Soder - 159: Scotland to Louisville with Drew McIntyre | Soder Podcast | EP 153

Episode Date: October 13, 2026

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I'm on the road. November 5th through the 7th. I'm going to be at Wise Guys in Salt Lake City. We added a late show Thursday. You could see me there. Salt Lake City, November 5th through the 7th, Wise Guy Comedy Club, one of the best clubs in the country. And then December 10th through the 12th, comedy at the Carlson in Rochester, New York. Very excited. I love going back there. One time I was there, I was extremely constipated. So I'm excited to be back and to be able to eat your food and then poop it out. that's going to be real big for me. Dan Soder.com, all tour dates. Go check it out.

Thanks for watching. I hope you're doing all right. It's funny about this is the way this looks is it looks like you own the building and you're here to kick me out. That's how well you're dressed. Just like coming in and I'm like, you're like you have 30 days to get out of this apartment.

30, I mean 30 minutes. Drew looks like he owns the building and he's coming by to be like, hey, you and your dog are out. Dude, I'm glad you're back. You're one of the guys when you went away for a little bit. Something that's interesting that I always want to know, especially as a comedian, is when you go away sometimes, like I probably think you have one of the most famous going away stories.

For those of you that don't know wrestling, you were the chosen one when you were younger, and then it didn't work out. then you go away, work the indies, work other things, and come back bigger than ever, and became the guy. And I think that's like one of the coolest stories in anything, whether it's wrestling, sports, you know, comedy, music, that like idea of being chosen to be the guy and then it doesn't work out.

For a lot of people, that's it. Yeah, I'm glad there's a happy end to that story. I was given a lot when I was a kid. Sure. And I just assumed that's the way it was. I started wrestling professionally at 15 years old. Sure. There was nothing in Scotland.

I traveled 12 hours to the school. Myself and some friends started the wrestling scene in Scotland. That was my weekend job, my summer holiday job. I stuck in at school the whole time. Went through university. Got signed at my last year of uni. I got my degree in criminology. Went straight to America, just turning 22.

And three weeks later, I was suddenly on WWE TV. try to figure out what was going on, why I was in the same locker room as, you know, the Undertaker and Kane and the guys of those times looking around. I was just at uni watching these guys on TV, but this is okay, this is normal. I was the top guy in the UK. You know, I should be in WWE, right? This is normal. So when you're doing, when you are growing up in Scotland

and you're getting into wrestling, I think, you know, as an American, we kind of take advantage of the accessibility of pro wrestling in America, whether it is the Indies, whether it is, whether it is other companies besides WW. We were growing up WCW and all that. When you're in Scotland, where do you watch it, SkyNet or Sky? It was Sky at the time. WCW, it was kind of weird the way WCW was.

It was like the cartoon network would end at a certain time. And then WCW would come on after it. And you had to have a specific TV package. My uncle recorded a full VHS of WCWs for me. And I would watch WWWF at the time every week at home. And then when I get my VHS, I would catch up on the WCW. And my brother and I would rent all the Blockbuster videos, the same ones multiple, multiple times.

Because we're so obsessed with wrestling. I feel bad for kids now because that was something, that aisle of the video store, when you would see, when they would get a new one and you'd be like, and you check behind to see if they had it. What a feeling. Yeah, the kids will never know. They'll never know for choice.

And it really is. And the funny thing is so much to watch that you never know what to watch. Well, it's over, it's almost like an overreact. abundance because I remember when it was a drip, you know, for us in America, there was WCW Saturday nights. So you'd be like, you know, I'm like 10 years old. I'm at home on the weekend and I'm like, I want to watch wrestling. Saturday night would come and you're like, this is great. And it was in a little TV studio in Atlanta. You saw how small it was. It was just kind of like this. And I'm always interested about people that get into it in a place like Scotland where it's, and

so you just, you and your buddies were like, let's make a scene. Pretty much. I met the friends in wrestling through myself training them, basically, because I was the first one in Scotland to go to England to take the 12-hour journey to learn the basics. We had an adult who rented out like a leisure center, like a community center with judo mats. He really didn't know what he was doing, but he was an adult. I couldn't just rent a community center. I'm 15 years old. Yeah, someone willing to show a license to another adult. And then a bunch of younger guys, kind of my age. a little bit older would come in and I'd start showing them what I was learning and it gave me

people to work with train with what I'm learning in England but also teaching you know them so I'd be back and forth picking up you know more wrestling maneuvers more skills and eventually we're like we got to put on shows so this guy would start putting on little shows you know was put me in the main events which I was always grateful for so so from the beginning you were a main eventer yeah yeah basically from my first shows like 16 years old do you remember your first show my first match uh yep I was 16 and I got knocked out in the first 10 seconds. I still continued like 20 more minutes and I got boot prints all over my back from being

stomped to pieces and my friend has still videotape of it to this day be talking in the train completely out of it my dad took pictures of my back like what are you doing? Why you have bootprints all over your back? I thought I had my first match. Yeah I think parents of comedians and pro wrestlers

have the same approach where they see you do it the first time and they go what the fuck are you doing? Yeah, yeah sure. And you go I love it. And they go, can't you love a job that's just a little more?

I mean, and I honestly think, you know, both of us have grown in our fields or whatever. I think both wrestling and comedy are a lot more accessible fields now. Oh, 100%. People, you know,

but when you were saying it, you know, you're 16, like I want to be a wrestler. When I was like, I'm going to start doing open mics. My mom was just like, what's an open mic?

And you're like, wait, and then you talk for three minutes and you hope it goes. knows well. Yeah. You could put a YouTube video, whatever out now or something on X or whatever. People catch on to it and boom, you're off and running.

And people because of social media, if you had social media back then, you would have been able to find other people in Scotland. So it kind of took this like gravity. And there was little forums and stuff. Yeah. Yeah, trying to avoid all the creeps in there. Talk to the younger kids. Yeah.

