When Roman Reigns took care of business against Brock Lesnar at WWE's SummerSlam, it cleared the way for the biggest roadblock in the way of the “Head of the Table's” match to two-straight years with the WWE Universal Champion.

As he often points out in his promos, Reigns has pretty much taken care of every wrestler Vince McMahon, and eventually, Paul “Triple H” Levesque, put in his way. He's defeated Braun Strowman, he's defeated The Fiend, he's beaten both Usos, Kevin Owens, Daniel Bryan, Riddle, Goldberg, and even John Cena, too, but there isn't another Superstar who has lost more matches to Reign than Drew McIntyre, who has lost 17 of his 44 defenses since the belt changed hands at Payback in 2020.

And yet, before Reigns could even catch his breath from his match with Lesnar, his next challenger was already lined up, as McIntyre won a Good Old Fashioned Donnybrook versus Sheamus to decide on one half of the main event of Clash at the Castle, the first WWE Stadium show in the UK in 30 years. McIntyre stood pretty with a golden opportunity to recapture the WWE Champion for the third time in his career and add a Universal Championship reign to his run, too, assuming both belts are on the line.

Can McIntyre ultimately “slay the dragon” and secure the biggest win of his career in front of his home crowd? Or will this serve as just another disappointment in a career that has had as many downs and ups?

Fortunately, McIntyre was afforded one heck of a promo on the penultimate edition of SmackDown before Clash at the Castle that will make fans truly believe he can be the man who unseats the “Head of the Table” on his own island.

Drew McIntyre delivered one heck of a promo on WWE's SmackDown.

Over three minutes split between two separate segments on SmackDown, WWE delivered a promotional video recapping Drew McIntyre's run to The Fed, how he performed under Vince McMahon's leadership, and the route he took from being released from his contract to becoming one of the top performers in the world. While it did overlook his indie run, where McIntyre was a fixture of promotions like PWG and Evolve, the videos were a fantastic summary of a 21-year professional career and made fans believe in the performer even more than they did already.

“It’s really cool being from the UK, a long line of warriors, of scientists, of poets, of people that think big, they dream big, do incredible things. As a kid, I did imagine I would be here, I imagined it every single day since I was six years old. It was almost, like, unattainable. Nobody from Scotland had ever been signed to WWE.

I was the kid who said ‘I’m going to be the first Scottish guy ever signed to the WWE,’ and I believed it that much. When you’re from this country and you’ve got such brave, determined figures, the people who were told ‘how are you going to pull off the impossble?’ If you’ve got a dream, you go for that dream, you hold onto that dream, you make that dream happen. I’m living proof of that.

I’d been on top in Scotland, on top in England, on top in Wales. I came to America and was the heavyweight champion in FCW. (I was) The fastest superstar (to go) from developmental to television. I know the way I thought at the time, I didn’t think the way I think now. I was a bit more cocky and yeah, I thought I deserved it. ‘And now this is just going to be it forever, I’m gonna win multiple titles, I’m gonna have a Hall of Fame career, boom, easy peasy.’ (laughs) Didn’t work out that way.

When things weren’t going so well anymore, instead of putting my head down and working harder, instead of looking in that mirror, I was angry. My dream and my professional life was falling apart and that was about the time my mom got sick.

I always saw her and still do see her as a superhero, and eventually she passed and that was me just off of the deep end. There was no saving me professionally, certainly not personally, and eventually, you know, I got fired, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me.

I came straight to America clueless. I was so immature, I was such a boy. You know, I was gonna finally achieve my potential and one day, I would return to WWE a man.

For the first time in my life, I can stay above and be the leader they believe I can be.”

Will McIntyre's hard work, dedication, and self-belief propel him to the ultimate prize in the WWE Universe? Or will he come up short like oh so many times before and suffer the most disappointing loss of his professional career? At Clash of the Castle, fans will find out the answer.