Research Note: Sources & Citations are linked in the bolded text below.
With the recent announcement of Drew McIntyre’s historic main event opportunity at Clash at the Castle and on the eve of marking eight years since Drew Galloway’s EVOLVE Wrestling Championship win, I wanted to celebrate this pivotal rebuilding period of his career by reflecting on the matches and moments that made this championship reign so special.
The Reign:
Championship Victory: Drew Galloway defeats Chris Hero at EVOLVE 31 in Ybor City, FL on August 8th 2014.
Championship Loss: Timothy Thatcher defeats Galloway at EVOLVE 45 in Ybor City, FL on July 10th 2015.
Length of Reign: 336 days.
Twenty Two Successful Title Retentions: Anthony Nese (EVOLVE 32) / Johnny Moss (British Championship Wrestling) / Andy Wild (WrestleZone) / Devin Thomas & Stevie Richards (MAGNUM Pro Wrestling) / Rich Swann (EVOLVE 34) / Jimmy Rave (Atlanta Wrestling Entertainment) / Victor Sterling (Big Time Wrestling) / Caleb Konley (Premiere Wrestling Xperience) / Kid Fite (BCW) / Big Damo (Rock N Wrestle) / Davey Boy Smith Jr. (Future Pro Wrestling) / Ricochet (EVOLVE 37) / Andy Phoenix (Outback Championship Wrestling) / PJ Black (EVOLVE 39) / Johnny Gargano (World Wrestling Network Supershow) / Marty Scurll (BCW) / Doug Williams (Revolution Pro Wrestling) / Joe Hendry & Luther Valentine & Tron (Pro Wrestling Ulster) / Rampage Brown (Premier British Wrestling) / Roderick Strong (EVOLVE 44).
The Beginning:
The near seven year tenure of Drew McIntyre within World Wrestling Entertainment ended with his release from the company on June 12th 2014. Relocating from Scotland at the age of 22, first to Kentucky and later to Florida, he began his WWE career in the Ohio Valley Wrestling and Florida Championship Wrestling developmental promotions.
An early standout, he was used on SmackDown television very early before becoming a two time FCW Tag Team Champion (with Stu Bennett aka Wade Barrett) and a one time FCW Heavyweight Champion. Once full time on the main roster it’s well known that he would become Vince McMahon’s “Chosen One” en-route to a reign with the WWE Intercontinental Championship and later the WWE Tag Team Championships (with Cody Rhodes) before the young “future World Champion” fell dramatically down WWE’s list of priorities (this blog will however remain 3MB shade free).
Six days after his 29th birthday, he and ten others were wished the best in their future endeavours. A diminished Galloway had to answer the question of if he was still the future or was he now the past? And what do you do when you’re no longer chosen?
The Return:
Drew Galloway made his answer known with a shock return at Insane Championship Wrestling’s Shug’s Hoose Party in Glasgow. Amidst a New Age Kliq beatdown of the ICW Heavyweight Champion Jack Jester, the lights would go out, but once the O2 ABC was again illuminated, Galloway stood in the ring and cleaned house to save his friend from a Square Go! cash-in (ICW’s variation on Money in the Bank), receiving a thunderous ovation from his countrymen.
With the two friends reunited and basking in cheers, Nice Guy Galloway flipped the switch and leveled Jester, throwing him from the stage to a nasty landing. As the only man still standing, Galloway announced his intentions to become ICW Champion once again (he was their inaugural champion in 2006), put the company on his back and to prove himself one of the best in the world. It was a statement of intent well delivered and one that was praised by Jim Ross on Colt Cabana’s Art of Wrestling and later by Mick Foley on Steve Austin’s Broken Skull Sessions (Foley recalls he even felt the need to text Triple H about it). Galloway had chosen himself (this historic ICW run is detailed in “New Phenom: The ICW World Heavyweight Championship Reign of Drew Galloway”).
