WWE Champion Drew McIntyre: I Was Being Selfish

75756A5E-120A-4932-810C-2FD980DB785E

Drew McIntyre beat Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36 this past weekend to become WWE champion. It wasn’t the first time the title changed hands at WrestleMania, but it was the first time it changed hands at a fan-less venue.

Indeed, the event took place at a WWE Performance Center in Orlando.

“Initially when I found out it was going to be [at] the PC, I was very disappointed,” McIntyre said on Tiki & Tierney. “We have a doc called Chronicle on the WWE Network, and they caught me during that period. To go from Royal Rumble – 40,000 people screaming when I won – to finding out we’re the PC, I’m really angry and I’m really disappointed and I can’t believe I finally get my first-ever world title shot and it’s at WrestleMania and it’s going to be in front of nobody.”

As time passed, though, McIntyre’s perspective changed.

“I was sitting at home, I was watching the news, I realized how bad things were getting,” McIntyre said, referring to the coronavirus pandemic. “I was talking with the wife about it and I realized this is a selfish way I’m thinking about this. This is bigger than me. The WWE is pushing forward to bring the world original content, to bring the world WrestleMania. We’re following the CDC guidelines, but we’re still providing a show. We’re still providing WrestleMania. That’s a weekend escape for everybody, and I’m the freaking main event. So I’m going to go in there, I’m going to do the best job possible, and hopefully my story will bring a smile to everybody’s face if I’m able to win the title in the end, which I did."

While McIntyre didn’t get 40,000 screaming fans in the Performance Center, he did generate a lot of buzz on social media.

“The response on social media has been fricking insane,” he said. “My phone has not stopped the entire time. If anyone’s listening that messaged me, I’ll get back to you. It was the most social event in WWE history: 13.8 million social interactions for WrestleMania. That’s unbelievable, that number. I was so glad we were able to take that many people’s minds off of what’s going on in the world right now.”