With SummerSlam officially upon us, performers on the show and off of it have been using the opportunity to talk themselves up and trash talk performers – and in Trish Stratus' case, Adm Pearce – in a classic case of posturing. It makes sense, right? If a performer like Gunther can get in Drew McIntyre‘s head with a table-standing promo on RAW, why not take a shot at the “Scottish Warrior” in order to get in his head and try to trip him up in the ring?

Well, McIntyre, firmly a babyface, decided to take things in a decidedly different direction, as, in a conversation with Phil Strum of Under The Ring, the former Intercontinental Champion decided to put over the current one ahead of their much-anticipated match at SummerSlam.

“He’s certainly got no ceiling, and it’s awesome to watch his evolution. You got to keep evolving in the industry. You gotta keep getting better, and you got to keep swimming, or you drown inevitably. To watch his evolution, he was great outside of the company in independents. He was great in NXT UK. His matches have always been phenomenal. He’s always had that hard-hitting unbelievable style. But to also see his transformation and body wise, and Imperium come together and see their chemistry together as an act, it truly works in WWE to the point where all the superstars have came back and been brought in over the past couple of years,” Drew McIntyre said via WrestleZone.

“I’d put [Imperium] right at the top. They are such an important act on the show. I’d say move on to the world title, but why? He’s made the Intercontinental Title important. Right now, you get Gunther versus Drew McIntyre for the Intercontinental Championship. To some people, that might be just as big, if not bigger, than the world championship matches.”

Will McIntyre still be as fond of Gunther if he finds himself on the wrong side of the pin once more at SummerSlam? Maybe yes, maybe no, but having the two European titans throwing down for a “secondary” title sort of proved the point that the “Ring General” has done exactly what he intended to do: elevate the title for himself and everyone else moving forward.

Drew McIntyre explains why he really doesn't want to become a heel.

Elsewhere on his SummerSlam promotional tour, this time speaking with Armon Sandler on Stay Busy, McIntyre was asked about whether or not he would ever consider going heel in order to take a shot at one of the promotion's babyface champions, present or future.

While McIntyre is always open to ideas from creative, in his humble opinion, the storyline would have to be pretty darn juicy, as he feels as though the “Drew McIntyre character” has built up too much goodwill through organizations like the Special Olympics to throw away his good guy persona.

“Staying on the path I'm on right now, I want to make sure I get interesting and compelling stories,” McIntyre said via Fightful. “It's cool coming out and getting the cheers. I always want to be in something interesting and get you emotionally invested as well. There was a period where I wasn't doing that, and thankfully I got back into it when I got with Sheamus and leading into that triple threat. I want to make sure to keep evolving and keep adding layers to that character and doing all the cool things I get to do outside the ring and get that title reign in front of fans, finally. The character itself, I'm willing to go any direction that is interesting. People are calling for a heel turn, but I'm not willing to do that unless it makes perfect sense. We have a lot of equity in Drew McIntyre. I show up at Special Olympics and see the effect WWE and McIntyre has on people, and I can understand Cena's perspective of not turning. Of course, he's on a higher level and did so much outside the ring, but I can understand where he was coming from. For the right time and right moment, and it was entertaining for the fans, I would be about that. One of my favorite runs was outside the company as a heel. When that dark side comes out, it's pretty dark.”

Though McIntyre has worked heel in the past, he's really come into his own as a babyface and has a ton of young fans just like Cody Rhodes, Bianca Belair, and John Cena. If he, like those performers, wants to stay a babyface to help out the kids, then that's a pretty commendable career decision.