“Vince McMahon, the most ruthless man in the world, named me ‘The Chosen One’ for a reason…What’s best for business? When I’m used to the best of my ability, I am the fucking business!” – Drew Galloway (ICW Shug’s Hoose Party)
Starting on the long road to reestablishing himself as a credible singles star, Galloway was announced for independent shows in the UK, US and Ireland. He was booked to make returns to British Championship Wrestling (the first promotion to ever put a championship on him) and ICW, both of which had experienced tremendous growth as part of the ongoing UK wrestling boom period. Stateside he had a couple of notable bookings for NYC’s Family Wrestling Entertainment where he would meet fellow WWE alumni in Carlito Colon and Tommy Dreamer.
If he wanted to rehabilitate his singles career though, Galloway would need a statement match to get things started. One booking which offered that potential was opposite his friend Trent Berretta in EVOLVE Wrestling at EVOLVE 31. The two had met numerous times in FCW and WWE and shown great chemistry together, giving this the potential to be an ideal in-ring return for Big Drew.
Unfortunately an injury sidelined Berretta and he was out of the contest. EVOLVE promoter Gabe Sapolsky recalled feeling he’d gotten a cheaper rate on Galloway’s first post-WWE match in exchange for booking him against one of his friends, so when Galloway called, Sapolsky expected a cancellation. Instead Galloway asked to be given the ball. Sapolsky was uncertain that the bid would prove successful but with current EVOLVE Champion Chris Hero regularly booked abroad and hard to pin down, Sapolsky decided to roll the dice with the knowledge that champions can always lose a title sooner than later if necessary.
Champion Again:
On August 8th 2014, a fresh out of leather trousers Big Drew met Hero in what was slated to be a non-title match. Hero questioned how he could claim to be the best without defending his title and offered a game Galloway the opportunity to fight for the gold. In an upset of sorts, an unproven Galloway pinned The Knockout Artist to win his first championship in almost four years.
In a post-match interview with Joanna Rose, an overcome Galloway spoke to the Ybor City crowd as their new champion, praising Hero, the locker room, Florida’s wrestling heritage and the audience themselves for showing up and proving their love of Professional Wrestling. The champion told those in attendance and those watching on iPPV to tell the world about EVOLVE.
“Let’s take a stand for EVOLVE, let’s take a stand for Professional Wrestling! Tell somebody about EVOLVE. Tell them about those guys, tell them about Drew Galloway, tell them EVOLVE is the best wrestlers on the planet and I am damn proud to be your champion.” – Drew Galloway (EVOLVE 31)
Promos like this would become a hallmark of Galloway’s independent run and while he would get better at them over time (it had been a while since McIntyre had been cutting lengthy promos), this was a pretty good start.
Things have changed drastically in the last few years with All Elite Wrestling casting a long shadow as America’s number two promotion but EVOLVE at this time was one of the most visible US companies with one of the best rosters and a good iPPV product. It was an excellent place for Galloway to begin rebuilding his name in the United States.
The new champion would finish out his first weekend as an independent wrestler with a successful title defence the following day against Anthony Nese at EVOLVE 32 and a non-title loss in a Champion Vs. Champion bout with Ricochet (then the Dragon Gate USA Open the Freedom Gate Champion) at EVOLVE 33. Independent wrestling’s hottest new star ended his weekend with a championship belt and partially torn hamstring, the first of several injuries Galloway sustained and worked through in his time as EVOLVE Champion.
It was from here that Galloway would embrace the role of a traveling champion. Between EVOLVE 33 and EVOLVE 34, he retained his title on three independent dates, twice in Scotland (vs. Johnny Moss in BCW and Andy Wild for WrestleZone in the annual Battle of Nations match) and once in Nebraska (vs. Stevie Richards & Devin Thomas for MAGNUM Pro Wrestling). The EVOLVE title and name was immediately reaching markets that it never had before. During his lengthy reign, these international and state line crossing title retentions would occur in independent companies across Georgia, California, North Carolina, the United Kingdom (Scotland, England, Northern Ireland) and Australia, in some cases in front of international crowds of 700+. He worked with a wide array of talent in these extracurricular defences including future and former TV wrestlers as well as local champions, even defeating Andy Phoenix for the OCW Heavyweight Championship in a Title vs. Title match in Victoria, Australia.
