Drew McIntyre Details His Mindset Before And After The Unique WrestleMania 36 Tapings
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Drew McIntyre has had a very unique near-six months as WWE Champion that all started with a taped victory over Brock Lesnar that aired during the most unique WrestleMania of all time.
Drew McIntyre, via GQ, described his mentality going into the match taping on the Thursday night before WrestleMania aired on Sunday and how he felt becoming the first British-born WWE Champion in history.
“I go up to 100 percent as soon as my music hits and I’m in the zone, everything is easy from then on. There was no one in the world but me and Brock at that time. He came into the ring and I stared him down. I wasn’t listening to anyone, not even the referee. He had to push me and get my attention a couple of times because I was so in the zone and thinking to myself: ‘This is it. This is a real fight and I’m going to fight Brock Lesnar for the title,”’ Drew began. “You’re coming up against someone who is 6ft 3in, legitimately 250lbs. He’s been such a high-level athlete his entire life. Everyone knows what he did in the UFC. I remember when Braun Strowman kneed him hard in the head and he stood up and dropped him with one punch – make sure to google that. My favorite part is the visual of me and Brock face-to-face and I’m looking down on him. People were thinking, ‘Oh, my goodness. Look at Drew besides Brock.’ I knew he was a dangerous man but I was going to do whatever it took to become WWE champion and I did.”
He continued, “When I won, the feeling of fighting Brock goes away and I’m just thinking: ‘Holy crap. I did it. I’m the WWE champion.’ There wasn’t a sold-out audience roaring my name, it was complete silence. Usually when you win something the only time you get a moment’s silence is when you get back to the hotel. On this occasion, there were no people going crazy, but it was a huge rush of emotions as I had this private moment with the title. I was just staring at it and thinking of everything I’ve been through.
“I clicked back to reality and saw Brock lying there and thought I better do something. The first thing I did was crawl to the floor camera and said thank you. It was a thank you to all the fans for tuning in to WrestleMania during this difficult time as an escape, but more importantly to my family, who are the reasons I became champion. Whatever you think about wrestling and WWE, all the stars have to align, management has to believe you represent the fans and the fans have to choose you. At some point along the way to WrestleMania, the fans decided, ‘This is our guy,’ and I wanted to make sure they knew I appreciated that.”
Once the match was officially finished airing on Sunday, Drew McIntyre could bask in the glory of his historic accomplishment.
“I got word that the two trending topics on the BBC website were ‘Queen gives speech’ and ‘WWE wrestler Drew McIntyre becomes first ever British champion.’ I heard the audio of the broadcast and it was all just so surreal to me. Realistically, I’m a kid from a small town in Scotland who had this crazy dream of making it into WWE and heard his whole life, ‘Why would you be the first Scotsman ever signed?’, never mind first to ever win the title. I just kept believing, had a lot of bumps on the way, and it finally happened.
“To see everyone back home talking about it meant the world to me, especially during these difficult times. It gave them something to talk about when they were stuck indoors. It gave them something to smile about. I can’t wait until I can travel to the UK and see everyone back home. Hopefully, my story has inspired people.”
Drew McIntyre will face another tough challenge this Sunday at WWE Clash of Champions when he faces Randy Orton in an Ambulance Match. WrestleZone will have live coverage beginning this Sunday at 7 p.m.