You're like, I'm a 15-year-old boy who gets into wrestling. Hello. First off, there's no way this guy's actually 15. He's 40 at home. This is not true. But I think what's interesting about that is, Who was the first, like for me, I remember, you know, I started comedy in Tucson, Arizona, which is like pretty much like you starting wrestling in Scotland.

Yeah, I'm wrestling in Tucson. Yeah, but it was almost like the first, I remember the first guy that I saw in person that I had seen in movies was this guy that had played a small role in Seinfeld. And he came and did the club and I was like, I just want to talk to him about that episode of Seinfeld. Oh, yeah. He didn't want to talk about it. Who was the first wrestler that you saw in person? Yokozuna. Really?

That'd be the first one that I saw from WWE. Yeah. Watching it back in the day. There's a picture online, actually. You can Google Drew McIntyre Yokensur, Yokozuna. And I took a picture with him at the merchandise table where I looked like a young girl. Feminine features for a group of this beard. You got all these muscles.

But yeah, I remember being in line waiting for the show and somebody walking by saying he wants 50 hard boiled eggs. I went, oh, that's for Yokosunah. just the biggest man had ever seen in my entire life to this day probably the biggest man I've ever seen but is that was that you're like first like oh my god these guys you're real these guys are like that's the guy I've seen on television this is incredible and even years later you know he was a top of the card guy a former wwif champion like going up to some of the shows you know when I'm 10 11 12 whatever and seeing guys through the gate I think it was maybe like 14 at this point maybe a little bit too old to be amazed but I saw like crash holly walk by I went

oh my god there's crash holly like he's on TV right now and Luther Rains like blew my mind I was like I need to get closer to them so I can ask them questions tell them I'm gonna be a wrestler

but I think that is like I think that thing right there and anything you do when you do something you love those are like those things that you remember that you go I remember how excited I was I remember how excited I was

to talk to Jim Norton when I first moved in New York and he walked by me and I was like oh and he's like brought up a joke he did it I was like I really love that joke and they're like busy. And they're like, yeah, cool man.

And I'm like, all right, nice seeing you. So many moments like that because I got signed so young. Yeah. As I say, straight from my parents' house, straight from university, straight to WWE, boom. You're on the show and then all the guys I watched on TV around me. Did you, when you move from Scotland to here, right, where did you move? Florida or was it connected? I wish.

Where did you move? I moved to Florida, which I did after six months and it was like going from black and white to color. I moved to Louisville, Kentucky. That's where OVW was, the original WVTRAD training center that produced, Randy, Orton, and Brock Eisner, John Cena and the likes. OVW, for those of you that don't know wrestling, was NXT before NXT. It was like the developmental place where the WWE stars would go down and get coached by all these great coaches and then they would eventually build up.

I was there the last six months of its existence. Like touchdown in America, it's not like NXT now. There's a nice process where people get brought to America. They get acclimated. to get used to the way things are over here, because obviously different countries, different cultures. Back then, they just cherry-picked you. And there you go, boom, you're in Louisville now.

So I was just in a lodge. Scotland and Louisville. Oh, yeah. So literally it was at school, like six weeks prior at most, at a university finishing up. Suddenly, I'm in America. I'm in a suburban lodge. I remember I had a little kitchen and stuff.

And I was like, do you go get some food? I've told this story a lot, but there's a different audience. Yeah. Oh, completely. I've done it. But I went to a Longhorn Steakhouse. So I walk in within the first.

hour of getting there. I need to get some food. I see the animal heads on the wall and I'm like, they can't possibly be real. Why would anyone look at what they're eating? That is, I don't know, barbarians. That's also funny to get the American psychology of like, oh, these guys are fucking nuts. Yeah. These guys are just putting boarheads and the horse heads and just looking at all. And I sat down, the guy comes over to me and here's my accent and looks at me in the eye. I was like, where are y'all from? And I'm like, y'all? Just me? I'm from Scotland. I'm from Scotland. I'm from Scotland. I'm And okay, is I'm related to Robert Burns. So I went, wow, okay, I'm actually from the same town as Robert Burns.

You know, I grew up in here. It's caught just five minutes from where I grew up. So what a coincidence, small world. He goes, yeah, I'm saving up, planning to go visit him one day. I went, oh, that's interesting. Anyway, there's nothing Scottish in the menu. Went back to the lodge called my mom told her the story. And she'll be Drew, but Robert Burns has been dead since the 1700s.

And I went, yeah, why do you think I left? I looked me in the eye until me was saving up money to go visit them. And then I turned to the TV. and then I see that your commercials over here like there's a standard of commercials in the UK and if you've been there you kind of see it's kind of like high budget actors as always this you know set standard of the commercials I'd never seen a local car dealer do a commercial or whatever

and I looked at the screen while telling this story and I see it for the first time having this conversation this big heavy set guy from Louisville with a little crappy squeakily animated dogs there and it's talking about the competitors prices you know they're real high they're out of control tell them how bad they are Rex is rough that's right

They're rough. But I went, I need to get out here. These Americas are freaking crazy. Day one. I've never thought about you guys just cold into our local advertising. Oh, yeah. Because when you grow up in America, you know, like, I remember that when I was a kid, the local commercials deal in Doug in Denver.

And he was, he loved them now. Yeah. I mean, but you're seeing them first, you're like, what the fuck is this? Yeah. That's somebody from like, I don't know, one of these movies where they kill you in the woods, the wrong turn or something. Texas chainsaw massacre.

You go, I don't trust that guy. Yeah, I went to a gas station again in my first week. And I looked around. It was a guy. It must have been 400 pounds, wearing overalls with no shirt and bald. And then I looked at another guy, you know, the flannel shirt,

the dirty trucker hat, the scraggly ponytail. And I'm like, pumped was big at the time. Like, am I unpunkked? Are they getting the new guys or something? Because this is every American stereotype I've ever seen this of.

