If there's one word to describe Drew McIntyre‘s current character within the WWE Universe, it's got to be a hater.

A certified bad boy who has cashed in his babyface credentials after a series of frustrating come-up-shorts for a very 2024 take on being a heel, McIntyre has fully taken advantage of all of the tools at his disposal, from promo time, to social media, and even his in-ring matches to pretty much put himself over at his opponent's expense, using his real-life grievances with the likes of CM Punk to fuel a believable hatred that fans have been eating up.

Discussing his newfound character change in an interview with West Sports in the lead-up to the Elimination Chamber, McIntyre revealed how he's found a unique way to play a heel in 2024, using his newfound freedom and realistic bend to becoming a fast fan favorite once more.

“To me, that's kind of the thing right now, there's this freedom in WWE, especially for people that the company can trust to go out there and be you and be what you feel is right, within reason. The certain ones of us they can trust on the microphone. There is that feeling of ‘I'm going to try some stuff.' A lot of it, to me, is, ‘I think this is hilarious. I think this works for the character. I think this is going to be a heck of a moment.' I want to build Punk up and say I can relate to him and say truthful things. Everything for me has to be based in truth, for me and that character, because if it's real to me, it's real to everybody else, and you'll feel it. Punk and I did have issues when I was younger, all that stuff is true. I went in there and told him, ‘I've been through injuries, I've had moments taken away from me, and I can understand that.' He spoke about one of his friends and him going through chemotherapy and how that's a real hero. I could relate to that. I didn't know that until I was watching backstage. My mother went through the same. Unfortunately, that's how she passed. I told him I could relate to all this stuff,” Drew McIntyre told West Sports via Fightful.

“When it comes to the injury and how I felt him coming into the company and leap-frogging superstars, trying to take spots at WrestleMania, particularly my spot at WrestleMania, I wasn't going to let it happen. I took him out, and I wanted to let him know, ‘I prayed for this to happen.' The way people reacted was like a delayed reaction. ‘Did he just say that?' I could feel it in the arena. The next line was, ‘After the Rumble, when I got eliminated by you, I couldn't sleep. I let myself down, I let the world down not winning the Rumble, but more specifcally getting eliminated by Punk. The next day I found out he torn his tricep off the bone, and that night I slept like a baby and headed into RAW with a big smile on my face.' Then attacked him, stomped his tricep, and chucked him out the door. Where were we? Me main eventing WrestleMania, that's it.”

You know, you've really got to give it to McIntyre; if his goal is to make fans feel like he doesn't like CM Punk, he's done a bang-up job as an actor, as the disdain is as palpable as it is mesmerizing. Whether McIntyre came up with this character himself or he was pushed this way at the behest of Paul “Triple H” Levesque and company, it's clear he's settled on a winner and is reaping the benefits of it as a result.

For Drew McIntyre, realness rules the WWE day.

Continuing his conversation with West Sports, Drew McIntyre was asked if he's felt he needs to temper his attacks now that CM Punk is out of action due to injury.

While McIntyre noted that professionalism is key when it comes to any combat sport, showing real-life distance between performers is a good way to make a story captivating to an audience and to get them to tune in as a result.

“You have to be professionals. I don't wish anyone to be hurt, no matter what the personal feelings are, no matter if they are rooted in reality, because they are,” Drew McIntyre explained. “You just have to hope everybody is a professional and they understand we're trying to entertain the fans. To me, what works is reality and what's real. You watch boxing or UFC; if you know, the two fighters absolutely despise each other, you're way more invested than just hugging and buddy-buddy. If they're screaming and getting pulled apart in press conferences, trash-talking, and social media attacks, you're more invested if you feel this is a legitimate issue here. If there is a legitimate issue, turn it up to ten.”

What does the future hold for McIntyre? Well, that depends on how the Elimination Chamber shakes out, as who knows, DM Hunk could have a guaranteed spot at WrestleMania 40 locked up and a feud with Seth Rollins renewed after the duo took some time apart over the past few months to focus on their own feuds. Considering where Rollins is as a character right now, it's safe to say a feud between the “Visionary” and the “Scottish Warrior” has the potential to be pretty, pretty, pretty entertaining.