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“Oh yeah, my back is fine,” WWE and The Killer’s Game star Drew McIntyre reassured me.
We are speaking just a day after CM Punk brutally attacked McIntyre on Monday Night RAW ahead of their strap match at Bash in Berlin, whipping him.
McIntyre is fine, though, and promised to “beat him until he turns to dust” at Bash in Berlin. He was half-right. While McIntyre busted Punk open during their match, he lost their second encounter. The two are due for a rubber match, but that's neither here nor there.
But the hits keep on coming. McIntyre may be in his WWE prime, but he has been wrestling for over two decades. However, his first foray into Hollywood, The Killer’s Game, could be a tease of what's to come after he is done in the squared circle.
“I've got years of wrestling left in me”
Still, McIntyre is not looking too far ahead. He said he never had his eyes set on following The Rock, John Cena, and Dave Bautista's footsteps, though he will jump on any opportunity that excites him. His wife suggested it, as she pointed out that he needed another creative outlet after his wrestling career.
Still, he is not winding down his WWE career yet. Even if his Hollywood career takes off, the 39-year-old Scottish Warrior hopes to maintain a balance of his two careers. He uses his current free time to expand his portfolio, not leverage one over the other.
“I'm still younger than people think,” McIntyre said. “[I've been] around for 20 years, I'm still in my 30s— I just started so young, and I've got years of wrestling left in me.
“But at the same time, I've got a little free time. And I want to use that free time to pursue outside projects and hopefully be the first WWE wrestler that's able to balance the WWE schedule with a movie and TV schedule,” he continued.
Choosing the road map of Drew McIntyre's post-WWE career
The WWE is no stranger to wrestlers-turned-actors. Three of Hollywood's biggest stars — Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, John Cena, and Dave Bautista — were all WWE legends.
Father Time is undefeated, and all three men have moved on from the WWE to pursue acting. The Rock has been in blockbusters like Jumanji, Moana, and the Fast and Furious franchise. It feels like Cena is popping up in everything. And Bautista has shown his range from his Guardians of the Galaxy role to his small part in Blade Runner 2049.
All three are “killing it,” as McIntyre puts it. I asked which career he would most like to have out of the three, and he said: “A combination of all three if I could take a little bit of everything.”
He explained, “You can't argue with the box office success of Rock, he's just such a giant star. Cena going out there and showing her versatility, more specifically, his comedic side. In Peacemaker, I was like, ‘That's just him in real life. He's just playing himself there,' so it's cool he got to show that.”
As for Bautista, who stars alongside McIntyre in The Killer's Game, he has shown off his range.
“You can see he has studied, worked hard, and is like a chameleon and adapts to every role that he has done.”
He notes that in The Killer's Game, Bautista has a love interest for the first time. This is a new take on a Bautista character. And yet, he maintains his badass aura.
While his answer was a cop-out, you cannot blame McIntyre for wanting some of everything. All three of the former WWE stars are household names. Perhaps McIntyre is the next big thing.
The biggest adjustment from WWE to making movies
For McIntyre, most of filming The Killer's Game was smooth — he compared his transition in the action sequences “like a duck to water.” The biggest change was the audience (or lack thereof). Every Monday, McIntyre is used to hearing the roar of the crowd when he Claymores some poor soul. On the set of The Killer's Game, his actions were met with silence.
“The biggest thing I never took into account was in WWE, we have the real-time feedback of the audience. And we know what's working, what's not,” he explained .”And [with The Killer's Game] being my first movie, [I was] feeling confident about the part. But at the same time, it's a new world.
“Getting on set and doing that first take, and being in complete silence after they say ‘cut,' looking around like, Oh no. Was this good? Was it terrible? I didn't know, because I didn't have real-time feedback,” McIntyre added.
He then learned that the phrase “moving on” meant he did good. He applauds filmmakers for this practice: “They're not moving from this spot until they get it right.”
Using his WWE moves in The Killer's Game
In The Killer's Game, Drew McIntyre plays one of the assassins going after Dave Bautista. During their encounter, McIntyre headbutts him. This seemed like an ode to his move, the Glasgow Kiss, from the WWE. But that is not the only reference to his move set.
“Yeah, I mean, it is a very Scottish thing to do, the Glasgow Kiss, but it is part of my move set in WWE,” a smiling Drew McIntyre said, acknowledging my eagle eye. “But the stunt directors, the choreographers, J. J. [Perry] himself, were 10 steps ahead when it comes to that stuff, they would have done the research.”
He further revealed that he did not ask for it to be in there. The headbutt was always a part of the movie. However, he did notice the reference to Bautista's former WWE finishing move, the Batista Bomb.
“I believe I pick Dave up for his own finisher at one point, the Batista Bomb,” recalled McIntyre. “He delivers what looks like a Claymore to me. And they put that in there for the ones that know, they know. And for everybody else, it is just a really cool visual.”
As for utilizing his current WWE finishers, the Claymore and the Future Shock DDT, he had to think of ideas for the latter. While McIntyre is certain he will use the Claymore, the Future Shock may be awkward to pull off in a movie. So, he brainstormed.