Dropping you into Kentucky, especially Kentucky, is a wild choice that OVW is like, we got some boys coming over from Scotland. We're going to bring them to Louisville. And then just like big old chauc. Because I think that culture shock, you're right.

Now that NXT probably knows what they're doing, they know to bring them over. Yeah, everybody's very much acclimated now. And also the world is smaller now because of the internet. Yeah. People understand shit. Factor meals. Ooh.

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at babel.com slash soda. That's Babel, B-A-B-B-B-B-E-L-com slash soda for up to 60% off. Rules and restrictions may apply. You know, I did a fringe in Edinburgh in 2019, and my shock was the lack of air conditioning. Oh, yeah, yeah. You guys don't have air conditioning.

No. And you didn't need it up until recent. Yeah, and it's bad. Like, it suddenly got hot over the past few years. Yeah. I've been, obviously, visiting back my family and stuff. I've been here 20 years. I'm like, when did it get hot?

It wasn't hot one day. 21 years I grew up here. I never got a hot day. It's hot all the time. Even I was back, like a few months ago, like doing film in Highlander. Filming Highlander, we're filming in the Highlands of Scotland. A million degrees every day. Where was this weather when I was a kid?

First off, that reveal, I didn't even realize that you were out filming Highlander. Oh. I mean, I am. I mean, I'm not, I don't think I'm giving anything away. No, but it's a guy that grew up. on Highlander, like on the movies. Yeah. I am very excited for that.

Oh, me too. As a Scottish guy, like, someone said to me earlier, like, any kind of dream roles today? I was like, well, I kind of started like, you know, Highlander. Yeah. The word you go, brave for her? Yeah, you can't. Highlander's like, I mean, for those of you,

one of the best sword fights in a movie, like, in action movie history. You grew up on Highlander, especially if you're a child of the 80s and 90s. I am very excited for that, that they're bringing that. And it's awesome that you're in it. Was that another thing, like, similar to what I was saying with, like, Yokozuna,

where you're on set and you're seeing, like, you know, on the slate says, like, Highlander. And you're like, every day, the call sheets and stuff. And you're like, I'm in fucking Highland. Angus McLeod. I'm Connor's brother. It's like, like, growing up, seeing, knowing Angus, knowing the story, knowing the movie. Yeah. Obviously, meeting the Chad, directed the John Wick movies initially.

And he's been a great chat. My agent told me you probably talked to him for 15 minutes, like, two hours later. we're still chatting away and he's like so you want to be want to be angus so yeah sure i can do that and that great and also it's what's great about that is i think is someone that loves the original movies you go well great bring them back but the fight choreography has to be great and you're like oh it's the guy that did wick all the john wick then you're like he's unreal watching him just do his thing i was just harassing him asking him questions constantly and sure watching you know like henry plays conner henry cavil uh russell russle crull was there and just watching them and dave petista

I grew up with, always looked out for me. He's the Kerrigan. He's the one that brought me into my first movie. I did the Killers game a few years ago. It was the very first movie I did. It was a lot of fun, but kind of played an exaggerated version of myself. This was more an opportunity with Highlander, Lashedrood, and the W.E. Vertical Shore.

I'm sure we'll talk about a chance to see, hey, could I fit in this world, a chance to show some range, some vulnerability, not just be big, angry, heavy, number three, because I'm a pro wrestler and I'm 2285 pounds and 6-5. Which is what they've always done. They go, if there's a wrestler in the movie, he's just going to be either the biker at the bar, you know,

that doesn't say much and gives like a come on to the, to the main character. Is Terry Funker describing it? Yeah. Every movie is at Routhouse and whatever. A whore's mouth. I mean, he's great. Your mother is a whore.

Or when he goes, isn't that right? Me and Big Joe's love his line where he goes, what are you going to do about it? Dad. You know what he's talking about? When he's talking to Sam Elliott. It's like one of the best.

But that was, as someone that grew up a wrestling fan, there is kind of these like, stereotypical roles for wrestlers until recently, you know, and now you guys are getting into it. My question is, is you're on the set with Batista, right? I've done stuff, acting stuff, where other comics have been there. And there's always this natural gravity to where, like, we're just off talking about working funny bones, you know, on set.

When you see Batista, do you find yourself talking about wrestling when you guys are there or, like, the business at all? Yeah, we do for sure. curious how things are these days. Sure, he's been gone. He's gone a long time and incredible. The best of all the guys who have made it acting wise, like he's such an incredible actor. I mean, he's, yeah, he's going to play Cratos and God of War now. Just every role he goes into, you forget. He's Batista the wrestler. And Dave, my friend, like, boom, he's that character. He's that role.

And that's what Bobby Kelly always said that to me. He said, the thing you want when your friend is in a movie is to forget that they're your friend. Because then you just go, oh, you did a good enough job that I stopped watching you is Dave. Oh, yeah. And you're this character. Exactly. Everything he's in. So when you see him on set, is it almost kind of like a, like a comfort of like, oh,

great, I'll just go talk to him? Yeah. Especially when he brought me in for, say, the original one, the first movie ever did. Sure. And he came me down there. He could see me looking at all the big sets and stuff. Like, oh, my God. This is crazy.

I was like, you nervous? I'm nervous. I'm nervous. I'm nervous. I was Dave, how can you've been nervous after all you've done? He went, don't worry when the red light comes on, you'll relax. You've been in front of the camera your whole life. I went, okay, we'll see.

Sure enough, since that camera, come on, oh, my friends, since I was 16, 17, especially coming to America, when I see red lights, I just relax, like, I'm an extrovert, when I see those red lights, I relax instantly. I knew who I have to be, every role I've had thus far, and it's working so far, hopefully it keeps going this way, find the truth in the character, put myself into the character, and just run with the lessons I learned in WWE

and just turn down, you know, the volume, and we're playing to the back row, put it all right here in the eyes, and it's so cool to have such, positive feedback in this world. Do you feel like now that you've done this, are you seeing stuff from the movie world that you go, oh, I'm excited to take this to the WWE with me?

