed" saga. It is lazy booking, and frankly, it is insulting to the audience. You cannot keep teasing the European fans with McIntyre wins, only to pull the rug out at the last second.

If it happens in Germany, the audience is going to stop buying into him as a legitimate threat. He will slide back down the card, becoming just another upper-midcard guy who can be slotted into main events when someone gets injured, rather than the marquee attraction he is capable of being.

This premium live event shouldn't be about just having a big name on the poster. It needs to be the definitive moment where Drew McIntyre is allowed to be the unstoppable force he claims to be. No outside interference. No screwjobs. Just a clean, decisive match that cements his legacy.

WWE has the chance to finally right the wrongs of Cardiff and Glasgow. They have the right guy, the right location, and the right audience. They just need to stay out of their own way and let McIntyre do what he does best: kick people in the face and win wrestling matches. If they fail to deliver that, they are wasting one of the most bankable stars of this generation.