Drew McIntyre has tested positive for COVID-19.
Drew McIntyre
The 35-year-old professional wrestler – whose full name is Andrew McLean Galloway IV – and current WWE Champion must now spent time in quarantine after he contracted the contagious virus, WWE confirmed in a short statement on Monday (11.01.21).
The statement read: “Drew McIntyre has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been placed in quarantine.”
Drew is currently set to put his WWE Championship on the line against Goldberg at Royal Rumble in a few weeks, and it’s currently unknown whether the match will go ahead following Drew’s diagnosis.
The news comes after Drew previously said he was keen to find “new ways to reach” WWE fans who are unable to attend fights in person, as crowds – including audiences for sports and music events – have been banned from gathering.
In August, Drew said: "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.
“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.’ ”
And Drew also said he believed the wrestling world would be “bigger” than ever following the pandemic.
He added: “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."