With Clash at the Castle rapidly approaching, Drew McIntyre has a chance to finally secure a WWE world championship, this time the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, in front of fans, a fate robbed from him during his first two reigns with the WWE Championship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And the best part? He gets to do it in front of roughly 11,000 of his friends, family, and countrymen.

But just because everything is lining up for McIntyre to have his big moment doesn't mean he isn't still hung up on the last Clash at the Castle, with the “Scottish Warrior” telling Jackie Redmond on the pre-show that he's never felt a crowd reaction like that show in 2022 and doesn't want to let the fans down again.

“I've never felt that kind of emotion from a crowd, you know? 100 percent in my corner. This was my night; my family was all there, my friends were there, my people were there, and the elders screwed me over,” Drew McIntyre explained. “And it was a shot through my heart, a shot through my family's heart, and a shot through the whole of the United Kingdom, and I cannot let that happen to the UK again.”

Asked if he thinks he can ever get over his loss to Roman Reigns, McIntyre said no, noting that while he is pushing forward with this new opportunity, some traumas don't go away so easily.

“No, absolutely not. No, I guess I never really thought about it, I've tried to push it to the back of my mind, but sometimes things will flare them up, like when Jey Uso was moved to RAW,” McIntyre declared. “It's going on 10 months, still waiting on that apology, and people go, ‘Just get over it, Yeet is fun to say!' or whatever, and it's made me look back over the tapes and the history, and people have such short term memories now, but trauma doesn't go away that easy.”

Welp, there you go, folks; while McIntyre isn't wrestling Roman Reigns at the OVO Hydro, it's safe to say he will be taking all of his anger towards the “Head of the Table” out on Damian Priest, all the while the entire arena has his back. All in all, Priest finds himself in a tough spot indeed.

Matt Hardy believes the timing is right to belt up Drew McIntyre.

While theoretically, either performer could leave Clash at the Castle's main event with the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, if Matt Hardy had the book in his hands, he would unquestionably put Drew McIntyre over Damian Priest, as he believes the timing is perfect to make him a champion once more, as he explained on his Extreme Life podcast with Jon Alba.

“I would like to see Drew win the title. It's a little early to end Damian Priest's reign, but that being said, he had the reign, much like when we [The Hardyz] won the World Tag Team Titles the first time. It just kind of put us on the map, and it's put him on the map,” Matt Hardy explained on Extreme Life via Fightful. “His longer reign could come later, but I do feel like they're at a point where Drew is so hot and he's so good, and he is just killing it on every single level. I would like to personally see Drew McIntyre win the title, and that's not because he's my friend, that's because I think it would be best for business.”

Asked if Priest losing the belt could effectively end his push as a top-tier singles star, Hardy said no, noting that he likes what he's seen from “El Champion” and wants to see him shine moving forward.

“Of course not. Especially once you enter into that territory of being an established world champion, I mean, Damian Priest won it, it was a big deal. He's got that on his resume. It can never be taken away,” Hardy noted. “Now, he can continue to build credit and equity within himself. I think when Damian Priest is ready to win the world title again, he's gonna be a much bigger deal. He'll have a lot more equity in himself because he's going to continue to build himself from this, and he'll use it to catapult himself to the next level. At this point, Damian Priest is someone who was helped by winning the world title. The next time around, when he wins the world title, he's going to be a performer that is so good and so over and so established and has so much equity behind him that he is gonna help the world title.”

Will Priest take a hit if he loses at Clash at the Castle? Yes. Heck, will Priest take a hit if he wins at Clash at the Castle? Yes, it feels like this is a true lose-lose situation for the leader of Judgment Day, as he can't leave the OVO Hydro without having his push impacted one way or another. Still, when it comes right down to it, this is McIntyre's moment, not Priest's, and it should be treated as such.