‘Promised Indian fans I’ll be back’

Drew McIntyre shows off his Scottish courage in a Kilt but adds his own touch with a leather jacket

As a five-year old living in the sunny seaside town of Ayr in Scotland, Drew McIntyre remembers watching his favourite wrestler, Bret ‘Hit Man' Hart, on television, and mimicking his signature pose - the sharpshooter - while wrestling with his brother John. At some point, he told his family that he would grow up to be like the world wrestling champion.

"I sounded like a crazy person, really," McIntyre, 38, shares over a video call, adding, "I told everyone I would be in WWE [World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc] one day."

McIntyre left no stone unturned to make his dream come true - travelling over 16 hours every weekend from his tiny hometown Ayr to London to train. "Scotland has only five million people and Ayr is very small… not a lot people get out of here. We have our share of famous people like poet Robert Burns, Alexander Fleming [physician] and of course Drew McIntyre," he laughs.

Drew McIntyre in action after he rejoined the WWE in 2017 after a break

He went on to open the first wrestling training centre with his friends and worked there, until he finally got into WWE at age 25.

McIntyre will be visiting India this week to participate in the WWE Superstar Spectacle in Hyderabad. "John Cena will be there and it will be probably one of his last times in India; so, you know it's going to be good," he says. WWE is exclusively telecast on Sony Sports Network.

This is not his first time in the country. McIntyre visited Mumbai in December last year. "When I walked out of the [Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International] airport, no one recognised me at first. But then, someone screamed, ‘Its Drew McIntyre!' and suddenly people were falling all over me. They were so kind and knowledgeable," remembers the 31st triple crown champion.

Living the wrestling dream, though, has come with its share of ups and downs. In 2010, McIntyre was relieved of his spot at WWE due to drop in performance. "I came back home, revaluated things, and had a real talk with my wife Kaitlyn," McIntyre tells us, adding that not being part of a sport he had committed his loyalty to as a child had been very difficult on him. "It was something that had me look hard at where I was headed." He was finally brought back into the fold in 2017, and has since then been a permanent member. But juggling between the US, where WWE is based out of, and Scotland, where his family lives, hasn't been easy. "It's been hard staying away from family. I am very close to them, but I never really get to see them, except for once or twice a year. I will be seeing them this October, so I am excited about that," he says. "My wife in particular has been very understanding, and she comes all over the world with me when she can… she knows that this is my dream and has been supportive."

Only last week, McIntyre lost his dear friend, American wrestler Windham Lawrence Rotunda, better known as Bray Wyatt in the wrestling world. "That [the news of his death] was difficult for me, because he was one of the first people I trained with in the Florida Championship Wrestling, when I came down from Scotland and we sort of came up together," says McIntyre, "All we can do is make sure that we keep telling his stories and don't let his memory fade, and many of us did already do that and we will continue to do so."

For now, he is looking forward to returning to India. "This [WWE Superstar Spectacle] is something we promised our fans back in 2017, and I am glad we could make it possible," says McIntyre, "Once there, I'm going to have a pakora party."