Like this new, like almost like new skill, almost learning how to be more subtle on stuff. Because the thing I've always loved about, specifically professional wrestling, is the ring psychology, is all the psychology that goes into it and how good you guys are at being subtle. Watching someone like Roman Raines,

learn how to stop, be quiet, you know, like let the room. I always loved watching you guys do that. That's why it was great watching you come back to the WWE. Because you came back and you had all these new tools. You had, you came back, done the Indies. Boy, I became a man. Yeah. I also stopped parting every single night and learn to balance that thing out.

You can't burn the candle at both ends and set the candle on fire. Young comics. This is something I learned. Especially you guys out there. I was supposed to be a professional athlete. I was doing that every night because I was a wrestler. dead after the show. Sure.

I mean, that's what comics do. You know, and then you have a thing. I spent many years with comics and rock stars. Like, if we've all got a lot in common, it comes to being on the road. And it really is, is that you're on the road and you're,

being on the road means you're slightly losing your mind all the time. Because you're not in your comfort area. You're not doing the same. And then the adrenaline dump after the show. You go back to your room. It's the craziest. You know, my fiance,

she's always like, all right, but you got to stop, because I stopped drinking 14 years ago. And now, for me, it's like, I go by that snack part of the hotel, and it's just like, oh, yeah. I just want to grab all the snacks and just go sit in my room because it's like an adrenaline dump, and you're like, I need something.

I need something that grabs me. But as you get older and you kind of learn how to deal with all that stuff, what I loved about watching you come back was like, you came back, you kicked the door down, and it was just like, fucking go. It was great. Already, fulfill the prophecy. Yeah. Vince Abin went on TV on it was 24, that you said, the early success and said, this is the

chosen one. this is the future right here and it all went well till it didn't and getting fired and just to reinvent myself outside the company how much of that was that energy of like fuck you i'm gonna show you like oh okay it was a definite chip on my shoulder i think that's and i think that can be a good thing because now now it's not there it's more these days i don't compete with anybody but myself and it took a long time to get there that's the hardest part and i think that truly is like the hardest evolution to make is where you go i'm not running a race against but myself.

Yeah. And it's like the more I calm down, the more I take. Because I would say you had one of the most interesting moments of your career, WrestleMania 36, Night 2, you win the title, but it's COVID. You won the Royal Rumble in front of 40,000 people. And where that pays off is a small. 80,000 people at WrestleMania in Tampa where I'd lived for 12 years. All my family were coming.

against Brock Lesnar in the main event. The Beast of Cardet with my life's work. Yeah. And then what's interesting for that personally for me, what's interesting about that is I put my life's work in and my HBO special came out December of 2019. And I was going back on the road February of 2020. So for the first time of my life,

I had tickets sold. I had extra shows added. We were about to jump into theaters. and then you hit March. And so there was this very personal thing where as it closes. I can tell you, I know how you feel. That's what I mean. Well, the whole thing is like,

I obviously can't say I don't know how you felt. But what I felt is a lifelong wrestling fan that still is a huge fan of it. And I've protected my fandom because I think everybody needs something where they can unplug and enjoy. That is that they aren't trying to turn it into a job. Wrestling for me has always been that. I always love if I'm on the road and there's a Saturday. night main event or you know a lot of the times the big pay-per-view now

saturdays and sundays i have my laptop in the dressing room or the green room watching royal rumble or summer slam and i love it but watching you get that moment as i was trying to process with the fact that my moment was fucked because i lost all my momentum when when you know because you couldn't go on the road they shut everything down and i watched you and it was just like it was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. Where it was this moment where it was like you had been through hell, you had got back,

he kicked the door down, that Royal Rumble was fucking fantastic, you know, and then you get this moment where you do win the title, you are the champ, but it's for the crew. Yeah, that 80,000 people turned into a couple of commentaries, a couple of cameramen and Paul Heyman. Paul Heyman and Brock. And there is, what was the moment after you win that title

and you go backstage, Are you kind of like, cool, but I wish it would have been? Yeah, I kind of accepted the reality at the time. Like, whatever we feel now, whatever we know, now everyone was terrified. The world had shut down. We all had questions. Everybody was scared. What's the future going to look like?

Are we going to be around in the future? The people were genuinely terrified at that point. And we were the only company, entertainment or sporting company, that we're going to push forward to give original content. I was going to sacrifice my moment in front of lots of people to keep our show going in front of nobody. Sure. And I'd accepted that.

I went, okay, I spoke to Vincent Mann or boss at the time and being like, okay, it's our responsibility to take their minds off things. That's what we do all the time. Sure. Like yourself, you say your comfort watch, whatever people are going through, you can always trust to tune into WWE.

You're not going to get politics, religion, any of that stuff. You're just going to get, you know, a fun little show to watch, to take your mind off the bad times and I'm going to be the one leading the charge during this difficult time, and I'd accepted that role.

It's something that you nailed. was 2020, you know, it's 2026, so it's easy, six years later, it's easier to forget how scared everyone was. But at that time, how big it was that you guys were still going to do WrestleMania. You know, because the other big moment besides your championship match was John Cena's final match. And he was going to do, you know, obviously before the retirement run that he did last year, but with Bray. And there was the undertaker.

take her AJ match. There was just a bunch of stuff that I think as a fan that was nervous and scared of where the world was going at the time, it really did provide a lot to have those two nights of WrestleMania. I remember how excited I was that it was actually still going to happen, that I was like, this is crazy. We're still going to get a WrestleMania. And obviously the online people and other wrestling fans are going to bitch.

But I think a majority, 90% I think of wrestling fans were like, fucking thank you. I remember that period and I did all the media basically for the company at the time. I was doing five hours a day. I was seeing all the social stuff willingly. I wanted to get better, but also I was like, give me the look. I'm the guy. Give me the work. And I'm happy to put in the work.

