WWE Champion Drew McIntyre Tests Positive for COVID-19

WWE announced on Monday that reigning WWE Champion Drew McIntyre has tested positive for COVID-19. [...]

WWE announced on Monday that reigning WWE Champion Drew McIntyre has tested positive for COVID-19. In an announcement made on WWE.com, the company confirmed that he has been placed in quarantine, though no updates were given regarding his status as world champion. McIntyre was last seen on WWE television at the end of last week's Monday Night Raw, where he successfully defended his title against Keith Lee in front of more than a dozen WWE legends as part of "Legends Night." He was then approached by Bill Goldberg, who claimed McIntyre wasn't showing respect to legends of the past and challenged him to a title match at the Royal Rumble.

There's no word yet on if that match will be affected as a result of the pandemic. As of this writing, McIntyre has not commented on the situation on social media. While McIntyre is far from the first active WWE wrestler to test positive for the virus since the pandemic began, this does mark the first time WWE has openly confirmed a wrestler's positive case.

This also isn't the first time COVID-19 has directly interfered with a world championship match involving Goldberg. The WWE Hall of Famer was supposed to defend the WWE Universal Championship against Roman Reigns back at WrestleMania 36 last April, but Reigns opted to step away from the event due to personal reasons. He was quickly replaced by Braun Strowman, who defeated the WCW legend in a few minutes.

In an interview with ComicBook back in August, McIntyre discussed his role in being WWE's top champion throughout the pandemic.

"No champion has ever been in this position before (working through a pandemic), but I feel like I'm the man that's prepared for the job considering my career of ups and downs and lessons learned," McIntyre said. "I guess as the leader, as WWE champion, it was my job from the get-go, from the moment I won the title at WrestleMania, to start finding new ways to reach the audience at home and show the rest of the roster, like, 'Hey, I know you've been taught a certain way. A lot of you haven't been outside of WWE and you feel like you have to do things a certain way to reach the people at home, like ignoring the camera. But these are uncertain times, so we've got to try things. We've got to throw things against the wall and see what sticks, because we've never been in this position before.'"

He continued, "I was the first guy looking down the lens to reach the fans at home because it was the only way we could reach the WWE universe and connect to everybody. I was saying mad things, like, 'Hey, all you cool cats and kittens down the lane.' Just trying mad stuff, trying outside the box things, and just showing everybody and setting that example of, 'Hey, there is no wrong answer right now, guys and girls. Just do what you want and do what you feel. This is a unique situation right now where we don't have an audience, that all the attention is on you and we can hear what you're saying in the ring, so even if you don't have a promo, you know your character, you know yourself, you can truly develop a character with multiple layers. So when they finally get back in the arenas, if you've done your job, you've taken the time to develop your territory and your promos in the ring with your trash talking, they're going to know you on a deeper level, you're going to be more over for it,' and I think the industry is going to be bigger for it."

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