Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Drew McIntyre On Clash At The Castle, How He Reinvented Himself After 3MB

Episode Date: August 16, 2022

Drew McIntyre (@dmcintyrewwe) is a professional wrestler signed to WWE. He joins Chris Van Vliet to talk about WrestleMania 39 tickets being on sale now, winning the title at WrestleMania 36 with no crowd, why he wants another WrestleMania moment, his excitement for Clash At The Castle, why Vince McMahon told him to lose his Scottish accent, his thoughts on Karrion Kross returning to WWE and much more! For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://podcast.chrisvanvliet.com If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. Follow CVV on social media:  Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet TikTok: tiktok.com/@Chris.VanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All systems are going. Ladies and gentlemen, Chris. So good to see you, my friends. Welcome back to another audio adventure here on Insight. I'm CBV, Chris Van Vlead, and if there was ever a perfect time to have Drew McIntyre on the show, I feel like this would be it. Tickets just went on sale for WrestleMania 39 at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. Clash at the Castle is just a few weeks away, and it's the first major stadium show in the UK.

since SummerSlam 1992. Yeah, 30 years ago. And Drew's story is such an interesting one. We get into it quite a bit here, but if you rewind back to 2014, he was part of 3MB with Heath Slater and Jinder Mahal, and then he got released.

And then he went on to reinvent himself into the Drew McIntyre that we know and we see today. And he's an absolute beast. And as you'll see in this conversation, it's a heck of a nice guy, too. If you could, please leave a rating on Spotify or a review on Apple Podcasts. It really, really helps the show grow. And do me a solid and take a screenshot of this episode.

Tag us on social media so we know you're listening and tag us so we can share it as well. How cool would that be to get a retweet from Drew McIntyre. He's at D. McIntyre, WWE. I'm at Chris Van Fleet. And here we go. It's me and Drew McIntyre. I've wanted to do this for so long. So Drew, thank you so much for taking the time to do this.

No, thank you very much for having me. I feel like we've done this many times. I've spoke to a lot of people multiple times, but I guess I've just seen multiple interviews you've conducted. So, yeah, let's do this thing right. Well, this is our first. I was just at WrestleMania a few months ago, and I can't believe we're already talking about

WrestleMania tickets being on sale for next year. It's wild. It's wild, but the machine never stops. WWE, 52 weeks a year, no reruns, no off seasons, and it all peaks at WrestleMania, and even though we just finished WrestleMania up not too long ago,

and I'm still in a high from it, the 18T stadium was unbelievable, the crowd were unbelievable, managed to cut those top two ropes, maybe it was only supposed to be one rope, but it could have been a disaster and I could have cut no ropes. Everyone seems to think the ropes were, like,

rigged that were going to split apart on command. They weren't. It was real ropes. It was a sword. It was extremely sharp, and I had to hit it perfect. And thank God, it worked out in the end. So next year, I'm looking to make a big, big moment in WrestleMania. Once again, goes Hollywood.

I feel like when you walk around with that sword, like, people must be terrified because that thing does seem like super sharp. It is super sharp. I don't know if I could technically take it into battle if I was, you know, living back in the old Scottish days. If I was side by side with William Wallace, it might, you know, end up getting bent as we saw one time where I sung it too. hard and you know I technically had a bend in it but it is extremely sharp but does do some damage

and I try to reiterate that whenever I can when fans are reaching out to slap hands with me but they're not just reaching for my hand they're reaching to touch the sword and I'm like did you see what happened at nania? Did you see when I cut the rope with shame is I want to show you this thing is sharp for real and you're going to lose a finger so we're about the same age so I'm so curious for you growing up what was the wrestling match the russomaniomian moment that you just loved It was countless for me. Like yourself, I was completely obsessed, you know, watched everything I could get my hands on. And WrestleMania was such an important event every single year.

