WWE News: Stephanie McMahon Told Superstar To Come Up With A New Name Minutes Before His Debut
WWE is known to make its superstars pick original names that are exclusive to the company, but most of them are given plenty of time to come up with a unique persona prior to making their debut match. That wasn’t the case for Drew McIntyre, though, who shared the origins of his current moniker on WWE’s YouTube channel.
As quoted by Ringside News, “The Scottish Psychopath” revealed that his original name wasn’t acceptable to use, which resulted in him being ordered to come up with a new one right before a match.
“Stephanie McMahon says to me and Michael Hayes, ‘Is Drew Galloway your real name?’ I said yeah, she said ‘uhh… [disapprovingly] we’re gonna need to change that.'”
With time against him, the superstar was forced to go onto the internet and come up with another surname that was in line with his nationality. However, he didn’t seem to enjoy one of the ideas that WWE management had in mind for him.
“So, myself and Michael Hayes ran to talent relations and he told them to bring up Wikipedia and a list of Scottish names. We went from A all the way through and listened to these names with a very limited time frame to get a new name. We went all the way until McDonald first which he liked, I went, ‘Nope, I know a McDonald, that can’t be it.”
Alright Boys and Girls, another show of hands…will Drew McIntyre win the Royal Rumble? ???? pic.twitter.com/UtWNNSjxyW
— Drew McIntyre (@DMcIntyreWWE) December 31, 2019
McIntyre recalled how they told the ring announcer about his name change at the last minute, but unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to create a new entrance video for the debuting superstar. “The Scottish Psychopath” highlighted how “Galloway” still appeared on the Titantron as he made his way to the ring, but the company rectified that on the next show.
Fortunately for McIntyre, the fans didn’t notice the gaffe and he enjoyed a successful run in the company during his early spell. He won the Intercontinental Championship and was being pushed as Vince McMahon’s “Chosen One,” but over time he lost some of that momentum and left the company.
Since returning to WWE in 2017 — following a successful stint on the independent circuit that saw him reinvent himself — McIntyre has been an NXT Champion and a Tag Team Champion on the main roster. He’s also been on the cusp of the main event in recent months, with some pundits speculating that he’ll be given a major push in the near future.
