When Drew McIntyre debuted in WWE all the way back in 2007, he looked very different than the man fans have come to know and love in 2024.
For one thing, he didn't have a beard, was in his early 20s, and didn't yet have the absolutely jacked physique that has become synonymous with the “Scottish Warrior,” right up there with his leather kilt, his sword, and, until recently, his CM Punk friendship bracelet, which was destroyed earlier this month on RAW.
What gives? Did WWE explicitly ask for him to bulk up before his return to the promotion in 2017 after a generational run on the indies? Or did McIntyre choose to do this himself, noting what the top stars in WWE looked like at the time versus his own physique his first go around?
Well, in an interview with Chris Van Vliet, McIntyre broke it all down while helping to promote his new movie The Killer's Game, explaining that there were two key factors in his decision to get big, neither of which seemed like positives at the time.
“I always worked out hard. It is more like diet was such a difference-maker for me. The key was breaking my neck initially. That kind of helped me in a lot of ways. People would ask me for advice. I was like, you know what really was a turning point in my life? Breaking my neck. Getting fired and breaking my neck. There’s two things I recommend for you to truly find your potential,” Drew McIntyre explained via 411 Mania.
“If I stand in front of Brock [Lesnar], am I believable? More than a lot of people. But no, I can do better than that. I’m going to build my body up to look the part. If I step in front of Brock, people are going to go, ‘I believe he can beat him up…' Fast forward a few years, and I eliminated Brock from the Rumble.”
Normally, when a professional wrestler hits the indies, they lose a little bit of size due to a variety of different reasons, from making less money to less consistent access to the gym to a lack of a consistent diet. McIntyre decided to take things the opposite direction, getting in the best shape of his life, getting booked like an absolute star, and slowly working his way back to the WWE Universe after runs in TNA, ICW, and Evolve, which was basically a satellite developmental promotion that's roster now looks like a 50-50 split between future WWE and AEW stars.
Considering McIntyre's time between the two promotions effectively set the blueprint for wrestlers like Cody Rhodes to follow to even greater heights in the future, it's safe to say that release and broken nose did wonders for his career, even if few fans remember his elimination of Brock Lesner at the Royal Rumble for, well, obvious reasons.
Drew McIntyre knew his loss at Clash at the Castle would work out
Elsewhere in his conversation with Chris Van Vliet, Drew McIntyre was asked about his experience at Clash in the Castle, which saw the former WWE World Heavyweight Champion come up short, again, in a loss to Damian Priest due to heavy interference by CM Punk, who wore a referee shirt to stick it to the “Scottish Warrior” once more.
While McIntyre could have been incredibly upset by this booking decision, and likely was at least for a little bit, in the end, he's at peace with how it turned out, as he was able to get some serious revenge on old Punker, secured a massive win at SummerSlam, and ultimately could move on with his head held high.
“Yeah, there’s always that moment, and in the environment we’re in now, it’s story above all else. I didn’t feel that way in the past. I was like, if we don’t do this now, things could change in a couple of weeks. It’s a lot of pivoting left and right, and characters and stories changing consistently,” McIntyre explained via Fightful.
“Now I know we will stick to the story. It hurt, but I see what we are now, and I’m like, Okay, if I won that night, then I’m just, yeah, I did it. I’m right, go screw yourselves. Because of what happened and much as I can’t stand him, that moment was something that would be replayed forever, just the big near fall at the end, everybody in my freaking home country going insane. One two, and it’s that piece of s**t counting the fall and cost me the match with the low blow. At the same time, it’s SummerSlam. If you noticed, the way I gave him the low blow was exact same corner, exact same way he did it to me. So he can’t say one word about how things happened at SummerSlam.”
Alright, technically, McIntyre didn't actually win his match cleanly at SummerSlam and had to get a little assist of his own from Seth Rollins, who was guest refereeing the match due to his seeming neutrality between the two parties – what with him hating them both. Still, McIntyre got his revenge, felt good about what happened, and lived to talk about it a few months later, even if that could change in a few weeks when the duo go to absolute war at Bad Blood in their big Hell in a Cell blowoff match.
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