For my brother and I, just stay awake to 1, 2 o'clock in the morning on a school night. And be very tired at school the next day. It was always, you know, a very big event for us and some of the big memories as a kid for me. As a Brett Hart fan, who, again, as soon as Brett was on the, the losing side of a really big one. One of my earliest memories with Brett Hart and Sean Michael's resume at 12. One of my good friends at school

was a Sean guy. I was a Brett guy. The next day, he kind of rubbed it in about the result, and I might have beat him up as well because of it. You know, Brett Hart, Stoneco, Steve Austin, an incredible match, one of the best matches of all time

from a storytelling perspective, physicality perspective, and the double turn at the end. Just unbelievable. I remember how much I loved the theatrics, the resume of 14 of undertaker Kane, the first match, the build, you know, takers entrance, just Kane's presentation and story overall, and just these two monsters going at it. And I can't go on and on and on, but just off the talk of my head, these are the three that just popped right in there. Three pretty great ones. You know, when people talk about WrestleMania moments, a lot of people go, man,

WrestleMania 36, I wish Drew could have got his WrestleMania moment in front of the crowd. Do you feel like it was still a WrestleMania moment for you? It was for sure. And people will remember the WrestleMania when the world stood still. Sadly, they're probably not going to be in a hurry to watch it back on the network and Peacock. But they're going to remember it. And that was such a scary time for the world. We had a lot of questions.

We had a lot of fear going on. And WWB pushed ahead and gave the world that escape. And as upset and angry as I was initially, once I understood the gravity, the situation. I was very proud of WWE for putting on WrestleMania over two days for the first time ever. But more specifically, myself, been in the main event, my first ever title match, this feel-good story going in. And I knew me winning the title could make a lot of people happy, which it did. The social media interaction was up 60% from the year prior. There was just unbelievable viewing numbers for that. And it did take people's mind off what was going on in the

world during that time. So I am very proud of it. At the same time, I'm still looking for that big moment with the live audience winning that title because I'm a two-time WWE champion, but I've not held a title in front of life fan, which I don't think anyone can claim. And as proud as I am of that, I won that title in front of fans. Well, I mean, maybe it's a clash of the castle. Like, maybe that's the big moment, like in front of fans. How proud are you that WWE is going back to the UK for the first big show in front of a huge crowd for the first time in 30 years?

This is when I say, like, you know, I dreamt of moments when I was a kid. I dreamt of main event in, you know, WrestleMania. I dreamt of all these big moments that seemed attainable, that in my mind were attainable. Nobody else believed I could do it. Come from Scotland to WWE. But the idea of main eventing a UK stadium show,

the level of Somerslam 92 didn't seem possible because they didn't run UK stadium shows. This is something I actively talked about, actively pursued, actively asked questions about for years, especially when I became WWE champion and I had a lot more media gone out at the time, especially high profile media and I mentioned it all the freaking time

and thankfully I guess there were some talks going on within, you know, behind closed doors that I didn't know about and it got to the point I've been talking about it so much somebody had to say to me, do you know something you shouldn't know? Nope. I know nothing. I've just got certain goals that I've been pushing for a while so you do what you're doing, I'm doing what I'm doing, hopefully it'll work out.

Thankfully, you know, it worked out. I got involved in the process eventually and it's happening now, and I'm so proud of it. I'd love to take the whole credit for it, but it's the unsung heroes behind closed doors at work at WWE that make these things happen. The problem would have been if it did happen, and nobody cared, and nobody but tickets.

I kind of need a public scapego, and the fans that go, McIntyre you were wrong, you idiot. The plane would fall here, so I'm very glad that it worked out, and even happier, proud, don't have the word that I'm main events you can find for the title in that first UK Stadium in two in 30 years. If this goes well, Do you think we might see WrestleMania in the UK some point soon?

Thank you. I can't see it. Why not? I mean, I'm not going to talk about numbers that I've heard at the moment until they're official, but we've seen the numbers that have been released. Just the demand for the tickets broke records initially. And right now, we're on course for some big, big numbers from a business perspective, but for people watching, for the fan tuning in to watch The Clash at the Castle,

So when you see the live audience and just how loud and rowdy and crazy they are with the chance that we've seen in the past on Ron Smackdown. You know, I've came from the UK. I think I know a lot of people are going to go, why in earth don't we do wrestling? Maybe they're imagine how crazy it's going to be having not just those whitewood UK fans, but people come from all across the world and joining in the atmosphere and the passion and the insanity of the UK fans. When you talk to your friends and your family back home now, do they go, Drew, what happened? You sound like you have an American accent now, or you've lost your accent. Do you hear, do you hear an American accent?

