During a recent interview with Sporting News, Drew McIntyre commented on being released from WWE in 2014, facing Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On the change in him since he was in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania 30: “That wasn’t me. That was my evil twin brother, who was very out of shape and didn’t even tan properly for WrestleMania. He’s terrible. But yeah, that was me. It’s so weird to watch because I did see it also (laughs). I do remember, especially watching it now, kind of what I was thinking at the time. And I remember, somehow in my mind, I was thinking, ‘Man, I should be doing a lot more, Vince (McMahon) should be giving me more opportunity.’ Watching myself now, realizing how I thought at the time, ‘Man, I would not give that guy opportunities because that guy was not working as hard as he could have been. Not just in the gym, etc., but outside the ring.’ It’s just weird to watch myself and know that in my head, I was thinking that they were wasting me. I could have been doing more. In hindsight, I should not have been. I needed to get away from the company needed to rebuild myself and get a better perspective.”
On where his career would be if he hadn’t been released: “Not where I’m at now, that’s for sure. I think for a number of reasons, I think it would be difficult to get to where I am now without being away, without the microscope of WWE on. I was allowed to grow and try things and fail on a smaller stage and apply lessons that I learned to WWE without that image (and) the WWE pressure. I did a lot of it with my friends in Scotland who are so supportive. Initially, I had to build that confidence until I became a featured performer all across the world, and a confident one at that. I think if you transition me from the 3MB guy to fighting for the WWE title, the fans wouldn’t have bought it because of the way I was positioned for such a long time. I don’t think there’s any way to do it for me back then. Maybe we could have, but for the fans, they certainly would not have accepted me without going away and rebuilding myself. I was rebuilt from scratch. When I got released, I was about 20 feet down and had to dig up 20 feet from scratch and went from there.”
On when it clicked for him that he had a shot at main eventing WrestleMania: “I can’t say like, ‘Oh, my God, I never expected this to happen’ because it was the goal all along, especially in the past five, six years of hard work. My long-term goal was, like, within three years of planning to be in the title match at WrestleMania. I was aiming more for next year. I didn’t want to think too far ahead as I used to when I was younger. I used to think too far ahead and those things never happened. It’s all about long-term goals. In my head, a few months ago things started clicking, a few pieces of the puzzle. I didn’t quite know where they were going but things are now going well. I was always in featured matches, but not as the featured guy. And then, suddenly, I was given more microphone time and started being myself and the crowd started responding. I was having fun and the crowd was having fun with me. I was still kicking ass, as that’s what I do. The fans started digging that organically even though I was technically the bad guy. I arrived just in time for the Royal Rumble. Brock Lesnar was dominating everybody (and) when I eliminated him, it took me to a different level. Then when I won the Rumble and people cheered me, it all dawned on me because Edge was eliminated before Roman Reigns and he had just returned after nine years and the fans could have turned on that match. But they stayed with me and been with me and along for this journey and the pieces started to come together this year. I’m so excited that I’m ahead of schedule.”
On what it means to be facing Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania: “He is the guy. He is the special attraction. Not just in the land of pro wrestling, but in life, he’s one of the baddest men ever to walk the planet. He tried football for a laugh and got to the last cut and got into that accident, so he wasn’t 100 percent. That didn’t work out. He knew wrestling and needed to work on his striking but thought he’d try the UFC. He won the title twice. He was a different level of athlete, different level of a human being. When I was outside of the company, I used the image of fighting Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania as motivation because now I get to learn to visualize and see things in my head outside the company. He was the biggest wrestling guy. I got to train for him. Brock Lesnar is the biggest attraction. He is so unpredictable in the ring. You got to look believable standing in front of him. There’s nothing worse than a casual fan seeing someone standing in front of someone and laugh. I got to be able to stand in front of all of them and look equally well against them, especially in the gym. I have to make sure that my intensity is up in the ring. It was always good but even more (than that) because he’s very intense in the ring. Paul Heyman on the microphone is one of the best of all time so I had to be able to verbalize myself. That’s what I use the cannibalization of what I saw as the No. 1 scenario in wrestling, and that was intended to be the No. 1 guy. That pushed me forward. The fact that (the) thing I used years ago as an extra motivation is actually materializing right now. The fact that I did go face to face with Brock a few weeks ago in Brooklyn and people didn’t laugh. Instead, they gasped and went, ‘Oh, my God, he’s looking down at Brock.’ I was imagining, framing and preparing for this moment, as that would be the ideal situation. The ideal situation is happening, and it’s happening in WrestleMania for the WWE title.”
On what it would mean for him to become the first Scottish born wrestler to become WWE Champion: “Everything. That was a goal of mine before I got signed to WWE and ever since I was a kid. It’s just not being the (first) Scottish-born (champion) even though that’s really cool as there’s only, like, like, 5 million Scots in the world, which is crazy considering our unique history. But I would be the first Brit to win it for Scotland. And being from England I’d be the first person from the UK with Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It would be a very, very special deal as the first person from the UK to win the Royal Rumble, become the first person to win the WWE title and inspire people over there to show, ‘Hey, you know, it seems far away, and it seems like an American thing.’ But it’s not. It’s a worldwide thing and that if you work hard enough, you can achieve anything. Look at Drew McIntyre.”
