Drew McIntyre is officially set to face Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 37.
The match was made official as the March 15th episode of Monday Night RAW went live and almost immediately the rivalry between champion and challenger went into overdrive. Following a promo from Lashley, McIntyre came down to the ring and fired back.
The Scottish Psychopath pointed out the similarities between himself and Lashley, before adding that he made his journey with respect. The former two-time WWE Champion then revealed that he will be facing Sheamus at Fastlane, before going on to conquer the “Big, Bald, Bitch called Bobby Lashley.”
In a new interview with Forbes, McIntyre revealed that he thought he may actually miss out on his big WrestleMania moment after losing the WWE Championship to The Miz.
“I thought ‘Crap! After all this hard work, after all these main events, all these crazy matches I’ve done—am I gonna be able to get my moment at WrestleMania with the fans?”
“Since then, I’ve been working my butt off and making some noise, but at the same time, Lashley’s stepped up big time. He’s been making some big noise, and he’s stepped into that role unbelievably.”
The former champion went on to discuss the pro wrestling monster that is WrestleMania, which is once again due to be held over two nights. Something McIntyre is certainly in favour of becoming a regular occurance.
“WrestleMania is amazing, but sometimes it’s a bit much,” said McIntyre.
“It’s huge, it’s a spectacle, it’s unbelievable, there’s no show like it on earth. But sometimes it goes about seven hours, and even the most passionate, loyal fan in the world gets a bit hoarse after maybe four or five hours. So, if you’re able to give everyone a whole weekend of WrestleMania—especially in the future, when we start traveling, and they’re just going to have an amazing weekend planned, and you get one night of a few hours of amazing action; then perhaps you want to do the second night of a few hours of amazing action—you get that energy from beginning to end. I think the two days really is a cool thing, and I hope we stick with it going into the future.”
Elaborating further, the man who dethroned Brock Lesnar on the second night of WrestleMania 36 last year, explained why he’d love to be in the same spot this time around, because the last match, on the last night, is what the fans remember.
“If I had to pick where I wanted to be, I would obviously pick the last match of the second night just like last year,” said the current No. 1 Contender.
“You can be the main event of Night 1, but the main event of Night 2 is the final, final match. That’s what people talk about. You’re looking to send people home with a smile on their face—or, the people watching at home end the night with a big smile on their face. I got the chance to do it last year, and I hope I get the chance to do it this year. Or, perhaps Lashley’s got crazy momentum, maybe they’ll be frowning after my moment.”
Elsewhere in the interview, McIntyre clarified recent fan speculation that he had taken a jab at AEW during a recent promo. It’s a suggestion McIntyre denies, saying it hadn’t even crossed his mind.
There are years of history between Lashley and McIntyre but things came to a head at Elimination Chamber, where Lashley beat down McIntyre to allow The Miz to cash in his Money In The Bank contract.
On March 1st Lashley defeated The Miz on RAW to win the WWE Championship for the first time.