And I saw the feedback. There was very little negativity during that time compared to now where it's completely insane. And I meet people that I met during that time via the FaceTime chats, what would you call it at the time. But online meeting greets and stuff where there were genuinely, like in tears. like thanking us for pushing on and saving their lives. And I saw messages like all the time in my social. Yeah. And I knew we're doing the right thing when people were talking that way.

Like I'm trapped in this country that were much more restricted than America. Yeah. It's like Australia and whatever where they're indoors, literally going crazy by themselves. And their escape was WWE. And I was like, we're doing the right thing here. I didn't even think twice about my title run. I knew, okay, everything rolls downhill from the top. I'm going to find new ways to reach your audience.

I started breaking the fourth wall, like looking right down the camera. Yeah. There were a lot of... connection with everybody because there's no one in the crowd. I was the first one to do that when I won the title. I thought they'd edited out. I looked down the lens and I thanked everybody and made it clear. This is my moment. This is kind of our moment. I think I've came

through this struggle. We're in a struggle, but we're going to go forward together was what I was trying to convey through my emotions in the time. I went in the title because it was real to me. And that's the moment you would have in a hotel like, you know from doing the stand-up. You got a crowd. You know, your adrenaline's flying. I won the Royal Rumble. 40,000 people. I'm like, yeah, I did it.

My knees buckle. And then you get back to the hotel later and you just have a quiet moment. reflection by yourself and you have that personal moment that's never filmed. Mine was because the adrenaline wasn't there because there was no fans there and it was a four-minute match where it broke. And I had that private moment in front of the whole world because the adrenaline wasn't flying. I looked at to the title. I had a montage in my head of all the people that helped me get there where we're at in the

world and my mother had passed like that had all gone through my head in that moment. The tears were going in. I looked right down the lens and reached out to everybody and thought it would get lost. It was filmed a week prior. So the fun thing was I watched Mania with the world. I didn't realize that. Oh, yeah. I watched it with my wife on the couch, eating popcorn,

and then after I won the title, she presented me the title at home, which was really cool. Come on. How great of a moment is that for you and your wife? Yeah, because that's when you go, that's what love is, is where you go, hey, fuck the 80,000 people.

Congratulations, this is your hard work. My family were on FaceTime as well. Would you call it, like Skype maybe at the time? Yeah. We had everybody like five people on the call, Zoom, would it be there? Whatever it was. There was five of them on there.

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please support our show and tell them we sent you. What was the first arena back that you did? Do you remember that? Yep. We did WrestleMania the following year in front of a... At Tampa again. Yep, restricted crowd. The whole roster came out initially

in front of the crowd where everybody was just letting them know, hey, we're back. and we're getting closer to normal and then I was the very first entrance after all that time off after I've been champion for so long basically during the whole time but there was nobody there I made the first

entrance in front of the live crowd which was so cool. How did that feel? Unreal to see people again and thinking about all the falls that I took that maybe I shouldn't have taken, I fell off a hell in the cell with nobody in the building. For those I don't know is a 20 foot cage I was halfway up with Randy Orton and I fell 10 feet through a table

which usually breaks your following feels bad but not too bad. Turns out when adrenaline really hurts. That is crazy. I was in a way, way 270 or so at the time. What's also crazy about that is like you're driving a car without oil in it. Because that adrenaline

makes the gears. It really hurt. Yeah. My back, my neck. I bit through my tongue. I looked like a viper which is erotic as Randy's known as the viper. Spitting up blood. Stop taking my shit. But there is that like you know I remember doing the, I remember being in St. Louis for the first time back and like

and I remember the first hour I did back doing stand-up, I was like, I had to look, check my time. And I was like, I did like an hour 10 because I was just not used to talking to people. So I was just like, I don't want to leave. Let's keep talking. You guys want to talk. Don't make me put the muscle back on. I was like, this is great. But it was. And then like, you know, I sometimes there's moments where I'm on the road and I try to go back to that moment of feeling of like, I just wish there was still a room full of people. Because I think something that was lost now that we learned in that time is like to be grateful for these where it's like a stadium full of people going nuts.

Because it used to be like, I'm going to remember people to have perspective in these days. I know. That's what I'm. And we're all guilty of it. We're all guilty of it. But I constantly use reminders, like myself,

like, you know, the difficult times and personal tragedies. And we lost, you know, one of our, one of our community, one of our family, Ben. Yeah.

He wrestled his pack 40 years old this past week and just worked his life off. He was an amazing talent, amazing person. I mean, wrestled on Saturday. On Saturday. He was gone.

He was gone. You know, it's shrieking us all. And you should. Please go watch his matches. I think both companies, WW and AEW have put most of his matches on YouTube. Check it out from his NXT days to the main roster. One of the best high flyers to ever do it. From day one, I met him coming out in the backyard in Carlisle, England as a teenager.

He was a teenager too. Yeah. And he told me, wait till you see him. And he just blew my mind. I mean, that arrow, I mean, all of his is. No, unreal. And the best thing about it is the same person I met in 2004. or it was exactly the same person he was right till the end and people look back.

Can I always say that how you want to be remembered? Your body works one thing, but you want people to Google you and find out you were a piece of crap the whole time. So do you think he's always going to be remembered that way? But again, perspective, gratitude. It could all be over tomorrow. Yeah. You know, let's think of what's the big picture, what actually matters.

Relative to time, we're all here for that long. And also you do see that and you go like, man, that's, you know, when it happens that quick, you go, damn, I wish I had, you know, to be gratitude, of like an extra hang with him or just one more conversation. Yeah, phone calls something, we missed each other. His WWU run, I was fired during that time. I said we'd come up together,

missed him there, and we'd see each other, like no time had passed. That's great. Hearing from his close friends, he never changed one bit. Yeah, and that is... So sudden, it sucks,

but he'll be remembered forever as an amazing talent and amazing person. And a guy that when you would watch in person, as someone, I watched, I saw him live multiple times, and he's a guy that would just do these moves that you're like, that's insane.

