In a recent interview with Sports Guys Talking Wrestling, Drew McIntyre discussed the biggest lessons he learned working on the indies before his WWE return, being an introvert in wrestling, and much more:
Drew McIntyre on the biggest lessons he learned working the indies before his WWE return:
“A lot of it was such a surprise. Just the things we were able to achieve were such surprises. It was an incredible growth period for wrestling outside of WWE. I was fortunate of the company leading the charge, but I guess that was the most surprising part. When I returned to the UK with ICW and multiple promotions there, or EVOLVE in America, or different companies across the world – the way people looked up to me as a leader and you see in the documentary, you hear me talk about I was really not confident at the time where I was at in my career, I hadn’t done anything serious in a few years and hadn’t really had much ring time and wasn’t really feeling so sure about myself.
“But everyone coming up to me and looking up to me – that surprised me I guess, and it motivated me to be better and finally step up and become that leader so many people believed I could be and to become that superstar so many people believed I could be. And as much as they looked up to me, I kept the face on and kind of faked it until I grew into that role. If it wasn’t for so many others around me supporting and believing in me, I wouldn’t have stepped up, and as much as they thanked me for being a leader, realistically, the incredible growth period in wrestling outside WWE was all done side by side, not by anyone leading the charge. But I was very surprised when everyone came to be and looked to me as ‘Drew, you’re the one that’s gonna take us to the next level.’ That really helped me and motivated me to become the guy I am today.”
On being an introvert in pro wrestling:
“It’s surprising to some people. They’re like you’ve been on television basically you’re whole life and around cameras your whole life and I have to tell them that I’m pretty much more comfortable when someone puts a red light on me or I’m in a wrestling ring or have a microphone in my hand or a camera stuck in my face than I am in public situations. My wife and I always joke that we were built for a pandemic because we really don’t do anything, we have around the house and sit on the couch with our cats. That’s our idea of a good time, and outside of that, my good time is being in a wrestling ring entertaining fans where I’m most comfortable.”
Drew speaks on this in his WWE documentary. It’s one to check out if you haven’t already.
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