Drew McIntyre is set to challenge Seth Rollins for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania 40. The Scottish Warrior was the World Champion during the pandemic era. But since then, he has not been able to win the top prize. But now, he finally has a chance to do so.
Recently, while speaking to CBS Sports’ Shakiel Mahjouri McIntyre opened up about the time he was the top champion during the pandemic era.
“I just felt like I had more to offer at that point. I feel like I’ve been the same guy for years. Which was awesome in like 2019 when I started finding my voice at that time. But also telling my real story about the ups and downs in my career. And fans finally started connecting to me as a person. Because it’s hard to connect to a giant hairy Scotsman who’s not from America. So how’d you relate to that guy? But we told my real story, people started connecting. I started getting a little more of a wise-arse on TV. And not to this level.
“But it was awesome with the way people rally behind me and rally behind that real story. And obviously, with the pandemic time, I saw it’s such a responsibility to give people that escape. I’m very proud of that work. But somewhere along the line, once we’re back with live fans, I was still the same guy. And weren’t evolved in the character. Layers weren’t being added. And it was fine.”
Drew McIntyre was not satisfied with portraying the same character for several years
McIntyre wanted to have multiple layers to his character. He wanted to have every wrestler to have layers to his or her character.
“And a lot of people might be content in that position, where whenever I came out, I always got the cheer and, ‘Oh there’s Drew. We’re happy to see Drew.’ But it’s not, ‘Oh my goodness! Drew is doing this crazy story right now where he’s added this crazy layer to the character.’ It’s just, ‘Oh there’s Drew. We are happy to see Drew. He’s going to beat somebody up, chop them, and then give us the countdown. You know we’re all happy.’
“But for me, that’s not enough. I want to be constantly evolved. And I want to be constantly adding layers for 52 weeks a year. We’ve seen how successful the Bloodline’s been just developing these characters into. Rather than just one-dimensional. These fully formed characters like any television show. And it’s like, ‘Hey it’s working over here. Why shouldn’t the rest of us be doing it?’ And I know I got the capability to do it. So it’s now awesome that I’m getting that opportunity to use real life, which we’ve kind of done in the past.”
Drew McIntyre is happy with the creative freedom given to him nowadays under Triple H’s management
“But now there’s no restrictions. You can use the past for years of McIntyre material. I can use the past 38 years of my life. If anything makes sense to enhance the story or grow the character then I’m all about it. And everything that happens week to week, I also think about it now. How can I spin this? Put it socially make it make sense for people that are not following what happened.”
Drew McIntyre gives some insight on how his character has been evolving
“Like last week, Seth for example, may seem a bit weird people. He was like, ‘Hit me, hit me.’ Why would you want Drew to hit him or whatever and how angry I was getting and I left. You’re bottom of my list. And right now my priority list when it comes to WrestleMania and McIntyre, Drew, Me, controlled myself and later on, I was able to do the TikTok. And I’ll probably reiterate it tonight. Just, I know what you are doing. I’ll tell you the truth. I’m not playing mind games. I’m telling the truth.
“But he’s a mind game player. He wants to play on my anger problem, my known anger problem… And I passed the test. I wanted to show I’ve changed, behave like a champion, not a hypocrite. He was trying to prove otherwise. And I passed the test. Six months ago, would have torn him to pieces. Evolved as a character, and Seth Rollins, the same guy. He just switches character all the time. He changes his character more than he changes his stupid outfits. Drew, been the same guy for years, just tells the truth. Got my killer instinct back and evolved. Can control my anger,” Drew McIntyre said.
Are you happy with the character evolution of Drew McIntyre?
