WWE superstar Drew McIntyre recently spoke with Bleacher Report about a number of different subjects, including his new book, how John Cena taught him what it takes to be in the main event scene, and his WrestleMania 37 loss to Bobby Lashley. Highlights from the interview are below.
Talks his new book:
I actually can’t wrap my head around the idea that I go through the local Target here and see myself on the book shelf. At heart, I’m the biggest mark of all time. I think that’s what people saw in the last year and started to relate to our fans: ‘Oh, he doesn’t look like all of us, but he is one of us.’ Stuff like that still blows my mind to this day.
On his process writing the book:
The process was really cool. There’s a lot of stuff in there I don’t think about often and probably haven’t thought about since it happened. The WWE life moves pretty fast, and you kind of have to be present in the moment. To go back over my life over the past 13 years, especially my time in America, was awesome.
On John Cena teaching him how to be a main event talent
I always talk about John Cena as someone I patterned myself after, after I was released rather than learning from him in the moment when I was there on the roster. Instead of working to better myself on the roster, it took getting fired and bettering myself personally before I thought of who I could look up to in this business and whose mentality I needed. I thought about John and how relentless he was with everything he did: be it in media, the gym, in the ring and every aspect of his life. [Cena is] such a workaholic and The Miz followed that exact same path. I said to myself, ‘I’m going to be that guy, too.’ Whether it was outside of WWE or inside WWE, whenever I was given any kind of position where I was able to take the reins and get the media opportunities and they wanted to speak to me, I was going to take full advantage of it. The second I had that title, I said, ‘Give me it all! I’m that guy now, there’s no excuse, I want every little bit of it.’
On learning about the way WWE
Every new chance I get, I learn more about the company and all the different areas and how many people it takes to keep this global juggernaut running. It’s truly unbelievable. It gives me a greater appreciation for the company, and I get afforded the opportunities to do the really cool stuff like the charity work and the virtual hospital visits.
On missing fans and getting his big reaction at WrestleMania 37:
The only thing I’ve been missing the last year is the live fans in attendance. A lot of big moments over the last year I would’ve loved to have live with the WWE Universe in person, but as we talk about in the book, my journey made me the man I am today. It made me the only man to lead the company during a worldwide pandemic because there’s nothing I haven’t gotten through and nothing was going to faze me when I finally reached the top, including a worldwide pandemic.
On losing to Lashley:
Everybody thought I was going to win and have that moment. It kind of caught them off guard when I went down to the Hurt Lock. Just like the book tells you, nothing ever goes to plan in Drew’s life. Everybody just assumed, ‘Finally! Drew’s going to get his moment with the fans and have the title.’ Raise it up, big firework display after last year of not having any fans. But nope, Lashley wins, we cement ourselves another top level main event performer in Lashley, and it goes with the Drew story of another obstacle I have to overcome.