Of course I hear. Yeah, I mean, you sound Scottish, but. Yes. Like, everyone else on Earth. Yeah, everyone else on Earth. Like, I'm sure you, maybe you've talked to people with thicker Scottish accents in the past or heard what Scotland tend to say when I talk. I've been there.

I was like, pardon me? Exactly. Every single person in Scotland has the thickest accent on planet Earth. Even though we only talk English and people have said to me multiple times, when I first moved here. You speak really good English. I was I freaking hope so. It was the only language I talk.

We have these extremely thick accents. Like we mumble most of us. We use a lot of slang. And I had to really work on it to the point where Vincent Mann told me when I was 24, you know, we're going to have to get you elocution lessons, Drew, after I gave him this passionate speech about my ideas and what I want to do for the company,

and that was the resort. I think we're going to have to get your elucion lessons. So I worked on it. I, you know, spent a lot of time, learning to slow down, especially the time away from WW. be we, you know, how to make myself understood in these kind of interviews on the microphone, get comfortable in those situations, because I know how important it is. And when I finally honed it, when I finally felt good about myself, and the whole world was saying

that, man, Drew's a very confident talker. He's really improved that area of his game. I had Scotland to bring me back down to earth and say, why are you talking like that? Why you're not talking like that's me? That's why. That's why I understand us. I'm so proud to be from Scotland, but nobody understands us. So I have to soften the accent, make it a little less arsh.

I feel like the Drew McIntyre that's sitting in front of me right now is like a very different man than the one who left WWE in 2014. What was the like first step in the reinvention process to get to where you're at now? Well, there's a lot of steps. Thankfully, I have a book available, Chosen Destiny. You can check out. They've got the details. But step one, as my wife reminded me, you know, wasn't just I'm going to take over the wrestling world outside of WWB. and redefined what it means

to be an independent wrestler I'd like to say that and I did say that but my wife reminded me no you were full of anxiety fear uncertainty you've been in 3MB for a long time so you hadn't had any significant matches or significant interviews

or really never had significant interviews because I always read from the script line by line I never put myself into so I was very nervous but I did believe this is what I was meant to do I did believe I had something to give I did believe I could go out there and make a name for myself and really reinvent Drew McIntyre, Drew Galloway. And right away, I knew I had to go back to Scotland to get my mission statement out to insane championship at wrestling ICW, where all my friends were that I started with.

But business was on the up swing in the UK. They were doing amazing. They had their biggest show of the year, 1500 people there. It was three weeks after I got released. And I told the promoter, Mark Dallas, you know, everyone's contact me. You haven't contacted me. Why is that? So I thought my friend would be upset

He was fires Give him a moment before I'd try to book him in a wrestling show That's not real life Because I appreciate that But I want to be on the show in three weeks But I want to keep it a secret So, you know When he started out of the travel

We kept a secret between about three people I showed up in Scotland And a famous clip online If you've not seen it, check out Dragallaby Returns to ICW I spoke for 20 full minutes unscripted Just said everything I was feeling at the time

And it got such an insane response afterwards. It felt so good to get it out. It felt so good to be myself. I said some bold comments in there. I'm going to show you the real Drew Galloway. I'm going to take over this world as far as I'm concerned. And I'm going to put ICW on the map. This little company is going to take over the world. A lot of people watched him. Went, oh, my God, look at this guy. This is incredible. He's going to do such big things, including Mick Foley, who went in Stone Cold's podcast and talked about me, he said, you have to keep an eye on Drew. Then there was the other people who had watched me in V&B and said, this PMP goes out of his mind.

single of this stuff. He's not going to do anything. But that was phase one. And then I literally looked myself in the mirror and said it was a tough few years, these last few years in WWE professionally, but especially personally. In the end, it's on you for not, you know, getting the help you needed personally, but also working as hard as you could professionally. You'd have been happy to be the water boy at one point. You forgot, you know, why you came here, you lost perspective, never let that happen again. And I worked as hard as I could, left no stone unturned. My saying now is be accountable to one person and one person only, social media. Don't listen to freaking social media. Everyone out there, please, they listen to it.

