Drew McIntyre: You’re More Invested If You Feel There Is A Legitimate Issue

Drew McIntyre reflects on promo with CM Punk. 

When CM Punk announced that he suffered an injury at WWE Royal Rumble thanks to a future shock DDT from Drew McIntyre, Drew McIntyre found great humor in the injury. McIntyre said he prayed for Punk injury and he slept easy knowing that not only was he injured, but he was the one that put him out of action. 

Speaking to West Sport, McIntyre looked back on the promo and why it was real for him. 

“To me, that’s kind of the thing right now, there is this freedom in WWE, especially for people that the company can trust to go out there and be you and be what you feel is right, within reason. The certain ones of us they can trust on the microphone. There is that feeling of ‘I’m going to try some stuff.’ A lot of it, to me, is, ‘I think this is hilarious. I think this works for the character. I think this is going to be a heck of a moment.’ I want to build Punk up and say I can relate to him and say truthful things. Everything for me has to be based in truth, for me and that character, because if it’s real to me, it’s real to everybody else, and you’ll feel it. Punk and I did have issues when I was younger, all that stuff is true. I went in there and told him, ‘I’ve been through injuries, I’ve had moments taken away from me, and I can understand that.’ He spoke about one of his friends and him going through chemotherapy and how that’s a real hero. I could relate to that. I didn’t know that until I was watching backstage. My mother went through the same. Unfortunately, that’s how she passed. I told him I could relate to all this stuff.

“When it comes to the injury and how I felt him coming into the company and leap-frogging superstars, trying to take spots at WrestleMania, particularly my spot at WrestleMania, I wasn’t going to let it happen. I took him out and I wanted to let him know, ‘I prayed for this to happen.’ The way people reacted was like a delayed reaction. ‘Did he just say that?’ I could feel it in the arena. The next line was, ‘After the Rumble, when I got eliminated by you, I couldn’t sleep. I let myself down, I let the world down not winning the Rumble, but more specifcally getting eliminated by Punk. The next day I found out he torn his tricep off the bone, and that night I slept like a baby and headed into Raw with a big smile on my face.’ Then attacked him, stomped his tricep, and chucked him out the door. Where were we? Me main eventing WrestleMania, that’s it.”

Asked about balancing the real feelings with have something empathy towards a man who suffered an injury, McIntyre replied, “You have to be professionals. I don’t wish anyone to be hurt, no matter what the personal feelings are, no matter if they are rooted in reality, because they are. You just have to hope everybody is a professional and they understand we’re trying to entertain the fans. To me, what works is reality and what’s real. You watch boxing or UFC; if you know, the two fighters absolutely despise each other, you’re way more invested than just hugging and buddy-buddy. If they’re screaming and getting pulled apart in press conferences, trash-talking, and social media attacks, you’re more invested if you feel this is a legitimate issue here. If there is a legitimate issue, turn it up to ten.”

Punk is expected to be sidelined for six to eight months. 

McIntyre will be in action on Monday’s WWE Raw as he takes on Cody Rhodes. 

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