The Road to Wrestlemania well and truly gets underway with the 2026 Royal Rumble.
30 men and 30 women will compete in separate Rumbles in Saudi Arabia attempting to throw their opponents over the top rope – the last man and woman standing will win a place in the main event of Wrestlemania 42.
But while the WWE superstars will be trying to earn their chance to take on a world champion at the Showcase of the Immortals – a British record-breaking wrestler is fighting to save his title.
Four-time world champion Drew McIntyre – the first and only British man to win a world title in WWE – defends his newly won Undisputed WWE Championship against Sami Zayn.
BBC Bitesize caught up with the Scottish Warrior – as well as WWE Women’s Champion Jade Cargill ahead of this year’s Royal Rumble.
Broken dreams - make them come true
Drew: Yeah, I've been through a few difficult times myself—the ups and downs in life.
Kimberley: Thank you so much for joining us here on BBC Bitesize. With your job, you’re used to being resilient on the regular. So if our audience are having a bit of a difficult time, what advice would you give them to pick themselves back up again?
Drew: The key thing is just knowing there’s always going to be a light at the end of the tunnel. You’re always going to get through whatever difficult situation you’re going through, and because of the situation you’re in, you’re going to learn a valuable lesson.
Jade: You have to weather the storm. You have to keep going. I believe you’re going to hit so many bumps in life, and that’s okay. It’s about the outcome of it all and how you push through and persevere.
Drew: Try to keep that positive mindset, and surround yourself with people that lift you up, not bring you down. Don’t listen to social media. I know social media is massive now and it says a lot of stuff, but do not listen to the likes. It’s not real. It’s not real. The people who know you in real life—that’s real.
Kimberley: And wrestlers are also known for the big emotions, big events. When you feel big emotions like that, how do you channel them into good energy?
Drew: It was always a dream of mine since I was five years old. I always said, “I’m going to be in WWE one day.” And everybody was like, “Okay, no problem.” They thought it was just that American dream thing—“You’re not going to do it, especially being from Scotland.” But because it’s been a dream and a passion of mine, it’s very easy to channel the energy. And even though we are working 52 weeks a year, I see it as a privilege because it’s been the dream.
Kimberley: Oh, I love that. And what has your career highlight been so far?
Jade: I feel like we move so quick that you’re not able to really soak it in. So I guess I would say when I came out for the Royal Rumble for the first time. I was nervous—I didn’t know how the crowd was going to react to me. But the crowd was out of control and insane.
Kimberley: And how do you prepare for a big match like that then? How do you get in the right headspace?
Jade: I do a lot of meditation. I stretch. I pray. I just tell myself, “You’ve got this. You’ve done this a million and one times.” I mean, my first real match was at WrestleMania, right? So it’s a sea of people. And for me, the bigger the audience, the better. So I just tell myself, “Go out there, you’ve got it, girl, and nobody’s going to stop you.”
Kimberley: What would you say was your biggest achievement? Is it being a WWE wrestler or passing your school exams?
Drew: Mine was always the wrestling, no matter what. But for my dad, he was always, “You’ve got to get the education. We’ll support you in the dream, but you’ve got to stick in at school.” I started wrestling professionally when I was 15. I used to travel from Ayr, Scotland to Portsmouth, England—which is 12 hours there and 12 hours back—just for lessons at 15. I would go as often as I could afford, as often as my mum and Nana gave me the money to do it. And I always stress to everybody: stick in at school, get those grades, get your education. It’s going to help you in life in so many ways you won’t realise. But in that spare time, on those weekends, once you’ve finished your homework or whatever—whatever you need to do to make the dream happen—do it and push yourself. And when you hear negativity, just swallow it up and turn it right back into positivity. And one day, when you have the chance to rub it in their face—like I did in Glasgow the night I was champion—I had the title and I saw some teachers and friends who didn’t believe in me, and I could have said, “I told you so.” Instead, I said, “Thanks for believing in me.” Kill them with kindness.
Kimberley: I love it—keeping it classy. What was your favourite subject at school and why?
Jade: I want to say science because I didn’t get to do that a lot at home. And I had a great teacher—his name was Adam. We called him Adam. He loved us calling him by his first name. And he would just show us things that were abnormal but science-related.
Drew: I think my favourite subject was probably history, actually. I always found it so interesting. Things like maths just never spoke to me. I was never great with numbers. I figured one day I’ll have someone to do that for me—and I do, thank goodness.More of the creative subjects, where I could tell a story, inevitably became my favourite. It just kind of became my job.
Kimberley: I love that, I love that. And I think as well it shows our audience that if you find your passions and tap into them, they can lead to amazing careers.
Drew: Oh, 1000%.
Kimberley: And if you could go back in time, Jade, and speak to your 16-year-old self, what advice would you give her?
