Drew McIntyre on having bad hearing before his ear injury at Elimination Chamber:
“I’m kind of staring at your lips watching what you’re saying. I found out about a year and a half ago from an ear specialist, because I have bad hearing in general, that I taught myself to lip read, which I had no idea. We did a little test where he was talking. He had me put my fingers in my ears where I could still hear him. I was telling him what he was saying. I slowly slipped a piece of paper in front of his face. ‘I can’t hear what you’re saying. You’ve lowered your voice.’ He said, ‘You’re a smart guy. You’ve just taught yourself to lip read because your hearing is so bad.’”
Drew McIntyre talking about his change in character in WWE:
“I’ve loved what I’ve done since I’ve returned to WWE, returned to RAW. When I was champion with the work I did during the pandemic and how important it is to me personally and how necessary it was for the times, not just in the ring, but all the virtual work and media work, etc, that was the real me. That was the real Drew, what I was feeling and what I was going through, what everyone was going through. Those emotions were very real, but it got to a point where I knew we had to evolve. I guess it just doesn’t feel like the right fit anymore. I can’t just be in the same spot. I’m coming out to the ring and people are like, ‘Oh, there’s Drew. I love Drew. Hi Drew.’ It’s just the same old Drew, sword and smiling and whatnot.”
“I was like, alright, we gotta evolve. We gotta add some layers. We gotta change things up. I went through that process of, I’m old hat. How can I slide in wherever to help a talent, like elevate Gunther and the likes, but it’s not working for me brother. I didn’t come here to make up the numbers. I came here to be top of the card and make a true difference to the overall show. I didn’t feel we we’re doing it.”
“Then these past few months, I really was given that opportunity to be you. Show the real you. Show what’s going on inside. Tell whatever story you’re feeling. You can tell that things are a little different. You can go into the past. You can use whatever you want to help paint your picture. They gave me that blank canvas and I’ve been able to do with it what I want, obviously in collaboration with the writers. Our creative team is so phenomenal the way they set up the week to week. I can’t think of that stuff. That’s what’s great about it. They think of the bigger picture and where we are getting to. Each week I can paint my canvas to tell that story, to get to the final destination.”
“It reminds me of my independent run where I finally was given full creative because it was basically you’re gonna make money and be able to pay for your house and stuff that your wife and you just bought, actually the very first apartment when we got together and you just got fired and you have nothing and it has to work. I learned how to draw money, how to be on top, and how to find myself. It was all basically my stuff the entire time. What you’re seeing now is a collaboration, but it’s very much my words 100% and you can feel that. You feel it’s real. You can feel I believe it because it is real.”
If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Gorilla Position with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription. Quotes were transcribed by Jim for WrestlingNews.co.