And also within the confines of professional wrestling, he made it realistic. Like high flying, sometimes it's nonsensical and I try to talk to the young guys about, hey, people kind of know it's a show, but you're trying to make them forget, you're trying to suspend their disbelief.

Don't make it circled to Salae where they're doing this just because of the moves you're doing. You need to create an emotional connection and make everything makes sense, make everything as real as possible. And the crazy things he did, the way he would put his matches together,

his aggression and intensity, it felt logical to me watching, even though it was completely insane, this is capable of physically. I mean, he would do these, I mean, these flips. The UK, scene, I think, in general, the entire

UK scene, from when you started at 16 to what it is now with Finn and working his school in Ireland and the guys that have came out of England and all that stuff. I mean, I remember growing up watching SummerSlam 92 in London and

Brett Hart versus the British Bulldog outside of the Dynamite Kid in the British Bulldog, and you know, I think like a couple other guys fit Finley and like there weren't a lot of UK guys and now it seems like you guys are one of the strongest hubs in professional wrestling. Oh yeah. I mean, there's so many guys that have came out of there that are fucking

awesome and Australia too. Yeah, all around the world. Like representation, WWMAA all across the board. There's just so many like amazing like talent that they're level in the ring. It's just unbelievable. The character level like the people are developing these characters. They all have to look like me like the prototypical rest. There's different shapes and sizes now that are really connecting with everyone across the world. And it's so cool to see. And the amount of Scottish people, there's only 5 million people in Scotland. Yeah.

We've had about 10 Scots in WWE, most of them girls. Like when I went to WB, it was the first ever Scottish guy ever signed to WWI. When I found out Piper was Canadian. I was going to bring up. It was like a Santa Claus moment for me. I was very upset. One of the greatest of all times, Roddy, Roddy Piper, build from Glasgow, Scotland. Clearly he's from, I think Vancouver or British Columbia.

He's from Canada. But he growing up, you know, wore the kilt to the ring. that's my guy. He's Scottish. Was he your guy? Bradhart was my guy, but I love Piper, Piper as well. Well, that's, you kind of, you know,

what's funny, I grew up in Colorado. So for me, I always love two cold Scorpio and, uh, Vader. Because Big Van Vader was from the Rocky Mountains. And you were like, he was awesome. So you always love like the guy that's from where you're from.

Yeah. Where you're like, I love that guy. Is that crazy to think that there's a bunch of younger guys getting into wrestling or younger guys and girls getting into wrestling that now drew McIntyre's their guy where they're like, I grew up watching. I've had a lot of them. And it's wild to me.

Even I was gone from the company and when I achieved, what I achieved in my first run, obviously not to the level where I'm at now. I heard that from young talent that are now, you know, on show is doing well, coming to America. And it was so cool to see the outside scene. Like I returned to my home company in Scotland

and same championship wrestling. The BBC documentary, I'm already out where they became part of the Glasgow culture. Like it wasn't just a wrestling show. It was I think Glasgow people do. It was go to this show. I love that. 1500 people in my return. I got fired. I was there three weeks later, giving my mission statement.

It got over really big, and I remember Mick Foley talked about it in Stone Cold's podcast. A lot of people put it over, and I said, we're going to do big things with this company. They were filming part two of the BBC documentary and same Fight Club too, if anyone wants to watch it out. And we grew that crowd from 1,500 people, just Scottish people, Scottish guys, to 2,000 people from our first title match at the Glasgow Barrowlands. We sold out. People at Stones, Bowie. Everyone's played in that place. and then 4,000 people the following year, myself versus Grado, Scottish and Babyface, and over 7,000 people. And an over 18's only show, over 7,000 people in the hydro where WWE did,

just me and my mates of working together, having a laugh. And that's what I did when I was away from the company, it was not just grow as a performer, be with my mates and grow the business outside the company. This is why I love wrestling. When people are like, oh, because there's just like, that's how I feel about comedy when you see some of my friends get out, you know, I would argue two of my best friends are at the top, top guys in the business

and you just go like, this is insane. We used to just drive to go do free shit. That's the fun stories to tell. I remember that time? Like, I get embarrassed to show stuff some things at the house now, whatever. I was like, yeah, I just put in a pavilion with a hot tub and a cold tub.

Remember that time where, like, the house I grew up in, my head touched the roof and stuff? Yeah, but there is. I'm telling my dad and stuff, and he's so proud of everything. He's almost emotional amount of cries at everything. He's so proud of everything. When I told him I was in Highland,

he bursted 20 tears. My first time, Title defense. I won the title in January. Be Cody for the world title in Berlin. The next day. By the way, great match. Go watch that. The Bash in Berlin. Thank you, brother. Fantastic. The next day, my first title defense in front of a live crowd. So I won the title in COVID. Nobody there. I won the title of WrestleMania. Five minutes, 46 seconds. I had it. Yeah.

But I was proud of that five minutes, 46 seconds. Seth Rollins and I had a personal moment, no professional rivals. Sure. No, think a lot of each other. We had a private moment. The crowd, given the big you deserve it. I finally got the tens of thousands of people chanting for me. I presented the title to my wife. We did this together, babe, hugged my brother. You've always been there. My original tag partner brother. Then CM Punk, the piece of crap screw. It was what a way to start off night two of WrestleMania 40. I came back and said, how are you going to follow that? Yeah, it was I watched, I mean, obviously, WrestleMania 40. I would put that, it was a top five WrestleMania. I

think top to bottom. Top to bottom. Top to bottom. Top to bottom. That moment, night two, I think night one everyone was like what's going on you know because they did the they did the bloodline rule the tag team yeah rock and rock and roman versus Cody and Seth and then they and then they won and night two starts

off with that and it was like oh this is when he cashed in and then hit and it was I mean you talking shit to him though it was just wrestling good is all about that emotional connection if you have a great match and no mix any noise what's the point

But it's fantastic. But I really do think like, you know, that live aspect of it and going back, what I like to do is take friends of mine who aren't wrestling fans to live events. Because I go, watching it on TV, you'll be able to point out direction and show like that. I said, come to the live show and you'll see. And I took, I remember it was an NXT takeover. This is when Guntur was still Walter and he took the UK title off Pete Dunn. And it was at Barclay.

