If I mention the name Derek Couch to you, a pro wrestling fan, you might not know who he is. But, if I mention Robbie McCallister, you’ll likely remember his WWE tenure and one specifically infamous moment that cost him his WWE career. But we’ll get to that later.
World Wrestling Entertainment
In 2006, vignettes were broadcast on Monday Night Raw depicting two Scottish clansmen visiting the United States in awe of their surroundings. The Highlanders – fresh from Ohio Valley Wrestling – had arrived on the main roster.
“We were so into the character and it was a very exciting time for us. It was awesome doing those vignettes,” Couch told WrestlingHeadlines.com. “Even though if we go back in the world of wrestling, vignettes are the curse,” he said with a chuckle, referring to the plethora of talent doomed by flawed vignettes promoting their imminent arrival to WWE television.
Growing up as a fan of Roddy Piper, Couch yearned to mimic a Scotsman, and pay tribute to his grandfather, a Scottish musician and singer. Robbie and Rory McAllister – not Connor and Duncan McCloud as a minor pro wrestling promoter wanted to christen them – had arrived on the Raw roster, sadly though, at a time when tag team wrestling wasn’t respected.
“When we came in there was talk they’re going to build up the tag division. Of course Vince (McMahon) didn’t really like tags.”
Working with the likes of Cryme Tyme, Spirit Squad, DX, and Cade & Murdoch, across 2006-07, it looked as though the tag straps were to be bestowed upon the popular Scottish tandem, but alas, they never were.
“It looked like we were going to win the tag titles but it didn’t happen. I was really hoping it would because that’s a notch in your belt when you’re gone.”
“We were Vince’s favourite at the time and it didn’t go the way it should’ve because of politics and I believe I didn’t know how to play the game, but I can’t speak on Rory’s behalf. I believe I failed Rory in ways because I liked to party and carry on and I didn’t have a lot of input in to what I wanted to do in WWE.”
He admitted he didn’t have many creative ideas and was simply happy to be there, perhaps not supporting his tag partner as much as he should have.
“I had a dream to become a WWE wrestler. I like to have a lot of fun and drink and carry on and I didn’t take the wrestling as serious,” Couch said. “When I say I had the dream to be a WWE wrestler, I had no vision of where it was going.”
“At that time in my career, I didn’t understand the business whatsoever.”
“I wasn’t a violent person. I was the life of the party, but I think I liked that more than I liked… I wanted the spotlight but when you don’t have the vision to go anywhere, it’s a hindsight thing.”
So in hindsight, he scaled the heights he wanted to reach and enjoyed it, without pushing himself as much as he could or maybe should have.
Future Endeavours
Treading water in 2007-08, The Highlanders’ opportunities to win tag gold had sailed. Despite a lack of hope and choosing to party hard, Couch learned just as hard.
“Not everybody says they get to go and travel the world with John Cena and Triple H,” he explained. “I got to hang out with those guys and learn from them.”
“Until we started getting beat up all the time and losing to a midget (Hornswoggle), that’s when inside my head things started twisting and I’m not in a good place all of a sudden.”
But that’s the brutal reality of the highs and lows of professional wrestling.
“When you look at it down the road as a lesson, it’s all good.”
Fed up by the spring of 2008 and falling out of love with his dream job in WWE, Couch attended a live TNA Impact television broadcast that was to sever any remote hope he had of getting a push in WWE. TNA officials were aware of his presence and decided to show him on the live feed under his real name. WWE top brass were understandably livid. He barely wrestled on WWE television again and was released in August 2008. The fleeting moment of Couch on a TNA television show is a moment that unjustly defines his pro wrestling career due to it being what fans almost always think of when reminded of Robbie McAllister.
“That TNA incident has been talked about every week for the last eighteen years.”
“Because I partied and carried on, I was a liability,” he reflected with sobering honesty.
At the time he thought it was all their fault, but in hindsight realises he was the issue. He moved on and became a salesman making lots of money and partied in that job too. Twenty-five years after starting in pro wrestling, he still wrestles now, as recently as a couple of weeks ago in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
“It gives me satisfaction that I can go out and put smiles on faces. I’m a born entertainer.”
Life After Wrestling
“I’m fifty-something-years-old and I get another break to go on a television show. It’s like the bottom of the ninth and you get one last break.”
A chance meeting with a cameraman called Donny led to the opportunity of working in television again. Subsequently, a role on The Curse of Oak Island on The History Channel arose. He also just finished some narration work for Trailer Park Boyz + and is traversing life as a musician with some songs he’s written encompassing his time in WWE. As well as that, following the excessive drinking during his time with WWE, he’s now five years sober.
“It brought me great things. I got an action figure; I got to WWE. I just wanted to get on one of the shows once and be in the arena. I thought I achieved that when I got that match with Rhyno & Tajiri with my tag team partner Rory in the Igloo in Pittsburgh on Sunday Night Heat. That was the dream right there.”
“I have quite a story to tell that not everybody makes it to the top.”
He might not have made it to the very top, but he made it to a level that thousands upon thousands of budding wrestlers fail to attain every single year. He treasures his action figure instead of a replica title belt. Success in the Sport of Kings isn’t always measured in gold.
You can follow Derek Couch on Instagram: Highlanderrobbie_derekcouch – and on Facebook: Derek Robbie MacAllister Couch
