Drew McIntyre says you wouldn't know it by watching him on a show, but when he was away from WWE he was on a very destructive path that mirrors some of the tragedies that are all-too-common in pro wrestling.
Oftentimes, wrestlers that get released from WWE can become associated with really tragic stereotypes of substance abuse and downward spirals due to this becoming an all-too-common ending for wrestlers that were popular in the late 80s and 90s. Stories like this fuel the current Dark Side of the Ring series.
In an interview with ET Canada, Drew McIntyre spoke about his time outside of WWE and why such a tragedy could have become his fate if not for the help of his support system.
“Yeah, I mean, I don't know if I thought about it as much as other people did, on my behalf, just worried about me. Because I started off just like a night out here and there. But at my worst it was every single night it was, oh, we just have a few drinks after the show, and then as well as a day off, we've got to lay off a few drinks. But for me, it was just really how it was dealing with a lot of my emotional baggage. I guess my mother's passing was the biggest one of all, but also being fired from my dream job, I was dealing with feelings of ‘was I not good enough?' and just multiple things. It was all bottled up inside. I talked about it in the book, how important it is to get that out and if you hold it inside, eventually you're going to explode and self-destructive behavior doesn't just affect you. It affects the ones you love and people around you and I was really hurting people around me with my behavior and you’d never know if you watched me on a show and saw how I was doing at the time, you would think, ‘Drew's got it all together. He's doing fantastic. He doesn't need WWE. He's the biggest superstar in the world right now.’ But behind closed doors, I was definitely not healthy, not in a good place. Thanks to a good support system, and especially my wife, and it's interesting, the theme of the book, the strong female leads in my life that led me to be the guy I am today. Starting with my mother then my wife, you know, took some strong women to get this big man back on track.”
Currently, Drew McIntyre is building towards another opportunity at the WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman. Recently, Drew stated that he feels this could be his last opportunity at the championship for a while. Learn more here.
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