Drew McIntyre was set to open WrestleMania 37, challenging Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship.
While the match still opened the show, it took 40 minutes for Drew to make it out to the ring due to a rain delay at Raymond James Stadium. To fill time, WWE superstars were given a chance to speak without a script.
For McIntyre he interrupted a promo by Bobby Lashley & MVP, almost leading to a brawl between the two men before they got to the ring.
Speaking with Sam Roberts on Notsam Wrestling, McIntyre reflected on the rain delay.
"Everyone is passing me and I'm hearing we might be delayed. Everyone is passing me, giving me fist bumps and high fives, 'you got this!' and they don't know we're about to get delayed, but I do. Bobby doesn't know either, so I'm the only one aware. Finally, everyone is passed and I'm like, 'What the F is going on?' Sure enough, we're delayed. The staff is instantly like, 'What do we do?' We start getting plans together to buy time live on WrestleMania. Someone grabbed me and was like, 'Drew, we need you right now.' We're walking, I'm not sure what is going on and then I see Lashley and MVP talking. 'Go crash that.' It hadn't even crossed my mind that we're live on WrestleMania. We're in there and I'm in the moment, Lashley was in the moment. I watched that 40 minutes back and I enjoyed how real it felt. We can do a little more of that on the show, just going with what feels right and speaking from the heart. I really had to watch my swearing, but I enjoyed it. Not swearing was probably the hardest part. I remember poor Sarah [Schreiber] was panicking, she did a great job and was very professional, but on the spot people were worried. I was not worried whatsoever. I was instantly like, 'turn this way.' We used to do promo class back in the day with Vince and sometimes he would do stuff on the show and change the finish just to see how they would react, I think it'd be cool if he brought that back," he said.
McIntyre would eventually be the first WWE superstar to make the walk in front of live fans for the first time in over a year.
However, it was Bobby Lashley who came out on top at WrestleMania 37, successfully defeating McIntyre to retain the WWE Championship. McIntyre will get another crack at the title at WrestleMania Backlash when he faces Lashley and Braun Strowman in a triple threat match.
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