Drew McIntyre's WWE Hiatus Has Him Revisiting A Side Of His Career He Almost Left Behind

Drew McIntyre wants to mix technical wrestling into his power-based ring style.© NDTV Library

Drew McIntyre has been going back to one part of his wrestling that WWE fans don't see much, and he wants to bring some of it again when the chance makes sense. On the Joe Vulpis Podcast, McIntyre revealed he is getting back into chain wrestling while staying away from WWE television. The Scottish wrestler kept training during his break, even getting in the ring with other wrestlers in Nashville. Some of them were surprised by what he could do. Now McIntyre wants to reuse moves that he almost forgot.

McIntyre Has Been Practising Chain Wrestling During His WWE Break

Since WrestleMania, McIntyre is away from WWE television because of outside projects, including Highlander and The Last Druid. But he still found time for training.

So he explained that Miro, known as Rusev in WWE, opened a wrestling school near the airport in Nashville. Whenever McIntyre is home he visits the place, keeps his cardio up and practises in the ring without pushing too hard on himself.

“I haven't done that for legitimately, my goodness, 17 years maybe, that I've got in the ring and just wrestled around, like doing holds and counter holds,” McIntyre said.

These sessions also reminded him about his early training. McIntyre started as a British wrestler, learning a style made of holds, counters and technical exchanges. Then he moved to the United States and things changed, because this approach was not translating well to WWE at the time.

He adapted by getting bigger, using strikes and throwing opponents around. The style suited his character quite well. But the technical side never fully went away, if you really look at it.

He Wants to Reuse Old Moves Without Losing His Power-Based Style

The idea isn't to make McIntyre a totally different wrestler. He wants technical exchanges back only when they fit the match, and not forced against every opponent.

“I'm like, ‘Man, I want to incorporate some of this stuff again if I can,'” he said.

McIntyre also pointed to the physical difference between him and many wrestlers he faces. He currently stands at 6-foot-5-and-a-half and weighs 285 pounds, while some of his opponents are around 5-foot-8 and 170 pounds. That gap is very big, so for him a technical approach still has to make sense inside the match.

“I try to keep things real within the confines of pro wrestling and suspend people's disbelief,” McIntyre explained.

He even went back to look at his own old matches for ideas. A highlight video of his match with Will Ospreay reminded him of moves he had not realised he could still bring back.

“I'm going to totally steal from myself,” McIntyre joked. “Is that; that's not wrong, is it? To steal from yourself? I forgot I did half these moves.”

His recent training gave McIntyre a reason to visit those forgotten skills again.