When it comes to having success under both of WWE's 21st-century bookers, few performers hold a candle to Drew McIntyre.

Originally brought into WWE as Vince McMahon's “Chosen One,” McIntyre won both of his WWE World Championships under the former Chairman of the Board and was given the tough ask of being the face of WWE, no, of professional wrestling as a whole during the COVID-19 pandemic.

And yet, in the eyes of many fans, McIntyre's best work is happening right now, as his feud with CM Punk and his five-minute WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign has cleared everything he's done in the past, which, considering his history featured angles like 3MB, that isn't too high of a bar to clear.

Asked what he thinks about Triple H running the show as WWE's new CCO on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, McIntyre put over his new boss, as he really likes the way he's been “leading the ship.”

“It’s all across the board, with the new management coming in, new creative process, Hunter kinda leading the ship and giving a lot of people, basically everybody, but specifically those that have been there for a minute the chance to ‘Hey if you’ve got more to show, then show it. ‘This is your chance, there’s no wrong answers, go for it and if it fails it’s on you,'” McIntyre explained via WrestleTalk.

“I’m willing to take a wrist slap, a fining, a firing to be true to myself, and the relationship I have now with creative, they know the character because it’s essentially just me with the volume turned up. When it comes to the Punk stuff especially, because I can’t stand the guy, it’s easy. But it’s awesome, and to see across the board, not just for myself just how many characters have stepped up and standing out right now, and Raw is a lot easier to watch. Three hours is still a lot, but it’s a lot easier to digest these days, the show flows so well there’s so many popular characters it’s amazing to see wrestling so healthy and thriving.”

Has Paul Levesque been perfect to McIntyre as a booker? Goodness no, McIntyre lost massive matches twice in the UK at the behest of Levesque and his team, and he has since called the “Glasgow Screwjob” the worst moment of his career. Still, that's certainly better than pretending to be in a band with Jinder Mahal and Heath Slater or being stuck as an upper-mid card babyface with no real future outside of the occasional championship loss. For McIntyre, his social media trollage has made him into one of the best heels going in the business today and it's hard to imagine that happening under McMahon.

Drew McIntyre finally reveals the origin of his Jack Perry picture

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Speaking of McIntyre's incredible heel work, one aspect of his feud with Punk that was so darn salacious that it had to be taken down was his decision to take a picture with AEW's Jack Perry and share it on social media.

Asked by Chris Van Vliet about this decision, McIntyre explained how it came together, which is a lot less calculated than some fans may have expected.

“No, I was flying to LA, and they just did a show the night before. I saw Roderick Strong at the airport, a buddy of mine, and we got to catch up which was awesome,” McIntyre explained via Fightful. “He was headed to an ROH show I believe. Then on the flight, I just seen Jack. Had a little chat with him and his misses and we snapped a picture and the internet had a freaking meltdown, it was hilarious. I think it lasted 45 minutes. The numbers I heard were like two million impressions or something insane for 45 minutes. It was pretty wild, people enjoyed that. I’m always dancing on that line on what’s acceptable and not acceptable, making people question things.”

So, if the circumstances of the picture were relatively calm, why did McIntyre take it down? Did he just decide to? Did Punk take issue with it? Or did the issue instead come from WWE, who didn't want to promote an AEW Champion? McIntyre will never tell, as why ruin a good surprise?

“[The line is] probably back 100 yards that way. Yeah, I just do what was fun,” McIntyre explained. “Did someone tell me, didn’t some tell me, was it by design, did I choose to remove it? I’ll never answer that question because I love people asking questions.”

Gosh, you really have to give it to McIntyre on this one; when you have a gimmick that's working, and you can lean into that in a very real, borderline meta way, it can really ground the feud in a tangible way that has fans clamoring for what comes next, as it truly is limited by nothing but the “Scottish Warrior's” mind, not even the split between WWE and AEW.