”I feel lucky to have had the chance to work with Drew between his first and second run with WWE. I wrestled Drew at WrestleZone in the North of Scotland and, whilst they are a great company with a big draw on the night, Drew went out of his way to give it a ‘big match’ feel by contacting the appropriate people and asking to defend the EVOLVE title. All of my experiences with Drew have been the same as this one: an incredible talent with a larger-than-life aura, trying to build up everyone around him.” – Andy Wild (EVOLVE title challenger / via “New Phenom: The ICW World Heavyweight Championship Reign of Drew Galloway”)
While many in these crowds had likely never heard of EVOLVE before and only knew Galloway from WWE TV, his bringing the belt on the road presented him as a champion for the first time in a long time and allowed likely forgotten matches on unaired family shows to be given stakes and logged in record books. It also proved him as a workhorse ambassador for the EVOLVE promotion which was a role he would be given the opportunity to fill for other companies in the coming months and years.
“That’s just the kind of wrestler and champion that I want to be. I want to give it my all, and if I’m lucky enough to be a representative of a company as the champion, then I see it as my responsibility to raise the profile of the company. And hopefully, you know, inspire everyone around me to raise their game. When I won the EVOLVE belt, it was my goal to put the company on the map and put eyes on guys like Ricochet that I didn’t think were getting enough buzz around the world.” – Drew Galloway (Total Wrestling Magazine 2016)
Of course, the legitimacy of his reign would depend more on his victories in an EVOLVE ring where the odds of a title change were far higher. At EVOLVE 34, he retained against Rich Swann (though he had to choke him out to do it) and learned that EVOLVE audiences were still loyal to their favourites in the process.
EVOLVE 35 saw the beginning of a feud with Roderick Strong which would become the core of Galloway’s title reign. Since EVOLVE’s new weekend ranking system was being factored into matchmaking, Galloway was not permitted to put the title on the line against his arrogant opponent but nonetheless succeeded in making the former ROH World Champion 0-2 in EVOLVE competition.
After a post-match attack from Strong, the two became bitter rivals and went 1-1-1 in non-title matches across EVOLVE’s 35th, 36th and 38th shows, which included a No Contest in a chaotic Grudge Match and a Steel Cage Match in which a ruthless Strong was awarded the victory when referee Brandon Tolle determined that Galloway, bloodied and trapped between the cage and the ring, could no longer defend himself. With even an innocent ring announcer like Heather Lynn harmed by Strong’s malice towards the champion, Galloway wanted Strong’s blood but rankings would again inform this feud as the champion was pulled away to fend off other top contenders.
At the conclusion of EVOLVE 36, Big Drew brought the crowd to their feet when he announced his internationally defended title would now be known as the EVOLVE World Championship. Though this grander name would only be used intermittently by the promotion, it was a rousing moment and Galloway would make his first defence as EVOLVE World Champion the following night. With his finger in a splint, Galloway retained against Ricochet at EVOLVE 37 in an extremely fun rematch from his first weekend with the company. The two would meet again of course in WCPW and WWE and it would be great every time.
Undisputed:
Heading into WrestleMania 31 weekend in California, Galloway and the new DGUSA Champion Johnny Gargano (the franchise player of DGUSA/EVOLVE for the longest time) began to question why EVOLVE needed two champions if DGUSA was all but defunct. It was resolved that the two men would face off to determine the sole champion in a winner take all match at WWNLive SuperShow: Mercury Rising 2015. They would both first have to make it through stiff competition at EVOLVE 39 to retain their titles however with Gargano besting AR Fox and Galloway defeating PJ Black (fka Justin Gabriel) to start the weekend.
