Copyright northernirelandworld
As the WWE prepares for another Saturday Night’s Main Event this weekend and their return to the UK in January, one wrestler is preparing for another battle.Drew McIntyre is set to face Cody Rhodes on Saturday night for a chance once again at the WWE Undisputed Championship.But as Benjamin Jackson found out, perhaps this is the start of a new story - one with Drew McIntyre as our hero? Saturday Night Main Event returns to our screens this weekend (November 1), and with one more Friday Night SmackDown episode to come, there might be more matches announced. But one that many on this side of the Atlantic will be keeping their eye on is the third match between WWE Undisputed Champion Cody Rhodes and Scotland’s own Drew McIntyre. The Scottish Psychopath is looking to dethrone the American Nightmare ahead of the company’s much-anticipated return to England and Northern Ireland next January as part of the Road to Royal Rumble tour, akin to a football team returning to their hometown with a trophy in tow. “I've been in a little dream since 2020 of taking that title back home,” McIntyre revealed to me in an interview on Thursday (October 30), “back to the UK, trading it around on an open-top tour bus. I promised everybody in 2019, into 2020, especially after 2020.” The sporting analogies continued as we talked about the almost football-terrace-like energy that the European fans exude whenever the company returns to the continent. “It is that football fan, that passionate mindset. We're just very passionate people,” Drew continues, “If we love something, we're all in. It's not like an American sports game where people sit there and clap their hands and go, ‘good score, good score.’ “But if you stand up and start shouting, you get chastised. If you're not standing up and shouting in the UK, you're getting a bottle off your face. So everybody's on their feet. Everybody's cheering.” While the conversation regarding the passion the WWE Universe shows the superstars whenever they come back to tour was genial, less could be said when asked about preparations for his upcoming match against The American Nightmare. When I asked if he felt confident going into the match this weekend, the conversation took a bit of a dip: “I mean, I’m feeling very confident,” the gruff Scottish Psychopath, who was also quick to remind me, took Criminology at University, retorted, adding: “At the same time, I was confident before our last match. “I've been fairly confident with championship matches in the past that something always seems to get in the way of me winning, or specifically, outside forces getting screwed” He talks, of course, not just about the last time the pair fought at Wrestlepalooza, but also the hangover from one of his biggest rivalries since their shock return in 2023: CM Punk. “You remember the first time I got an eight count and I pinned Cody?” Drew asked me. “And the ref said to jump out of the ring for eight seconds, the second time the ref blocked me, kicking his head through the table. The justification of, oh, it would have been a DQ. “I was like, wait a minute… is that a DQ? No, exactly. Bending the rules for the champion, for the corporate champion.” Drew assured me that “this time I have a game plan. I have something in mind. I have one more SmackDown to get through before Saturday Night’s Main Event. And I got a feeling I can get this match in a place where I feel comfortable, that the better man will win, and that's all I've ever wanted. That the better man wins… …not the one that plays politics best, or the one that kisses ass best wins.” “It’s this never-ending story of his” While Cody Rhodes had “finished” his story at WrestleMania 40, when he triumphed over Roman Reigns to win the coveted WWE Undisputed Championship, there happens to be a growing contingent of fans now looking for Drew to finish his story. But what would the end of Drew’s “story” be? Winning the championship? A sense of vindication that for all the ‘harsh’ words he’s made towards superstars like Rhodes and CM Punk? There is a certain whimsy when Drew responds, “I think finishing the story at this point is very different from last time. I finished the story first, and Cody followed in my footsteps, but obviously a unique time during the pandemic, and I haven't had my title read in front of fans yet. “It's finishing the story in the sense that I have my proper title reign with life fans there as I envisioned as a kid, even though it's the fourth time I'm going to be World Heavyweight champion.” Then, without fail, the ire rises to the surface once again: “When I finished the story this time, I'd always envisioned fans cheering, everybody on the same page. But it's not going to be that. I'm going to finish this story and start a new story. It's Cody's never-ending story of, you know, me getting screwed all the time. “Cody's closed the story. He finished his story. And from now on, people are just going to get the truth. Cody's sunshine and lollipops fairy tale, that's not the real world. The real world is hard.” Drew likened Rhodes to one of television’s recent, charismatic villains: “Dude is actually a terrible guy when it comes down to behind the scenes, but he believes he's the good guy, just like Homelander. Talking about him and his wife watching The Boys not too long ago, Drew recounts: “I was like, oh my God, that's good. It's not even a case of like, oh, he's Homelander and similar, you know, like for his personality, et cetera. He literally has blonde hair, has the same outfit, and he genuinely believes he's the hero of the story, just like Homelander. It was absolutely unbelievable. “I was watching the show, like, oh my God, that's him. How can people not see this? This is absolutely insane. How am I the bad guy, even though I've been screwed constantly?” Remind me that his other nemesis, CM Punk, is “an awful, awful human” and informing me that we, the WWE Universe, "believed everything he was saying because he was so convinced in his convictions,” there’s a certain, Kafka-esque sorrow to Drew’s story - admittedly, in his own mind. “I'm just telling the truth and providing evidence. People say, oh, he's whining, he's complaining. No, I'm telling the truth, I'm providing you with evidence. My degree is in criminology. Evidence. Evidence. I provide evidence after evidence after evidence, and people just don't want to see the truth.” He has time, he tells me, for those of us that “are opening” our eyes finally because we’re no longer “drinking it down” (the proverbial Kool Aid), but for those that are still not sold The American Nightmare - or Punk to that extent - are not what they are claiming to be, Drew “doesn’t what you think about anybody else. “I care about what's best for the company. As much as Cody believes he's best for the time, best for the WWE Championship, the future of our company, and I'm the best for the future of our company.” Saturday Night’s Main Event is set to air in the United Kingdom at 12:00 a.m. GMT on November 2 on Netflix. Tickets for the upcoming Road to the Royal Rumble tour also go on sale today at 10am GMT through leading ticketing outlets, including Ticketmaster.