Jade: You don’t have it all together. Stop being a know-it-all. But keep pushing, and you’re going to find where you are needed in life.
While wrestling has grown in popularity year-on-year, decade-on-decade here in the UK, it’s only in relatively recent times that British wrestlers have been able to make their mark on the world stage.
Only a handful of Brits made it as household names in WWE in the 20th Century and early 21st Century – talent such as The British Bulldog, The Dynamite Kid and William Regal. But that never put Drew off.
“It was always a dream of mine since I was five years old,” said Drew.
“I always said, ‘I’m going to be in WWE one day’. And everybody was like, ‘Ok, no problem, you’re not going to do it, especially being from Scotland’."
Drew grew up in Ayr, Scotland at a time where wrestling schools were not easily accessible. In fact, the one Drew trained at couldn’t have been much further away.
“I started wrestling professionally when I was 15. I used to travel from Ayr to Portsmouth – which is 12 hours there and 12 hours back – just for lessons at 15. I would go as often as I could afford, as often as my mum and Nana gave me money to do it.”
But, even with all the travelling and grappling, there was a condition – an important lesson from his father and one that he passes on to wrestling enthusiasts today.
“My dad, he was always, ‘You’ve got to get the education. We’ll support you in the dream, but you’ve got to stick in at school.
“And I always stress to everybody: stick in at school, get those grades, get your education. It’s going to help you in life in so many ways you won’t realise. But in that spare time, on those weekends, once you’ve finished your homework or whatever - whatever you need to do to make the dream happen - do it and push yourself. And when you hear negativity, just swallow it up and turn it right back into positivity.”
McIntyre doesn’t just talk the talk – he also walks the walk. Drew was released from WWE in 2014 and forced to reinvent himself. He worked across smaller, independent shows, trying to make a positive from the negative, until he was signed again by WWE in 2017.
From there, he went on to win the 2020 Royal Rumble – earning his world title shot at Wrestlemania, where he won the WWE Championship for the first time in his career.
It was a long road back to the top – from the despair of having his dream ended, to being champion of the company he’d dreamed of working for since childhood. But for Drew, those challenges were just part of his journey.
“The key thing is just knowing there’s always going to be a light at the end of the tunnel. You’re always going to get through whatever difficult situation you’re going through, and because of the situation you’re in, you’re going to learn a valuable lesson."
Queen of the Ring
While Jade Cargill has had a much shorter WWE career than McIntyre – it’s certainly no less impressive.
She made her in-ring debut at the 2024 Royal Rumble, won the Queen of the Ring tournament the following year – and was then crowned WWE Women’s Champion in November 2025.
As champion, she won’t be entering this year’s Rumble – but will be keen to see who survives and becomes her potential Wrestlemania opponent.
The event still holds a special place for Cargill. Despite all she’s achieved in her first two years, she still considers her debut to be her career highlight.
“I feel like we move so quick that you’re not able to really soak it in. When I came out for the Royal Rumble for the first time, I was nervous. I didn’t know how the crowd was going to react to me. But the crowd was out of control and insane!”
For Jade, nerves are no bad thing. In fact – those thoughts and feelings are the very things that drive her on to be at her best.
“I just tell myself, ‘You’ve got this. You’ve done this a million and one times.’ I mean, my first real match was at WrestleMania, right? So it’s a sea of people!
“And for me, the bigger the audience, the better. So I just tell myself, ‘Go out there, you’ve got it, girl, and nobody’s going to stop you.’"
Indeed, who is going to stop Cargill? She’s only been pinned a handful of times in her WWE career and is in no mood to hand over her title to the Royal Rumble winner.
But while WWE may have always been Drew McIntyre’s dream – that wasn’t always the case for Jade. One thing they both do have in common though, is an understanding of the importance of education.
Jade graduated from Jacksonville University with a degree in social science and later earned a master’s degree in child psychology.
That love of learning was instilled in her from an early age – and she still fondly remembers science lessons at school.
“I had a great teacher, his name was Adam. He loved us calling him by his first name. And he would just show us things that were abnormal but science-related!”
While Cargill definitely looks like someone who knows what she’s doing when she’s in the ring – she admits that wasn’t always the case. As with McIntyre, her route to the Royal Rumble and beyond hasn’t been straightforward.
Not that she considers that a problem though. She has some pretty good advice for her 16-year-old self – that it’s all just part of the journey.
“You don’t have it all together. Stop being a know-it-all. But keep pushing, and you’re going to find where you are needed in life.
“You have to weather the storm. You have to keep going. I believe you’re going to hit so many bumps in life, and that’s okay. It’s about the outcome of it all and how you push through and persevere.”
Drew will be competing at the 2026 Royal Rumble on Saturday 31st January
This article was published in January 2026
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