Drew McIntyre Talks WWE Departure And Return Through NXT

On the most recent edition of the Pod aof Awesomeness, Edge and Christian had the opportunity to speak with new NXT World Champion Drew McIntyre and below are highlights from that intervieW

McIntyre on growing as a performer outside WWE and coming back:

“I’ve been fantastic. I don’t even know where to begin. It [has] been a few years. I think I’ve grown up a little bit and I’ve been away from the WWE for about three years and I kind of did my own thing. And thanks to everything that I’ve learned from being on the road with guys like yourselves and the roster that we had at the time and I’ve been able to take those lessons and apply them all across the world and build my name. It was the right time to come back and I’m back.”

“Coming in when I was 21 [years old] straight from university and coming to America, you’re growing up in the company and you’re in the bubble so long the idea of being outside is a little terrifying, but once I got that chance, that’s when I was able to say, ‘alright, it’s time to put up or shut up.’ It’s the only thing I’ve known. It’s the only job I’ve had and I want to see if I could make something happen. Thankfully, I was able to apply everything I did learn that way. And like I said, I grew up a lot as a performer and as a man.”

McIntyre on working with The Undertaker:

“I had a match with Taker, but I was supposed to do something bigger with Taker. But I looked at myself and how I looked back then. And I was like, ‘man, I would not believe that guy.’ And then, I look at myself now and I’m like, ‘okay, I get it now’ when people like Hunter and stuff at the time, I see what they were saying, so I believe this guy that I am currently. And just mentally and everything, all around, I’m ready for that responsibility. And like I said, it takes a lot to be that guy just like you see on TV.”

McIntyre on how he was trying too hard:

“I was trying too hard. Like, I wasn’t able to relax back then. That’s another thing and guys, you know, once you’re able to relax, that’s when things start clicking and people can feel that as well. I just wasn’t relaxed at all for my whole first run. I was on-edge that whole time, trying too hard.”

Christian on working with McIntyre in WWE:

“I think it was somewhere in Illinois, [McIntyre] and I, I got to that arena and I was wrestling [McIntyre] on Superstars and [McIntyre] hadn’t been doing a lot at this point. [McIntyre was] kind of in flux in terms of what you were doing. And so I get there and I think we ended up having 15 or 16 minutes [for the match] and that’s some good time for TV. And like I said, it was on Superstars. And I remember, I wasn’t the happiest guy to be on Superstars, so I was like, ‘you know what? We’re going to tear the house down and make it really hard for anybody to follow this match.’ And I remember we went out there and we tore the house down. We had an amazing match and I came back and Hunter was back there. And I said, ‘hey, he is good.’ And he goes, ‘no, he is good, but he needs to learn how to do that every night.'”