Drew McIntyre reflects on facing CM Punk at SummerSlam.
After trading verbal and social jabs for months, CM Punk and Drew McIntyre finally were able to meet in the ring at WWE SummerSlam. McIntyre got the win in the bout after hitting Punk with a low blow and a Claymore kick.
While speaking to Sam Roberts at the Fanatics Fest in New York City, McIntyre credited Punk for his durability during the match, saying that he’s up there with the best of the best in terms of in-ring ability.
“Let’s not go insane and say evenly paced. 6-foot-five, 280-pound monster here, cardio machine, sexy Scotsman. But when he says the biggest thing he’s got going for him’s his heart, it’s true, and it’s not necessarily his heart, he’s one of the most stubborn pieces of crap on planet earth. He’s so stubborn, he just won’t give up, he’ll keep pushing forward. I was surprised when I got hit with the first punch how much I felt it. I was surprised when he kept kicking out. Most of all, I was surprised by his durability, his cardio, so he caught me off-guard in that way. Honestly, I’ve been in the ring with the best of the best in the past ten years. He still ranks right up there, as much as I take the piss, rightfully so, he still can get it done in the ring. But most of all, he just refuses to give up, which is like Christmas for me because I know fine well, he won’t stop until his heart does, and I have no problem with making that happen. At SummerSlam, people were like, ‘Oh, but Drew, you kicked him low.’ I’m like, remember what happened in Scotland? How he cost me the match? It’s almost like everything that happens to him is absolutely deserved. Find me one time where I lied, share I was a hypocrite. You won’t find it. He literally lied last week. He went, ‘Drew called me a hypocrite.’ No shit, you’re a liar, you’re a hypocrite. You said you weren’t there, you attacked me from behind. I’ve never lied once, I only tell the truth. God, it felt good to beat CM Punk."
McIntyre was then asked to describe how he felt in the moment after beating Punk.
"Very, very satisfied. To say that in the back of my mind, I was genuinely concerned he was gonna injure himself, I wouldn’t be lying, looking at history. Having that sour taste for everybody else coming out of it, that’s a big investment right there. Personally, I don’t care if he gets hurt or not, but that’s a big investment right there. So to get through the match after telling such a deep, layered story that feels real because it is real, and then to go in and have Seth in there, as much as he drives me up the freaking wall at times, people were clearly invested in the story to the point where I’ve never heard such a reaction. For the bracelet and for how much it means to the story, how much it obviously means to Punk, how much I get to screw with him, with that bracelet and the reactions every time it was on different wrists, to see it all play out was awesome. But no more better than to finish the match, have the bracelet on my wrist, have my foot on Punk’s chest…bugger off, where you bloody belong, but I was very happy.”
Punk would go on to get a win over McIntyre in a Strap Match at WWE Bash In Berlin. However, McIntyre destroyed his Larry/AJ Lee bracelet and sent him out of the arena in a stretcher on the September 2 edition of Raw. Learn more about that segment here.
Elsewhere in the interview, McIntyre stated that he’s going to feud with Punk until one of them is out of the company or on a different brand. Learn more about those comments here.
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