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WWE star Drew McIntyre recalls ‘wild’ WrestleMania moment amid Covid-19 pandemic
Exclusive interview: McIntyre recalls having his career-defining moment amid the Covid-19 pandemic
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Drew McIntyre has discussed his “wild” WrestleMania moment, which came amid the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.
The WWE star beat Brock Lesnar on the biggest stage in sports entertainment, just as coronavirus was taking a hold of the world.
In doing so, he made history as the first Brit to win the WWE Championship, but there was not a single person in the arena to watch him do it.
WrestleMania 36 - initially scheduled to take place at Raymond James Stadium in front of 25,000 fans - was moved to the WWE Performance Center where only essential personnel were allowed to attend.
McIntyre won the title by pinning Lesnar and because the event was pre-taped, then watched himself win it all over again on TV days later.
“It was wild. Watching with the rest of the world on the couch with my wife, two cats and some popcorn, with my family on FaceTime in Scotland,” he told The Independent.
“My favourite part of it all, as the referee presented me with the title, [my wife] Kaitlyn presented me with the title [at home]. It was pretty cool.”
McIntyre added that the emotion almost got the better of him on the night he made history, despite having no live crowd to feed off.
“It was my lifelong goal, to main event WrestleMania and win the title. It was similar but completely different [to winning the Royal Rumble],” he explained.
“The quiet warehouse with Brock Lesnar, winning the match, nobody making the sounds as you get that three count.
“I had a very clear vision of how I felt with what was going on in the world at the time and what everybody had sacrificed to get me to that moment.
“I even reached out of the camera and said thank you. I assumed it would be edited because we’re not supposed to look down the camera and break the fourth wall. But it stayed in there and it was my WrestleMania moment. It was very cool.”
Drew McIntyre spoke to The Independent ahead of Clash At The Castle, the UK’s first major WWE stadium event in over 30 years, taking place at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff on Saturday 3rd September. For tickets visit: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/wweclash.
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