WWE star Drew McIntyre appeared on The Joe Vulpis Podcast to discuss various topics, including his experiences upon joining the company.
McIntyre said, “There was a few people looking after me. They had to. I was so helpless. So, I got to America in 2007, I want to say November, and I was on TV 3 weeks later. The writers happened to be there the first week that I was in America at OVW, Ohio Valley Wrestling, where [John] Cena came from, Batista, Brock [Lesnar] — The training ground, like Wade Barrett and I were going there. I got there three weeks before him. The writers happened to be there. They needed a body to get in the ring so they could see the guy who was a heel. ‘Like, kid, do you mind just rolling around with him?’ And then I caught a little promo afterwards. And I guess they like what they saw. And I got a call from Howard Finkel telling me that you’re going to be on TV the following week. And I was like, ‘Okay, Howard Finkel, I’ll be on TV next week.’ And sure enough, I was on Smackdown the following week. And I remember I was wrestling Zack Ryder. About the same age as well. Been around for a minute. And the referee said to me at one point, ‘Work the hard camera.’ And I was like, ‘What the **** is a hard camera?’ ‘Like, ask the referee.’ I just came from the UK.”
He continued, “We didn’t have television over there. Like we had a little TV show. We all turned our back to, like, say, this is the hard camera, the main camera that’s catching the wide shot of the ring. He kept telling me, face that, basically, cuz that’s where the millions of people are. You keep turning your back to them. I had no idea what it was. So I was literally watching WWE five, six weeks prior at university in the dorms, and at my girlfriend’s dorms at the time. And then suddenly I was on SmackDown wrestling, and then I got back to the apartment. I was living in Louisville, and I remember getting on the internet at the little internet cafe there. My MySpace had blowing up, and I was like, ‘Oh, a lot of friend requests. Wonder why.’ Oh, accept, accept, accept, accept, accept again. Just no time to process anything, understand what’s going on. And my buddy told me, ‘It’s cuz you’re on TV worldwide, you idiot!’ I was like, ‘Oh, everyone just wants to be my friend all of a sudden.’ So trying to process everything. You’re coming over, and things happening so quick was insane.”
On wrestlers who looked after him earlier in his career:
“Thankfully I had people like Dave Taylor who was a British wrestler was forced to look after me. I was his tag partner that put me together so he had to look after me and all the stupid decisions I was making. [William] Regal was there. [Fit] Finlay was there. And inevitably, when I started doing the Chosen One stuff, Vince McMahon’s Chosen One, he told The Undertaker basically, ‘You’re in charge of him,’ and told me, ‘You don’t listen to anybody but The Undertaker.’”
On if being named “The Chosen One” was an intense weight on him:
“No, I should have, but at that time I kind of had been the main event. All through my teenage years at the Scottish companies and all the other companies I worked for, I was always kind of the main guy, and I was put on TV right away. And then I went to Florida Championship Wrestling after being on the road where they realized he’s got to learn a few more things, and I had a chance to learn from Steve Kern and Norman Smiley, Billy Kidman, Dr. Tom Prichard, and Dusty Rhodes with the promos. I upped my game, and I was champion there and tag team champion there in Florida Championship Wrestling, and then I was back on the road as the Chosen One. I was like, that’s just normal. I’m supposed to be on top all the time. Of course I’m the Chosen One. Who else would be the Chosen One? And then things didn’t quite go to plan. But in my mind, I was like, it makes perfect sense. Of course. Who else would Vince come out and go, ‘That’s the guy, by the way.’ Of course, it’s me.”
On the advice The Undertaker gave him:
“He legitimately was giving me great advice, and I just wasn’t on the same IQ level when it comes to wrestling. A lot of it just didn’t make sense to me at the time. But a few of the things I say all the time and I’m going to do again, and I’ll do the impression, but my favorite one was, ‘Stop playing the wrestler and be the wrestler.’ And I was like, ‘Okay, thank you, sir.’ And I’d walk away and be like, ‘I’m in wrestling gear. I’m in a wrestling ring. I’m doing wrestling moves. Of course, I’m being a wrestler. What else am I being? Undertaker has no idea what he’s talking about?’ And it wasn’t for years later. I was like, ‘Oh god, what he was saying was, I’m playing like the movie stuff,’ whatever. I’m just playing. I’m not actually being you; like, if you look in my eyes, I’m thinking constantly. I’m a deer in the headlights. I’m in the gear. I’m in the wrestling ring. But the crowd, even if they can’t articulate it, go, ‘Okay, that guy’s not the same as an Undertaker.’ Like he doesn’t have the presence. He’s not poised. He’s present is the number one thing. He’s not present in the moment. He’s just thinking too much. He’s basically saying freaking relax and be present is what he was saying. But I was just sitting there like Zoolander. The files are inside the computer.’”
He continued, “I was literally me, but he gave me advice, and the other one, he just loves when I do this. We really got on great now, talking on the same level cuz I eventually grew up and started understanding the lessons that he was teaching me, and the light bulb finally went off. But he kind of told me you got to look a bit tougher, so I tried to grow a beard when I was, whatever, 23-24. Couldn’t grow much of a beard. ‘So what do you think?’ Tried to grow a beard here. [The Undertaker:] ‘I got more hair in my ass, boy, more than you got in your whole face.’ I was like, ‘Thank you, Mr. Undertaker,’ and walked off. So there’s moments like that. But he was legitimately giving me good advice at the time. I just love telling those stories, and it was crazy that he was the one that was put in charge of you. ‘Listen to nobody but The Undertaker.’”
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