“I don't know how to get the Future Shock in a movie unless I was just showing complete dominance over somebody, or they try to tackle me,” he said, chuckling. “We're figuring it out right now — they tackle me, I hook it, we go down, boom. We figured it out. That's how we get the Future Shock on screen.”
Why Drew McIntyre uses the Claymore
He also went on to explain why he uses the Claymore in WWE.
“I figured there's nothing scarier,” McIntyre said. “Most big guys pick you up, drop you down. But imagine a 280-pound, 6'5″ man running at you, jumping through the air, and kicking you in the face.”
I agreed with him. Seeing him deliver it in person at the Royal Rumble was a sight to behold.
“I mean, I don't know what it's like because I'm the doing it. I imagine it's scary seeing me jump at you,” a laughing McIntyre said.
Did WWE prepare Drew McIntyre for Hollywood?
Earlier this year, I spoke to fellow WWE star Becky Lynch about how doing professional wrestling helped her write her memoir. She told me, “I think writing promos was so beneficial to writing a book. Because when you're writing, you have deadlines. And the deadline really did help me at the end.”
For Drew McIntyre, WWE helped him prepare for his first movie in more ways than expected. Performing and seeing the red light made McIntyre feel at home on The Killer's Game set.
“WWE prepares you for more things than you realize until you're in the moment. Just being so relaxed when I saw the red light, even though it was a different environment, it felt similar,” McIntyre stated. “And seeing the camera and just relaxing into it. And the characters I have played over the years, and the scenes, I guess you would call them, over the years where I had to show different ranges of emotion.
“I have been adding these actions to my tool belt. So, I need to reach this emotion in this scene or feel this way in this scene. In WWE, I have just been adding how I reach that moment, or the emotion I want to portray on screen,” he continued.
He does emphasize that he was not doing this to better prepare for a potential Hollywood career. Being in professional wrestling means having to be able to switch gears at the tip of a hat.
His current gimmick
Currently, Drew McIntyre is one of WWE's top heels. However, he is not a heel in the traditional sense. While he attacks some of the company's beloved top babyfaces, he delivers promos that resonate with WWE fans.
The self-awareness of his character means he says the things the internet wrestling culture is thinking. From posting on X, formerly Twitter, during his WrestleMania XL match against Seth “Freakin” Rollins to mocking Sheamus' appearance after his return from injury, McIntyre covers it all.
It is one of the most creative gimmicks in recent memory. Before McIntyre pivoted to this, he was floundering as a babyface feuding with Baron Corbin and Jinder Mahal. Now, he is a main event player without holding world championship gold.
He is not the only one who deserves credit, though. McIntyre gave his flowers to Paul “Triple H” Levesque and the WWE creative team, which unlocked the most authentic Drew McIntyre the WWE has seen.
“Our creative team, led by Triple H, are phenomenal. They understand exactly who I am and write for me in a way where I can just be 100% myself,” McIntyre praised. “It's important to me to be self-aware. And at the same time, if I say things that people are saying online, it's because I am a wrestling fan who took it personally [and] took it too far.
“I think like a wrestling fan, even though I'm in WWE. So it is cool that I get to be my true self most of the time,” he added.
His rivalry with CM Punk
He did concede that this version of Drew McIntyre may turn up the volume, but it is still “very close to the real Drew.” He lifted his arm, revealing the bracelet he took from CM Punk. The bracelet features the names of his wife, AJ Lee, and dog, Larry. It has been the key MacGuffin Punk has been trying to retrieve over their rivalry.
“I get to bring my family to work, which is cool,” he said, showing off the bracelet. “Wherever I go, they are right by my side on my wrist.”
At Bash in Berlin, McIntyre will take Punk on in a strap match. They previously squared off at SummerSlam in their first one-on-one match after months of verbal and physical attacks. McIntyre pulled off the win after Punk and Rollins got into a heated exchange.
Shortly after our chat, the bracelet was broken on RAW. Punk was ambushed by McIntyre as he celebrated his Bash in Berlin victory. McIntyre went berserk during the attack, breaking the bracelet.
This sets up a third encounter between the two, likely at Bad Blood in October. We will see if McIntyre is able to turn Punk to dust this time around.
The people love CM Punk
Circling back to his back, which was just whipped by Punk the night before our interview, he reassured me that he was okay. He fired back at Punk, who proved his point by sneak-attacking him. McIntyre seemed upset that the WWE audience applauded Punk despite his actions.
“Punk attacked me from behind, literally after I said he's scared of me,” McIntyre said. “He always attacks me from behind, then he attacks me from behind, proves my point, and people still cheered him.”
He acknowledged that this is a “weird” time in WWE, but he is grateful for Bash in Berlin on August 31. “Thankfully, on Saturday, I will get the opportunity to hit him back. And he can't attack me from behind because he will be attached to a strap that I'm also attached to.”
I decided this was the time to reveal the CM Punk shirt I was wearing. Unfazed, McIntyre had a quick response.
“Yeah, I saw the merch stand the other day. You've basically got a choice of a Punk shirt or a Cody [Rhodes] shirt.”
The Killer's Game will be released on September 13.
