Drew McIntyre plans to remain in the squared circle for a while longer.
In recent months, the wrestling world has said goodbye to the in-ring careers of John Cena and AJ Styles, both of whom hung up their boots at 48 years old. With his 41st birthday currently approaching, WWE star Drew McIntyre addressed his own inevitable retirement.
Just because it’s inevitable, though, doesn’t mean it’s happening anytime soon.
“I know my wife feels like it’s gonna be a lot shorter than I probably feel it’s going to be, especially with how I feel now and how creatively fulfilled I feel these days,” McIntyre told Insight with Chris Van Vliet when asked if he’s thought about a potential retirement timeline. “But as long as I’m happy, as long as she’s happy, and as long as the fans are happy with what I’m doing, I don’t see any reason to slow down anytime soon, especially when I see guys getting up there in age right now and moving as well as they’re moving right now, because we’ve just moved so far forward with athletes. Look at LeBron James or Ronaldo, for example, the same age as me, and they’re just still at the top of their game.”
Is McIntyre Creativity Fulfilled?
In the present day, McIntyre is en route to WWE WrestleMania 42, where he will take on Jacob Fatu in an Unsanctioned Match. Prior to this, McIntyre enjoyed a third run as WWE Champion (fourth overall world title reign), with a successful defense over Sami Zayn.
When asked if he considered himself creatively fulfilled right now, McIntyre indicated in the affirmative.
“Very creatively fulfilled,” he said. “There were a couple of moments where I was like damn, it sucks personally, but I can also look at the big picture these days. I’ve been knocked down enough times and fed a few disappointments sometimes where I didn’t always deal with it the right way for the bigger picture and understanding, okay, the company needs this right now. How does this screw me up? It doesn’t really. It actually works for the character.”
While McIntyre may sometimes feel personally disappointed in the direction of his on-screen character, he recognizes that the direction may actually be beneficial to overall fan investment. And at the end of the day, that’s the true importance.
“As long as it works for the character, I can be personally disappointed, but professionally, I know we’re still on the right track, and the fans are still going to be emotionally invested. That’s all that matters, because I’ve been in situations where they were not emotionally invested. And the worst thing in the world in pro wrestling is silence.”
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