Despite the hurdles, both title holders made it to the big Champion Vs. Champion showdown. It was a banger of a match which would become my favourite of Galloway’s entire independent run. This was a confrontation that would determine if Galloway had been the EVOLVE Champion he had set out to be or if it was time for Sapolsky to fall back on the familiar in Gargano. The DGUSA Champion fought with honour, refusing the aid of Ethan Page and would endure all of the bigger man’s offense, even managing a stunning kick out from multiple Future Shock DDTs. Gargano’s guts earned the adulation of the audience but Galloway’s sympathy for his outmatched opponent would quickly evaporate when an all but beaten Johnny Wrestling spat in the Scotsman’s face.
After a savage Tombstone Piledriver (or “Thee Move”) and a three count, Galloway was firmly on top of EVOLVE. Speaking to the crowd after his victory, as he often would, an emotional Galloway asserted that this was his “WrestleMania moment.” And I loved that.
“Along with ICW and many others, Gabe and Sal helped me massively once I was gone from WWE. They gave me a shot and in my first match I won the EVOLVE title. A company with some of the best wrestlers with the most unique styles in the world, it really created a buzz for me and showed everyone what I’m capable of in the ring. I’m a 6’5, 250lbs long haired Scottish guy, an ideal candidate for a professional wrestler but I worked my ass off to excel between those ropes not just look the part and they believed in me. Winning the EVOLVE Vs. Dragon Gate title match against Johnny Gargano in San Jose was one of the greatest moments and matches of my life and really felt like I really have cemented myself as one of ‘the guys’ currently on the scene.” – Drew Galloway (TNAMecca 2016)\
Though his work with Gargano had absolutely been main event calibre, it would take place early in the afternoon as the fighting international title holder had to make a flight to Glasgow for an ICW World Heavyweight Championship defence against Joe Coffey. The following evening he stood in front of 1,600 fans with the EVOLVE/DGUSA titles in his hands and the ICW title around his waist for ICW’s sold out BarraMania event. Incidentally, this was a classic match for the promotion that really showed ICW at its peak and it’s a testament to Galloway that he could perform at that level with an eight hour time difference on his final booking of a four day loop.
The in-demand champion missed a handful of the following EVOLVE iPPVs but whilst touring the UK would make a further three defences of EVOLVE and DGUSA Championships (with the ICW and on one occasion the OCW titles also on the line) in Northern Ireland, England and Scotland.
Returning at EVOLVE 43, Galloway made his only individual defence of the DGUSA Championship (in all other cases, Galloway had been defending multiple titles at once), defeating Biff Busick in a stiff main event.
The rubber match between Galloway and Strong finally took place at EVOLVE 44. It was a more methodical affair than their earlier high octane brawls but Lenny Leonard sold the story that neither man could afford to be reckless or impulsive now that the title was on the line. Though it would take a Tombstone and five Future Shock DDTs to do it, Galloway ultimately emerged the victor, closing out EVOLVE’s May weekender and ending their feud 2-1-1 in the champion’s favour.
The two men would of course meet again over the next couple of years, most notably for Strong’s Pro Wrestling Guerrilla World Championship and McIntyre’s NXT Championship with the champion retaining in both cases (and another 1-1-1 tie overall). They also spent some time tagging together on un-televised NXT events, earning a perfect record against combinations of Andrade Almas, Hideo Itami, Bobby Roode, Riddick Moss, Tino Sabbatelli, Pete Dunne (now SmackDown’s Butch) and The Authors Of Pain (Akam & Rezar).
The End:
On July 10th 2015, Galloway’s reign came to an abrupt end right where it had begun. In what must have been one of the more frantic weeks of Sapolsky’s and Sal Hamaoui’s lives, injuries forced a plethora of changes to the EVOLVE 45 and 46 cards.
