Drew McIntyre has confirmed reports that he stormed out of this year’s WWE Royal Rumble after his elimination, acknowledging the incident while offering his own perspective on what happened backstage.
McIntyre entered the men’s Royal Rumble at number 17 and lasted over 26 minutes before being eliminated by Damian Priest. It was reported afterward that McIntyre left the arena visibly frustrated, shouting and swearing, particularly over what was described as someone “needing to get their moves in,” which interfered with a planned elimination. While the person in question was never officially confirmed, it was widely speculated to be LA Knight.
Appearing on the Getting Over podcast, McIntyre addressed the situation directly. “Not all the details are accurate, but yeah, I was fuming, and I let everybody know what I thought, and then I left,” he stated. “Because I’ve learned as an adult nothing good happens when you’re highly emotional. So just calm down, get the facts, then deal with it. I don’t want to punch somebody in the head and be unprofessional and then find out facts later I didn’t know about. It was the grown-up thing to do.”
McIntyre clarified that his frustration typically stems from perceived disrespect or someone going “into business for themselves.” He emphasized the importance of getting all the facts before reacting. “Sometimes it’s not what it appears on the surface, and you have to get all the facts together and calm down,” he said.
Damian Priest, who eliminated McIntyre, has even joked about the incident in promos. McIntyre took the banter in stride, saying, “Priest jokes about it, like ‘Drew complains all the time. He’s always gonna leave the building,’ and I was like, ‘Come on, mate, it’s a couple times in a few years.’ Considering I’m Scottish and I got an anger problem, that’s not too bad.”
McIntyre is currently scheduled to face Damian Priest in a singles match at WrestleMania 41, continuing what has become one of the most personal rivalries heading into WWE’s biggest weekend of the year.
