Drew McIntyre seemingly went from "Scottish Psychopath" to "Just Drew" overnight entering 2020. The once dastardly heel is now a more joke-cracking babyface, which has helped endear him to the audience.
The turn for McIntyre was natural as it allowed him to be himself on television. And in an interview with Lilian Garcia on Chasing Glory, McIntyre recalled the dark segment promo that got Vince McMahon's attention.
"I used that situation to show some more personality and Flair would kind of direct me," Drew said of his pairing with Ric Flair leading into WWE Crown Jewel 2019. "I got told, 'keep going with that theme' Paul Heyman actually let me know the time that they kind of noticed 'hey, he's got more to give here,' Paul kind of knew, but [Vince] probably saw this. I did a dark match and they asked me to keep icing time because they were setting up the cage. I strolled out and said 'give me a microphone.' Thank goodness I did not have a script. I wasn't talking about eating carcasses or whatever that I've been talking about, no human-being talks like that. I just got on the mic, was myself, and ad-libbing. I jumped on the wall, sat there, and they were all engaged. Just having a good banter. They saw the real Drew. They've seen it behind the scenes, but not on-screen. 'That's the guy I need to put on television.' Vince said, 'That's great, if I can be the real me, that's way easier.'"
The shift in character worked for Drew as he is now the WWE Champion, having defeated Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36.
McIntyre is set to defend the WWE Title against Seth Rollins at Money In The Bank.
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