The person in the mirror, that's the only person you answer to. And that's the only person I did answer to. Aside, you know, the wife, because I still had areas I had to improve upon or the party wasn't gone yet. I was still burning the candle with both ends, but I took every book and I could. I got as good as I could. Was lucky enough that people believed in me, gave me a platform to apply my craft, to learn to become a leader. to get confident in the microphone, confident in the ring and built myself into a place where I was ready. The guy who was faking it in the beginning until he made it, everyone else believed in finally believed in himself, finally became what Vincent saw all those years ago, or Triple H saw

those years ago, and I finally became, you know, the real Drew that I could be once, what I'm talking about professionally, once I broke my neck that one time, you might have heard about, I had to sit at home for eight weeks for the first time in my life. I had to come to Jesus taught with the wife. And we talked about the party and going out and how I'm giving it my all, but I'm not giving it my own. I finally said, sir, you know what,

you're right. As successful as I am right now, my brother referred to me as a verb to do it, Drew, leave WWME become more successful, which was very cool. And I still had a ways to go. I looked in the mirror,

looked at my body and said, you can step in the ring with brought out. Now, the biggest attraction at the time, people would look at that image and go, he can be brought you got to work in the body you got to cut out the negative stuff so i cut out the party and i was doing all the time within a few months of changing my diet up my training up my body changed dramatically and then i saw myself in the mirror and went that's the guy who's ready to

take on the world i figured to be japan but i took a conference to air phone call with triple age and after that phone call i know it was time to go back to wdb and look at you now that's an amazing story by the way as we wrap this up in things like talk i talk i talk i talk i wish we had an hour. That'd be amazing. We were all very surprised to see Carrion Cross on SmackDown. How surprised were you to see him? I was very surprised to see him. I didn't know until the very last second that for, you know, we can say a little more here than we say in general. But let's just say, is somebody who's worked hard for an opportunity, deserves that opportunity and is getting the biggest opportunity of his career. Fortunately for him,

it's not going to come at Drew McIntyre's expense. Drew, it's such a pleasure to talk with you. I'm so glad we could make this happen. And congratulations on everything. Thank you. I appreciate it. I'm glad this is phase one, but we'll get one of the long-form interviews eventually.

And he'll be like, man, this was my first ever four-hour interview. When I let Drew go, he just goes and goes and goes. It's kind of a show. It'll be like WrestleMania. It'll be a two-day event. It'll have to be a two-day event, Billy.

No break in between. It'll be like the former WrestleMania of seven hours, 14 hours in total. Thank you so much. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate it. And I'll see you all in rest of mania. So far.

That's what we're talking about today. Tickets are on sale now. There we go. Drew McIntyre. What a guy. And you heard him. Our next interview together is going to break the record

for the longest episode of Inside Ever, which I think that record right now belongs to Austin Ares and the interview that we did. Wow, the end of 2019. That's almost three years ago. What do you think? Should we do another Austin Ares episode?

Would you guys want to see that? Big thank you to Drew for joining us. Of course, we couldn't do this without you. So thank you for being with us on this audio adventure, wherever you are, whatever you're doing right now, driving to work, maybe you're at work, you're doing cardio, you're walking the dog, you're cooking, whatever it is. Thank you.

And if you haven't subscribed yet, please take a second to do that today. And if you're feeling extra generous, leave a rating. or review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify if you happen to be listening on there. We talked about reinvention during this episode and I love his story so much. George Elliott said it best. It's never too late to be what you might have been.

Be great and be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock. But there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley. Whatever happened to Hammer Alley?

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