Galloway had been scheduled to team with former foe Strong in the main event against The Premier Athlete Brand (Nese & Caleb Konley) on the first night and had vowed to make two separate title defences on the second. He was to meet Berretta, the man who had brought him into EVOLVE, for the titular title and an unannounced opponent for the DGUSA Championship. This no doubt would have been a big weekend for the double champion, win, lose or draw but with the card repeatedly reshuffled, Galloway was instead rerouted to Timothy Thatcher in a non-title match.
Thatcher, returning from a nasty ear injury, made the case to Galloway that his recent time away had reminded him that his time in the ring was finite and asked for the opportunity to challenge for Galloway’s gold. The champion granted Thatcher the same opportunity that Hero had offered him in that same building eleven months prior. As Galloway had, Thatcher too would rise to the occasion and scored a submission win (despite Galloway’s foot being on the rope), ending Big Drew’s EVOLVE title reign at 336 days and his DGUSA title reign at 104. At this time, Galloway held the records of being the longest reigning champion (later overtaken by Zack Sabre Jr. at 404 days and Thatcher’s 596 days) and for having the most successful title retentions at 22 (later outdone by Thatcher’s 24 defences).
Galloway Turns:
The following evening at EVOLVE 46, Galloway would finally meet Beretta in the ring and secured a victory in his first night in EVOLVE without a championship. This was a different Galloway however, enraged and frustrated after a post-match attack by Premier Athlete Brand, he put his hands on Andrea and an official before coming close to doing the same to So Cal Val (who was sensational as the Brand’s hilarious heel manager).
Sapolsky announced an indefinite suspension for Galloway, which freed him up to focus on his commitments in Europe, Australia and Mexico as well as in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling where would main event Bound For Glory 2015. In his absence from EVOLVE, he would also compete in PWG’s prestigious Battle of Los Angeles tournament (losing to Mike Bailey in a much praised contest) and win the Union Of European Wrestling Alliances European Championship from Chaos at a Maximum Wrestling event in Germany.
While WWE and EVOLVE began their collaboration, a gregarious Galloway returned from his four month suspension at EVOLVE 51 to defeat Konley and talk his way into an EVOLVE Championship match. The following night at EVOLVE 52, Thatcher would retain with a wild headbutt to an airborne Galloway and the dejected challenger rolled out of the ring without acknowledging the champion’s offer of a handshake.
EVOLVE gold again became part of Big Drew’s luggage when he and Gargano were crowned the inaugural EVOLVE Tag Team Champions after a three night tournament across EVOLVE 53-55. Though Gargano would at times seem perturbed by his partner’s aggression, they would outlast the other seven teams with wins over Catch Point (Drew Gulak & TJ Perkins), The Bravado Brothers (Harlem Bravado & Lancelot Bravado) and Heroes Eventually Die (Chris Hero & Tommy End).
Gargano & Galloway had two title retentions, beating Team Tremendous (Bill Carr & Dan Barry) at EVOLVE 57 (a mere five days after Galloway had won the TNA World Heavyweight Championship from Matt Hardy) and the perpetual thorns in Galloway’s side The Premier Athlete Brand (Nese & Konley) at EVOLVE 58 during WrestleMania 32 weekend.
The reign came to an end the following night when Catch Point (Drew Gulak & Tracy Williams) became EVOLVE’s second Tag Team Champions at EVOLVE 59. In the aftermath of the title loss, an overwhelmed Galloway began ranting about calls not going his way and about EVOLVE abandoning both him and independent wrestling in favour of WWE. A desperate Galloway screamed “help me Johnny, help me!” before something inside snapped and he assaulted Gargano. His simmering heel turn boiled over when he left the poster boy of the EVOLVE/NXT relationship laying in the ring.
Galloway spent the remainder of his EVOLVE career bitterly trying to destroy/save an EVOLVE he felt had betrayed him. It was a successful period, scoring wins over Ethan Page, AR Fox (Style Battle #2), Gargano, Gulak, Jeff Cobb, Lio Rush and Matt Riddle.
