Drew McIntyre is ready to reconnect with the WWE Universe.
Drew McIntyre may very well be able to lay claim to having the most unique WWE Championship run in history. His run began at the first-ever WrestleMania in front of no audience thanks to the global Coronavirus pandemic and his run very well could come to an end at SummerSlam courtesy of Randy Orton.
Speaking with Fightful's Denise Salcedo on her podcast, Drew McIntyre opened up about what it's been like to be WWE Champion in front of only an audience of his peers.
“It’s been interesting unlike any other champion ever in the history of wrestling because after my twenty-year journey making it to the main event of WrestleMania, facing Brock Lesnar winning the WWE Championship and it happened to be in a worldwide pandemic,” said McIntyre. “It’s been a little different for everyone in the past, I haven’t had that audience participation, got that reaction as I’ve been going along as WWE Champion and defending my championship. I take great pride in leading the company during such unique times. Thinking and adapting and innovating during these circumstances, trying to reach the fans in unique ways like staring down the lens, breaking that fourth wall, making that connection at home, and really trying new things to keep everyone entertained…. It’s probably made me work even harder -- if that’s possible than I was working in the past because I really wanted to not only show that I deserved to be in the top spot as WWE Champion in the ring and on the microphone but I’ve been working my butt off outside the ring trying to bring new eyes to the product. I am trying to poke at a few bears, I literally just got the message that Tyson Fury is calling me out on social media literally right before we got on this call, so that brings new eyes to the product. That’s my responsibility as WWE champion, brand ambassador to get those new eyes, so I’ve really been trying to work every area of my game.”
WWE recently debuted ThunderDome on the August 21st episode of Friday Night SmackDown as an effort to reconnect with the WWE Universe.
As the first WWE Champion in history to compete inside ThunderDome, Drew McIntyre says he's very excited to see the WWE Universe return and he may even smash a drone over Randy Orton's head during the main event of SummerSlam.
“I can tell you there’s going to be fan participation, which is going to be awesome. The other sports, they had maybe a couple hundred people on the screen, which is pretty cool and we’ve been doing what we could within the Performance Center. But we got a little jealous, we’re WWE, we’re not just sports, we're the best in sports and entertainment so we took it to the next level. We’re gonna have thousands of fans at one time switching in out of the show, creating that atmosphere you expect from WWE. Like you mentioned already it’s going to be mental. There’s gonna be lasers, there’s gonna be smoke, there’s gonna be pyro, everyone is gonna have a unique entrance and there’s going to be drones flying overhead getting these crazy camera angles so don’t be surprised if Sunday at SummerSlam I grab a drone and smash Randy Orton in the head with it…. I was excited to find out about it… I’ve just read about it, I’ve seen the pictures but I haven’t seen it in person yet. I was just on a call with Triple H, he was talking about how great it looks in person and how excited he is about it. The excitement in his voice has made me more excited to experience it, but watch it tonight on Smackdown first and then experience it at SummerSlam as well.”
Fightful will have live coverage of WWE SummerSlam beginning Sunday night at 6 p.m. Eastern.
