In a wrestling career that's been filled with enough championships and awards to make most peers envious, WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre doesn't have much reason to harbour regrets.
However, the Scot's athletic career could have taken a far different turn after he revealed it was also a dream of his to represent Rangers. McIntyre—real name Andrew Galloway—was born in Ayr, about an hour's drive southwest of Glasgow, and grew up playing football much like any Scottish child with a sporting interest might.
His wrestling vision didn't truly start to take shape until he started training at the Frontier Wrestling Alliance after his family moved to Portsmouth during his teen years. But Rangers may have missed out on a potential talent considering his rise through WWE's ranks to hold multiple world titles.
“My mind was pretty much set, I wanted to be in the WWE," former tag-team champion and 2020 Royal Rumble-winner Galloway told talkSPORT.com, specifying it was always a life in the ring that was his top priority. "But that was such a far away thing is most people’s minds.
“There was a period when I was like, ‘wrestling in WWE is my ultimate dream, but if I play for Rangers, that’s cool, too.’ And that’s kind of the way I was thinking, like it was going to happen, WWE is the one, I’m going to make that happen, but if I played for Rangers, I’ll be fine with that."
Fast forward to the present day and Galloway can be considered the most successful wrestler his nation has ever produced. Rowdy Roddy Piper was billed as hailing from Glasgow, though it was little more than a gimmick for the Canadian icon.
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'McIntyre' is the real deal, however, and his love of Ibrox runs deep given he was born in such close proximity to the ground. Galloway went on to say it's 'amazing' his WWE vision worked out as well as it did, though he had a singular focus when it came to where he wanted to go.
“But growing up I was such an obsessive Rangers fan, playing football everyday like most kids at the time, I just played football non-stop," the five-time world champion continued. "Any break at school, after school until my mum was shouting at me to come in and eat dinner, it was such a big love of mine.
“And then my brother and I would wrestle when we were at home, until we were forced to come back and play football, but we would wrestle in the bedroom and put on our wrestling matches."
The Gers may well have done with a star of such stature in attack or defence this season, with Angelos Postecoglou's Celtic nine points clear at the top and well on way to retaining the Scottish Premiership. After enjoying a resurgence under Steven Gerrard in recent years, Rangers are back to second-best in the bitter Glaswegian rivalry and have failed to win in the last four editions of the Old Firm.
The two nemeses are set to fight twice more before the season is over, with Rangers scheduled to visit Celtic Park on April 8 in what will be a key clash as far as the league title is concerned. They'll then meet once more at Hampden Park in the Scottish Cup semi-finals on April 30, where at least one major WWE name will be in Rangers' corner.
WrestleMania39 will be held across two nights on Saturday, April 1 and Sunday, April 2 live from the SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Tune in on the WWE Network or on BT Sport Box Office.
