Drew McIntyre is extremely proud of his recent WWE work.
Speaking his mind on TV and on social media and taking advantage of every opportunity, McIntyre feels refreshed with his recent character change and has once again established himself as one of the top stars on the Raw roster. According to The Scottish Warrior, being given the opportunity to sink or swim has played a huge part in this.
Speaking with Shakiel Mahjouri of CBS Sports, McIntyre explained that the previous limitations being more relaxed have played a huge part in his character being upgraded and has enabled him to be more authentic:
“100%. Mostly because I feel the way I’ve not felt in a long time. I really have to point back to my independent run, where I truly found myself and I was truly relaxed, and I wasn’t worried about anything, except telling my truth. Over the last few years, I was a smiling sword man, I’m very proud of the work I did, but there was also a line I couldn’t cross, there were certain things, a way things have always been done.
So I had to stay within those limitations. Right now, it feels like there’s no limitations, there’s no right or wrong answers. There’s everything outside the box. Everything you do now, obviously the collaboration with the creative team, stay on-point, stay on the story, don’t go out of the bounds of the story you’re trying to tell. But if you’ve got an idea, you go for it, and it succeeds, it’s on you. If it fails, it’s on you. That’s all I’ve ever asked in my entire career, is let it fall on me,”
Along with McIntyre, many top stars within WWE have acknowledged that the increased creative freedom under the new regime has been a refreshing change and one that has helped them improve individually and make the show better as a whole. McIntyre was the latest to praise the changes and noted that the importance of everyone on the roster feels the same as it did in one of the hottest periods of professional wrestling:
“It’s a lot, very much to do with his things are now. Things were a certain way, and obviously, it was very, very successful. Look how much the company grew. But eventually, it’s good to try new things, get a fresh pair of eyes on it and say, ‘Alright, let’s let the performers go for it. Let’s maybe try things that have never been tried. Let’s maybe involve characters in multiple stories at the same time, rather than just story A and story B, and the rest is kind of random matches across cards.
Everything has meaning, everyone has meaning, and we can cross these characters, doesn’t matter if they’re both bad, doesn’t matter if they’re both good. Right now, it’s just, ‘What’s your point? Where’s this character coming from? Oh, this is interesting.’ As long as it’s interesting television, compelling television, it touches you emotionally. That’s all that matters and should really matter.
It’s awesome to see how many people have been able to step up, and every time someone’s music hits, the fans know, ‘Oh, that’s such and such. They’re about his, they mean something.’ It hasn’t been that way probably since late ‘99, early 2000, where everybody across the board meant something,”
In a separate interview, Drew McIntyre opened up about the sacrifices he has made to be a success in WWE.
Backstage Update On Well-Received Drew McIntyre Segment On WWE Raw
The March 25th WWE Raw contained multiple segments that were highly praised by fans for using real-life elements. On top of The Rock’s beatdown of Cody Rhodes and Becky Lynch punching Dominik Mysterio, CM Punk’s return and promo exchange with McIntyre created a significant amount of buzz online. The day after the segment aired, it was revealed how much of the Drew McIntyre and CM Punk segment was scripted.
H/t to Fightful.