Drew McIntyre has confirmed reports that he stormed out of the 2025 WWE Royal Rumble after his elimination, but offered context for his actions.
Entering at number 17 and lasting over 26 minutes, McIntyre was eliminated by Damian Priest. Frustrated, he left the arena, reportedly upset about someone “needing to get their moves in,” which disrupted a planned elimination — widely speculated to be LA Knight.
Speaking on the “Getting Over” podcast, McIntyre admitted he was angry but chose to leave to avoid acting unprofessionally. He stressed the importance of calming down and gathering all the facts before reacting, especially when he feels disrespected or suspects someone is acting selfishly in the ring.
He also addressed Damian Priest’s light-hearted jabs about the incident, saying he took them in good humor. Their rivalry is set to continue at WrestleMania 41, where McIntyre is scheduled to face Priest in what has become one of the event’s most personal matchups.
McIntyre said, “Not all the details are accurate, but yeah, I was fuming, and I let everybody know what I thought, and then I left. Because I’ve learned as an adult nothing good happens when you’re highly emotional. So just calm down, get the facts, then deal with it. I don’t want to punch somebody in the head and be unprofessional and then find out facts later I didn’t know about. It was the grown-up thing to do.”
He added, “Sometimes it’s not what it appears on the surface, and you have to get all the facts together and calm down. Priest jokes about it, like ‘Drew complains all the time. He’s always gonna leave the building,’ and I was like, ‘Come on, mate, it’s a couple times in a few years.’ Considering I’m Scottish and I got an anger problem, that’s not too bad.”
CM Punk has had dozens of pay-per-view matches in his career, but it’s a bout on standard television that he calls the best of his career.
In a recent interview with Metro UK, Punk said that a match with John Cena on RAW in 2013 tops his own list. He said,
“That’s probably the best match in my career. There was just an energy, and there was a buzz in the building. I think part of that is because I was just fueled by anger at that point in my career. It got me out of bed.”
Punk added that this match came amid professional frustrations as well as physical issues, further intensifying his performance in the match.
“I had the flu, I had a fever, and I was just f**ing angry. I said, ‘Well, this is the main event of WrestleMania. I know you guys are doing that, but that’s what this is.’ So nobody could tell me anything, I did what I wanted.”
That match was held to decide who would face new WWE Champion The Rock, who had ended Punk’s 434-day reign, at WrestleMania 29.
Cena, the winner of the 2013 Royal Rumble, won the match, securing his place against The Rock, who John would defeat at WrestleMania.
CM Punk would instead face The Undertaker at WrestleMania 29, his most recent match at the event, though that will change this year.
And finally, Triple H took to Twitter today to share a video of the making of Rey Fenix’s WWE entrance. You can check that out below:
Creating the look and feel of an entrance with a new talent is some of the most fun. Nothing but bigger and brighter stages for @ReyFenixMx in the future… pic.twitter.com/NyxsMrs4bW
— Triple H (@TripleH) April 11, 2025