Center and I couldn't find anybody to go with. And then I asked Shane, Shane Gillis at the time was my opener. And I was like, hey, do you want to go? You can drink beers and watch wrestling. And he was like, I haven't watched wrestling. I like beer. Yeah. He's like, I like, I like beer. And he's like, I he was just like that Walter Pete Dunn match, he's like, who's this guy? And I was like, Walter. He goes, this is my guy. He's like, I love him. He's been a Gunter fan the entire time.

And that's what's crazy is like, you know, Shane, he was my buddy, a guy that opened for me. And now he's the top guy. And we have that moment kind of like you're talking about with the cooling thing. We were at an arena in Utah that he had sold out. And he brings guys like me and Big Jay and a couple other heavy. headliners that he used to work with for these shows. And I remember we're in this tunnel and he's about ready to go out and he looks at me and he's like, I just wanted to headline a Thursday night at helium.

And it's like 20,000 people going nuts. And you're like, he just did the football. He was there. He filmed it at the football stadium. It's incredible. Just the same is like our work. We did one WrestleMania stadium show year. Now I can't even count all the stadium shows. But now comedy's growing so much.

Yeah. Into stadiums and stuff. It's just incredible from the rock bands making it into stadiums. WBs in the stadiums. You guys are in the stadiums. That's what I mean. It's... Fandoms is unbelievable.

It's crazy to watch, you know, I remember doing a show with Shane in Washington, D.C., where it was literally 22 people to go see both of us. I remember those days. And then we're doing... Farmer and a dog. Yeah. And then he's headlining the Capital One arena. And it's like, you know, 30,000 people.

And you're like, this is insane. It is insane. It's awesome. 12,000, I think. Sure. What is the real project? The vertical, vertical short. It's something.

that was brought to me. I had just been filming Highlander. I went into the last Druid with Russell Crowe. I was living in Barcelona for 12 weeks, so these two movies back to back, where Russell had actually called. I met him on Highlander briefly a couple hours. You know, had a drink or whatever. Is it crazy when you're just

talking to Maximus? It isn't now, but it was. I mean, same with the Yonuzuna thing. Yeah, yeah. Initially, watching him do his thing in Highlander and then getting to spend time with him and he's such a, no, wise guy, such life experience, such a storyteller. And then he called my guys, you know, said, I want Drew for this movie in Spain.

And they said, Russell Crow is asking for him. I was like, sure he isn't hung up. He called me back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. If I go, hold on, Robert De Niro. Yeah, let me take this call on De Niro real quick. But none of that was true. And then, sure enough, I worked with WWE.

And I had to speak to Nick Canter, President, Triple H, and Hall of Ecker, head of creative, and make sure they were okay with it because it was more time off TV. It was another two months. Like, hey, I know I just finished Thailand, and I've been off for a while from our show 52 weeks a year. Mind if I go to this thing, where Russell Crow, they looked at it, believed in the project,

and said, go ahead, do it as a more significant role, a core character throughout the whole movie and chance to learn and spend time with Russell, which was unbelievable. So I'm in Barcelona and I get a call from Ben Houser with WW. And I say, hey, WWE is working on a cool little project. I think you'll find interest and I want you to be involved with.

We're working with the Real Shot Company who do these vertical short movies and I want to send you the script over this character, Roscoe I think you'll find interesting. And these little vertical shorts, I happened to be watching them as I was flying to Scotland, I was flying to Barcelona, and I caught these little, like, quick little movie things. You know, some one, two minutes at a time,

they hit a little commercial, but then you're hooked. Yeah. The one I caught on one of the flights was this dad, and he just seemed like the nicest guy in the world, and his evil ex-wife was after they call his money. But then he had an evil daughter on the wife's side. I was like, yeah, give her all the money, Dad. So watch, I was like, I want to know what's going on a part two.

A piece of a crap daughter. I wonder what this goes. And I was hooked into it. He was like something from that world, but it's not, like, the thing you're describing. He basically said, just read the script. And it was an awesome script. I was like, this is a cool character.

It's throughout the whole thing. There's action, there's comedy, there's heart in it, which I was, okay, so where are we going to go with this? Because the things I saw weren't the biggest budget, and it was like, oh, Drew, we're putting a lot into this, real short, putting a lot into this. We're going to involve some of the superstars, and it's going to be really good. I love the script. We beefed up the part.

We beefed up the script in general, and the way it's turned out, we filmed in the Hollywood Hills. We filmed more in L.A., and we did an awesome back cave. Our lead character is the James Bond type. the world's greatest secret agent. If you ever watch Archer. Yeah, I mean, Archer is one of the best. He's basically Archer.

Yeah. So, I was like, this is awesome. You're Arch. I'll be cue to your Archer, cue from James Bond, but I'm the techie guy at the computer. They're just trying to reel him in. And he's just like, yeah, man, I've solved the mission.

But, you know, there's this girl. She's like a 10 right now. And a lot of this is improvised because they allow so much improvisation. So like he said, you know, she's a 10, man. So I'll improvise something. Like, I don't care if she's got a magical vagina that grants you wishes. You're going to get on that chopper that I said, fun and the way it turned out is it's going to be awesome it's going to be a lot of fun and it's

coming soon i think that's also what a lot of studios and companies are realizing is like um you know we'll sit here and talk about being on the road and all the experience of putting in the road miles learning that stuff but what happens is good leadership where they go well you do it we trust you things used to get noted to death oh this the it's like it's awesome they're giving you a chance to make something and you go let me let's just see what this is oh yeah if they don't like it they're not going to use it. But it was cool. I got told like, hey, the lead actor, I play Chase, who plays Adam the Secret Agent. He was like, hey, you know, I can have improvised a lot. I went, me too. Yeah. I could do that here. He went, do it here. And it was like the okay

corral. We'd be back and forth, try to make each other laugh if it was appropriate for the scene. Does that keep you sharp, even though you're away from the WWE, does that keep you sharp for like, oh, when you come back for promos and keeping you in. That's my favorite thing. The past few years when I was outside the company, I really worked in the microphone stuff. I mean, you came back great. Came back great. I found my voice finally and found my character, which is basically me.

