TNA champion Drew Galloway on life after WWE
Drew Galloway immediately dropped to his knees as soon as he was handed the TNA world championship.
Galloway has fought through a lifetime’s worth of adversity in wrestling, and no one would have knocked the proud native of Scotland for cutting a bitter promo toward Vince McMahon and Paul Levesque after reaching the highest point of success in TNA.
But the thoughts of redemption and retribution were of no interest at that particular moment. As Galloway’s knees hit the canvas, the only thought running through his mind was the memory of his mother, the late Angela Galloway.
“She’s still the most important person in my life,” said Galloway. “I’m not much of a religious person, but I feel her all the time. Losing her was the most difficult period of my life.”
Angela Galloway died on November 3, 2012 at the age of 51. Unbeknownst to Galloway until he grew older, his mother fought a nearly 30-year battle yet still raised a family and lived an incredible life.
“She grew up as a normal girl, but when she was in her early 20’s, she had a rare condition that killed the balance portion of her brain,” explained Galloway. “That happened as she was coming home from work, and she had to crawl home. She was told she’d never have kids, never live a normal life, but my nana took her to all the different specialists around the U.K. She got to the point where she could balance herself, and then her and my dad got together. When she got pregnant, people thought it wasn’t a good idea, but she still had me. Then she had my brother as well, and we never thought anything was unusual, even though she had an issue with her balance. It wasn’t until I got older that I realized I had superwoman for a mom.
“If she can do that, then I do f------ anything. I thought about her a lot when I got engaged and in the ring when I won the title.”
Her sickness coincided with Galloway’s lowest points in the WWE.
“When I lost her, I stopped caring,” admitted Galloway. “It was probably another reason that didn’t help in WWE with my downward spiral.”
Originally proclaimed by none other than Vince McMahon as a future world champion, Galloway–who wrestled in the WWE as “The Chosen One” Drew McIntyre–never fit into the WWE’s corporate structure from the moment he arrived as a 24-year-old.
“That was the biggest endorsement in the history of wrestling,” said Galloway. “The man who created the modern day wrestling scene endorsed me. I thrive under pressure and love a challenge, but even though I had wrestled for nine years, I was a bit naïve to the inner-workings of wrestling.
“There was a lot of jealousy and resentment. Perhaps I was a little naïve for thinking everyone was my friend.”
Galloway frustrated a handful of the wrong people in the WWE, allegedly due to a perceived arrogance and stubbornness.
“In WWE, a lot of people took my passion as me thinking I was better or knew more,” explained Galloway. “I am very passionate about this business, and I always have been. I’m not a ‘Yes Man,’ and I’ve always preferred to go back-and-forth and find something we both agree on so I can do it to the best of my ability. That was taken in WWE as trying to do what was best for me. In reality, I was trying to be different.”
Galloway’s goal was to provide a different caliber of match than the ones that main eventers like John Cena and Randy Orton were delivering.
“I was trying to stand out,” said Galloway. “I was trying to do spots and bring matches that were only seen in the independents, and a lot of people I was working with did not like that. It’s the norm in WWE now, but that got me a bit of a ‘rep,’ and then I spoke out a few times.”
The punishment for Galloway was WWE purgatory. He was taken off-camera and had no storyline, which typically signifies the end of the road for a wrestler.
“I hadn’t done anything for a while, so I felt like if they gave me anything, I’d make it work,” said Galloway. “I just didn’t want to be there, I wanted to do something.”
The idea WWE presented to him was to join Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal in the comedic heel trio known as “Three Man Band.” Certain WWE producers were thrilled to have Galloway taste some humble pie, but he put his ego aside and made the most he could of the limited role in 3MB.
“I remember Brock Lesnar walked up and said to me, ‘Why are you doing this?’” recalled Galloway. “At that point, I hadn’t done anything for a long time. When they presented it to me, I didn’t want it. But the guys were my buddies, so I said, ‘Let’s put one-hundred percent into this and make it work.’ As ridiculous as it was at times, the crowd started getting behind us.”
Amidst zero fanfare, the WWE dismissed Galloway on June 12, 2014. Despite enduring the most terrible professional and personal stretch of his life, Galloway made a defining decision–he refused to become bitter.
“Why would I ever be bitter and negative and focus on the past?” asked Galloway. “If you’re going to be negative, then negative crap is going to happen to you, so I needed to look to the future and make things happen. I know this business better than most people, and I’m extremely passionate about it. I knew that I could make this work. I decided to put myself out there as a person, and this time–rather than playing somebody–I was going to succeed on my own merit or fail on my merit, and that was on me. That’s all I ever wanted–to go out as myself and have the success or failure fall on me.”
Galloway settled on using his own name and chose to develop a new character, which went against what many of his colleagues recommended.