Drew McIntyre Reveals What’s Changed Since His Last WWE Run, Influences In Tag Team Wrestling, Putting Away Partying, & More

RAW Superstar Drew McIntyre chatted with AL.com ahead of tonight’s WWE house show in Birmingham, AL. Excerpts from that interview appear below:

Have there been any pro wrestlers who have had multiple chapters with WWE or wherever whose careers and stories you’ve drawn from at all, or that you did heading into NXT and this latest run with WWE?

Drew McIntyre: Maybe not during this latest run. Certainly earlier in my career. I was a big fan of Bret Hart growing up, and Shawn Michaels, the Undertaker, Triple H. I’ve probably drawn from them when I was younger. When I left the company, is was more finding who I was and applying what I’d learned to discover who the real Drew McIntyre or Drew Galloway really was. That was a big thing for when I left the company, finding if I could be that top level main event performer that I believed I could be, and thankfully I was able to put all the pieces together and be the first ever Drew McIntyre rather than another version of somebody else.

You’re doing great work with Dolph Ziggler, whose career and story have seen some really interesting ebbs and flows in recent years. You’ve used the word “complacency” in the past to describe the time before your first stint with WWE ended. But you’ve seemed anything but complacent these last several years. How do you find that sense of drive and urgency to push yourself to try new things and find what keeps you, WWE and the fans happy with what you do in the ring?

DM: The big thing for me is no longer is trying to impress people around me. The first thing I had to do was look in the mirror, and my wife was a big part of that. When I left the company and I was giving what I thought was my all — but I was still hanging out with the guys all the time and perhaps partying a little too much, and I was achieving a lot, like more than I ever thought possible — and I got a little injury one time and I was home for the first time in my life with my wife, and she told me, “Look how much you’ve done and you’re giving 70 percent. Imagine if you gave 100 percent.” That’s when I eliminated all negative things in my life. The partying had to go. I was more focused on my diet, the gym. I just wanted to eliminate all negative areas in my life. I wanted to look in the mirror and be accountable to only one person. The only person is me, and that’s the only thing that drives me. The only person I’m in competition with is myself. The goal is become the top person on Raw, the example on Raw, the John Cena, the ultimate workhorse of Raw. Just like Cena used to do, he didn’t have a second place. He was always in competition with himself. He is somebody I can draw inspiration from because I am solely in competition with myself. It’s great with someone like Dolph Ziggler, who’s so talented and has been very start-and-stop over the years, be at a level of focus I’ve never seen him at because I know the great things he can do, and we’re doing them right now. And now we’ve added Braun Strowman, who’s achieved so much in such a short space of time. Hopefully he can learn from Dolph and I’s experience, and the three of us can really take Raw to levels it’s never been before.

Your journey back to WWE is pretty amazing. You wouldn’t believe someone worked that many places in four years. And now you’re back and doing great at WWE. Was that always the goal during that time, to make it back to that WWE mountaintop? What helped motivate you to do it all over again, or was it just a totally different journey?

DM: I guess initially it was. When I was first gone from WWE, I was on Chris Jericho’s podcast and I said I will be back. I just have to go out and show the world what I can do. As time went on and as I got various opportunities to help various companies grow across the world, I realized that I was really making a difference in sports entertainment in wrestling. In WWE, the name is what sells. There’s very few particular names like a John Cena or Rock who can truly make a difference, and I realized I was making a difference. And as time passed by and I was making a very fortunate living and was fulfilled, I told my wife I didn’t know if I would be back and I was happy. Eventually it came a time when my contract was up with Impact Wrestling, and I had to make a decision. I had an opportunity to speak to Triple H, and it took about 30 minutes of catching up. He’d been watching what I was doing and said he was proud of what I’d achieved, which meant the world to me. But more importantly, we started talking about business opportunities, which was pretty cool because the first run, we never had these conversations. I was like boy, I was very immature. We had general chit-chat fun conversations, but never business conversation. Now we were talking as men, businessmen. By the time we were finishing the call, I knew NXT was where I had to be, the next logical step from where I was. I really felt like I could make a difference with NXT and introduce the WWE universe to the new Drew McIntyre before I made the next step to “Monday Night Raw.”

You’ve had a lot of success as a tag team competitor. Who are some of your favorite tag teams in wrestling history? Any less obvious people not expect or fully appreciate?

DM: For me, the obvious examples of tag teams I was a big fan of, Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard. I would watch them and be blown away by how incredible they were. I was a big Hart Foundation guy as a kid. Bret was my favorite wrestler. I loved their dynamic. Most of it was from my childhood because I was the biggest tag team wrestling fan as a kid. I was always impressed by the Road Warriors and Legion of Doom. They were just so large and bigger than life in every possible way. They would just destroy everybody. I always imagined myself and Braun could be a bit of a modern LOD.

Readers interested in McIntyre’s interview in its entirety may visit HERE.

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