The former NXT Champion is excited about returning home to Scotland for a massive honor.
Drew McIntyre, who was unfortunately injured during his match against Andrade "Cien" Almas at NXT TakeOver: War Games, is looking forward, more now than ever, to get back into the squared circle. On February 11th, at Insane Championship Wrestling's 'Square Go' event, McIntyre will be inducted into ICW's Hall Of Fame. While speaking with Glasgow Live, the former WWE Intercontinental Champion recalled a few moments from his past in ICW.
McIntyre main-evented ICW's first show back in 2006 and "The Chosen One" went in depth about being a part of establishing ICW.
"I’ve been wrestling for 17 years now and it’s hard to believe that this was 12 years ago. It’s mental. Mark Dallas was the first guy I met in wrestling when we were both 14. He told me he wanted to be a promoter like Paul Hainen one day. I told him I wanted to be in the WWE and this was his first show and I wanted to be a part of it. I remember that there was nobody there, there were a lot of people dressed as chairs that night and those who were there all seemed to have a bunch of Tennent’s with the. I won the belt and the title and we had a few more shows after that, but they weren’t doing great and they were costing Mark a lot of money. But then I went away, the BBC documentary came out and things were flying. I always kept an eye on how it was doing but then when I came back there were 1500 people there at the shows. From there it grew and grew, we were back together, I was working with all my buddies again and together we were able to take the ICW to 2000 at the next show, over 4000 at the next show and then over 6000 at the SSE Hydro for the biggest independent show of all time and we did it all together, I did it with my mates, right here in Scotland and that’s living the dream right there."
During the summer of 2014, WWE announced that Drew McIntyre was being released from his WWE contract. In the moment, it may have felt like the end of the world for the "Sinister Scotsman", but it turned out to propel the big man to becoming one of the bigger stars to not be contracted to a major wrestling company. When McIntyre was released, he made his return to his native-home of Scotland (which you can see in the video above) and stated that once he got released, he knew exactly where he would be going next.
"100%. When I got the call from WWE and was told I leaving it could have gone a couple of ways. I could have got down on myself and thought ‘what did I do wrong’. Or I could do what I did. I had an opportunity. I had learned so much from my years in WWE. I had all this knowledge and it was time to apply it. I wanted to go back home and be with my buddies in the ICW again, but Dallas was the one guy who didn’t try to book me. Within minutes of the decision being made public, I got a million messages but the one guy who didn’t contact me was Dallas. I messaged him and said: ‘Are you not going to contact me?’ He replied and said: ‘Well, I thought my mate who just lost his job might be a bit upset, I thought I’d give him a minute.’ I said ‘Thanks, but no one else bloody did.’ We got talking and he said: ‘We have a show in three weeks - Shug’s House Party and obviously you can’t do that one.’ I said ‘why can’t I do that one?’ He couldn't believe I wanted to be there that quick. We kept it a secret, we didn’t tell anyone. I came in the country with a hoodie on and hid in my Dad’s for three days.Then we went to the venue, sneaked in the back door and managed to keep me hidden until I stepped out into the crowd. I was following Still Game and was thinking ‘how do you follow Still Game?’ But then I took the hood off and heard the reaction and thought: ‘thank God.’ It was from there that things really started steamrollering."
McIntyre received quite the reaction upon his return to ICW and here's what he felt in that moment:
"I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that in my life. I felt so bad for BT Gunn and all the other guys who were in the ring but I just got that shot of adrenalin and beat the crap out of them. I think I knocked out BT Gunn’s tooth. I was like a wild animal at that moment. It was one of the best nights of my life and it was really cool that people like Mick Foley went onto Steve Austin’s podcast and spoke about it. That started getting more eyes on ICW and on what I could do as a performer. It was a really cool kickstart and one that ICW and I needed."
As noted, the former NXT Champion will be inducted into the ICW Hall Of Fame, which is a super-rare accomplishment as McIntyre is only the second person to be inducted into ICW's Hall.
"It means the world. The company means so much to me. Now I am still young, I am still only 32 and not in my Fifties yet, but to recognize my accomplishments like this means so much. This isn’t a celebration of Drew though, this is a celebration of Scottish wrestling. I am back for one night only, for the biggest Insane Fight Club taping ever and we are going to have this party, celebrating the fact that we came from nothing and it will be absolutely wild. I know there aren’t many tickets left so if you can get one, grab it now, it will be a night no one forgets."
You can check out more of what McIntyre had to say during his interview with Glasgow Live, by clicking here. Once again, ICW's 'Square Go' event will be taking place on February 11th and is sure to be a must-see show.