He also aligned with Hero (another man who felt left behind by EVOLVE) and Ethan Carter III to fight WWN’s conspiracy against him and even regained the EVOLVE Tag Team Championships with a returning Chuck Taylor (now going by DUSTIN). Even when his hand wasn’t raised (collusion!), he had notable encounters including a tag team loss with Hero to Cody & Gargano at EVOLVE 69 (which was intended to be Gargano’s farewell to WWN).
Evolved:
Galloway would leave EVOLVE when he re-signed with WWE in a decision that went so down to the wire that Galloway was pulled last minute from a Six Man Elimination Match to the crown the first World Wrestling Network Champion. His absence was explained onscreen by a beatdown from Keith Lee but in reality he had to rush off to be shown front row at NXT TakeOver: Orlando. Galloway debuted on WWE’s black and gold brand with wins over Oney Lorcan (former DGUSA title challenger Biff Busick) and Andrade but would still finish out his independent dates before becoming fully committed.
He fought the new EVOLVE Champion ZSJ to a chaotic No Contest at EVOLVE 82 before wrestling his final EVOLVE match in an unsuccessful challenge for Riddle’s WWN Championship at EVOLVE 83. Going out in defeat as anyone leaving the territory should.
“Representing EVOLVE as champion across the world was one of the most important chapters of my career. Had a lot of fun and learned so much.“ – Drew McIntyre (ahead of EVOLVE’s 2019 WWE Network debut).
EVOLVE of course would carry on in Galloway’s absence, slowly becoming more of a feeder system for NXT with talent going back and forth and this relationship peaking with EVOLVE programming airing on the WWE Network in 2019. Eventually EVOLVE would cease operations when WWE purchased its assets on July 2nd 2020 and Sapolsky began working for WWE. The story of the EVOLVE Championship which began April 5th 2013 with AR Fox would end around the waist of Josh Briggs after having gone through the hands of Riddle, Shane Strickland, Fabian Aichner and Austin Theory along the way.
Galloway’s return to WWE and the McIntyre name of course has been immensely successful with him deservedly accumulating a multitude of accomplishments, including a victory in the stunning 2020 Royal Rumble and two reigns with the WWE Championship. No single thing can be responsible for all of that, but while TNA kept Galloway on television and traditional Pay Per View, it was EVOLVE and WWN, along with ICW, that tied much of Galloway’s independent work together and it was their titles which helped give meaning to other bookings in lesser known promotions.
EVOLVE was the first to take a gamble on Galloway, he would hold twelve championships (peaking at six concurrent reigns) between his WWE release and return but the EVOLVE Championship was his first. It would be naive to not to mention that with Triple H, William Regal and WWE taking an interest in ICW and EVOLVE, it’s hard to imagine that Galloway wasn’t a beneficiary of that too.
In WWN/EVOLVE rings Galloway was put in a position, arguably before he was ready, to be showcased as a top guy and work with some of the best in the world: Cody, Nese, Swann, Busick, Strong, Thatcher, Gargano, Gulak, Lio Rush, Riddle, Carr (aka Dutch), Ricochet, Hero, Uhaa Nation (aka Apollo Crews), Ethan Page, Cobb and others, all of whom would find success in WWE, NXT, AEW, Impact Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor. While defending the EVOLVE Championship on independents he would meet names like Rampage Brown (NXT UK), Marty Scurll (on a major ascent before his fall), Stevie Richards, Jimmy Rave, Big Damo (aka Killian Dain), Joe Hendry, Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Doug Williams (coincidentally the two halves of the NWA World Tag Team Champions today). His match with Williams was contested in Revolution Pro Wrestling, a key UK indie we’ve seen much of in recent years through collaborations with NJPW, ROH and most recently as a host for Pac’s AEW All-Atlantic Championship defences.