There's a lot of truth in there. And then I found, like, in real life, I just talk so much crap. And people are always laughing, but I'm not like yourself. I'm not like intent. I can sit right something. Sure.

Unintentionally funny, apparently. And then sometimes I was like, wow, I kind of rip on people a lot. I'm British. I'm Scottish. We talk crap all the time. Maybe I should start doing that on screen. And I really started letting people have it to the point.

They were forgetting. They're playing a character. They're like, you said that about me. I did I said about your character. Twitter. Don't be such a loser. It's not you. It's a character I'm talking to.

That sample size of the perfect sample size as you want to see what he was talking about. You and punk, that entire rivalry was fantastic to the point. Wrong winner in the end. But in the end, as a wrestling fan, where you get me as a life on fame where you go,

I feel like these motherfuckers really don't like each other. It's a piece of trash. Yeah. I've so much fun making fun. I don't care of him. Fendi time. His stupid little feelings. I saw he got himself in shape

and I'll be gone for five months. He finally found the gym. That's skinny fat piece of crap. I was like, oh, you're good shape for you. You're not a good shape. Look at me. Like, I'm in good shape. You're in good shape for you.

Oh, your t-shirts lost her sleeves all of a sudden. Yeah. Like, I remember, like, so much fun during that period just ripping on. I'm like, in a, I would call my wife into the shower. That's where, I don't know. You've come up with your stuff. I've been in the shower. And if I had to think of a, like, an idea I thought was funny.

And if she was rolled her eye, I went, oh, that's a good one. She wrote her eyes. I said, baby, babe, babe, I've got an idea. Like, I've got one for punk. She's like, what is it? And I was like, okay, like, you know, he's straight-edge? Like, yeah, he doesn't drink, he doesn't smoke. But he's injured all the time, right?

I was like, okay, here's the line. You know what's ironic about you, punk? You're straight-edge, you don't drink, you don't smoke, but you spend all your time in rehab. Nailed him with it on live TV. I saw his face. That's so great, though. You're soaping your hair, and you go, got him.

Got him. Chuckling away. But, to be fair, he says he's a big piece of crap, can't stand the ground. He walks on, but he is very, very good at his job. He's very good. on the microphone. He's Charles Manson like qualities

the way he draws people in. I'm like, clearly I'm the good guy. Google my name. My degree's in criminology. Google my name. Beyond all reasonable doubt, I'm a good guy. Google his name. Piece of crap.

Beyond all reasonable doubt. Yet you're, your warrior who got you through the pandemic. You're picking him. Or this guy that comes back when shit's sweet. Yeah. It is, that is, that's just awesome to hear because I love hearing about how,

what goes into a promo or when you get a good line where you go like, got him. Oh, yeah. Because that's what you... I keep someone in the whole story. Yeah, people don't always are happy about it, but I always just say as I may, just have something ready for me.

That's exactly how stand-up works too, where you kind of just go like, oh, I think this line's funny. I'll say it to Katie. Sometimes she'll go, is that it? And then that makes me go, well, maybe it's just a premise. Yeah. And then you come back in here and you go,

I'm going to go right other lines. I'll take some of the guys. It's funny. Like, yeah, it's pretty funny. I'm just making sure. Rolled her eyes at me again. We're going to put in front of millions of people. We do that.

We do that all the time. think honestly that's how most comics write jokes is you'll be with another comic and you go this is how you say it without putting your pride on the line where you go hey you've ever heard anybody do a joke like this and then they go no and then you go is it funny you're like what are you yeah yeah uh dude thank you for coming by man when they said that you were able to do the podcast i was like drew mackettire's the fucking man and i think you are like as we're uh similar age ranges and just watching someone like you uh Kind of get a golden ticket and then have it taken away and work your ass back to not only earning it, but to stamping that ticket is something that I think anybody in any field should watch and study and go like, it's never over until you say it's over.

Thank you. And it's fucking awesome. And I am legitimately fucking stoked for Highlander. Like that is, that was a real time finding out that wasn't a movie, that was like, oh, dude, I can't fucking wait. I can't wait to see it. It's going to be awesome. But we'll be out to next year, though. The first thing I'll be out there was Agent of Shadows.

Agent of Shadows. I mean, very soon on the real, real short app. Yeah. Check out the Reel app and check the WWE Reels in the short form. But more importantly, go get the world title. Yeah, I'll be back soon. You know, I'm kind of focused on Hollywood Drew right now. This is the longest time I've had off in my career.

Like, I've literally never had five months off ever. Even with injuries, I'd thrown my bicep in 2017. And I got so bored. I would drive to the PC in Orlando when I lived in Tampa, two-hour drive. and I'd work with Sean Michaels because why wouldn't you not want to work with Sean Michaels? But I was like, yeah, can I come in and just work with you? I was yeah, sure, because I'm going crazy.

In these past five months it's been wild, been out of the ring, but the opportunity to do all these projects, the Hounder, Last Druid, Major in a Shadows, there's a Disney thing I can talk about now. Coming out, I did a little voice for something that I want ruin now. Hex, it's called Hex, go see it. Go see Hax.

I've been trying different things, and the boss has been cool with it. It's so cool, and it's awesome that WBs directly getting involved with the future because everybody now's like this on their phone. The fact that it's quick snippets, people have no attention span, this is the youth, they're going to be obsessed with this thing. That is the way to go. You got to adapt and you got to move forward.

But, dude, thanks for coming on, man. No, thank you, really for having me.