WWE Superstar Shakeup 2018: Ranking The NXT Call-Ups By Fit

5. Drew McIntyre

On some level, it’s baffling to only have Drew McIntyre ranked fifth on this list, because you could make the argument that he’s the best performer out of all of these men and women. While I would put Ember Moon and Andrade “Cien” Almas over McIntyre, the fact remains that The Prodigal Son established himself as one of the best wrestlers in the world before returning to WWE for a second stint.

On NXT, McIntyre shined before tearing his bicep at NXT TakeOver: WarGames in a spell-binding, title-dropping classic against Almas. McIntyre called out Almas on the pre-show of NXT TakeOver: New Orleans, but now that the two are on separate brands, I guess that grudge match will be saved for a much later date.

In any case, the reason why McIntyre is ranked so low is because I don’t understand the logic behind pairing him up with Dolph Ziggler. McIntyre and Ziggler have worked in matches before, and if the WWE’s logic is that they like to pair up Ziggler with newcomers to the main roster so they can build familiarity with the product, well, that logic doesn’t exactly hold any water when it comes to McIntyre’s case.

There’s little doubt in my mind that McIntyre and Ziggler will work well together, and I’d rather have them in a nasty heel tag team than in a meaningless rivalry to “introduce” McIntyre. The pay-off of one of them turning on the other will also be worth watching.

I guess I’m just disappointed that McIntyre is just a tag team wrestler, and I would have rather seen him on SmackDown Live. On Raw, I’m worried that he’ll be passed over in favor of others, and it would have been easier to envision him as a potential world title contender on the Blue Brand, where many fans predicted he’d land during the Shakeup.

Ultimately, McIntyre will be fine despite these concerns, because the cream rises. McIntyre is more battle-tested than most WWE Superstars, and, well, he’s also light years ahead of them inside the squared circle.