EVOLVE challenged him to adapt to a style he wasn’t known for in order to win over a more skeptical audience who wouldn’t be converted overnight. He learned very soon into his EVOLVE run that the demands of such a hard hitting fast paced style would require far greater stamina than being on the losing end of short WWE matches. You can see Galloway hone his craft across this period, finding his formula and growing ever more confident in the ring. His reputation grew too, his Pro Wrestling Illustrated Top 500 ranking leapt from #196 to #37 in 2015 and to #11 in 2016 (better than he’d ever ranked in his prior WWE career), Dave Meltzer and his Wrestling Observer Newsletter would praise his matches in PWG, TNA, WCPW and beyond. No longer in a position of having to prove himself, he’d be booked as a top guy the world over, heel or face.
You could even argue that all his time spent with a microphone hyping (and later condemning) EVOLVE helped to prepare him for the role he filled as the WWE Champion of Monday Night Raw’s Performance Center era, big bantering his way through three hour broadcasts in an empty gym.
“I wanted to show the world who EVOLVE was and get the chance to start learning how to be a true main event player and to actually get to apply all the lessons I had learned in WWE but never got to put them into practice…EVOLVE was my training ground for becoming the Drew McIntyre you know today.” – Drew McIntyre
In exchange for these opportunities, Galloway fought and talked like hell for the EVOLVE brand. He showcased their championship on cards, PPVs, VODs, DVDs and even community television for twelve different promotions across five countries and three continents. The title appeared on BBC programming through the Insane Fight Club II documentary. Galloway took the reins during a rebuilding period for EVOLVE and while houses wouldn’t explode during his title reign, the promotion’s reputation, visibility, attendance and production value would all steadily grow during his run and Galloway would certainly leave EVOLVE better than he found it.
“Drew’s run on top with EVOLVE was huge for my resurgence. I’ll always have a lot of love and respect for Drew McIntyre.” – Gabe Sapolsky (May 2022)
My personal experience of this period was that I certainly knew of McIntyre and my Scottish nepotism came through big time despite being most familiar with him while his character languished on WWE Superstars and his 3MB period (LOVED it). I was aware of EVOLVE and DGUSA too but I’d never seen a show. When I heard that the “ex-WWE guy” had won their championship, I decided to buy EVOLVE 32 and was immediately hooked on guys like Busick, Swann, Gargano, Thatcher and Ricochet while being delighted to see Hero and Matt Sydal again after their WWE releases. I was enamored with the traveling independent champion and the idea of creating a World Championship (an idea better explored in ICW but certainly part of this reign too).
With EVOLVE as an entry point, I followed his independent work and was introduced to talent like Noam Dar, Tommy End (aka Aleister/Malakai Black), Mark Haskins, Keith Lee, Grado, Mark Coffey, Kenny Williams, Martin Kirby, Trevor Lee, Kris Travis, Anthony Bowens, “Speedball” Mike Bailey and countless others. I spent much time and money traveling to terrible English and American towns to see Galloway wrestle and spent countless hours watching iPPVs and DVDs to see his title matches. This was a really key period for my wrestling fascination and it wasn’t until the recent “belt collector” run of Matt Cardona that I would come even close to feeling so invested in indie wrestling again.
In a funny (and selfish) way I was sad to see Galloway return to the WWE. I’d been enjoying the ride so much and while it was beginning to feel like he’d done almost all there was for him to do on the independents, I wasn’t sure this second WWE run would go better than the first.
But with him walking a path through Adam Cole, Kurt Angle, Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, Randy Orton and Goldberg to meet Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship while headlining the first UK stadium show in 30 years…well, that shows what I know.
“The Best of Drew McIntyre in EVOLVE” is available now on Peacock TV / WWE Network.
EVOLVE Gallery:
One fun part of researching this article was being reminded of the many unique EVOLVE personalities, lots of heroes, villains, crushes and memorable individuals. Below is a gallery of Galloway’s EVOLVE reign, friends, foes, international defences and more. Just click the images to expand them.
Links:
Sources / References / Citations Note:
This article is fully cited. You can find all sources linked via the bolded text above. For any corrections/questions, please feel free to submit them via the contact form.
The Ecstasy of Gold Wrestling website 