Drew McIntyre was worried about fans booing his Royal Rumble win.
On January 26, 2020, Drew McIntyre outlasted 29 other WWE Superstars to win the Men’s Royal Rumble match. During the contest, WWE Hall of Famer Edge made a shocking return to in-ring action nine years after back injuries forced him into retirement.
Appearing on the No-Contest Wrestling Podcast, McIntyre revealed that he was worried Edge’s return would lead the WWE Universe to turn on him in favour of the ‘Rated-R Superstar,’ before expressing his relief that the fans remained supportive.
“I was concerned that people were going to boo because Edge had returned. I was a babyface. An organic babyface — good guy. People were getting behind me so big at that time, but it’s freaking Edge. He was gone for nine years. And I was like, ‘Oh, no. We’ve seen this with Roman. We’ve seen it with Batista in the past where the good guy wins and they get booed out of the building. That’s going to be me.’ I eliminated Brock. 40,000 people went crazy. What a feeling. I eliminated Roman at the end, and the same exact reaction happened. And it was just unreal that people had said, ‘That’s our guy.’ I felt like I’d finally crashed through to that next level.”
-Drew McIntyre
McIntyre went on to defeat Brock Lesnar in the main event of WrestleMania 36 to capture the WWE Championship for the first time in his career, although the match took place in an empty Performance Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Elsewhere during the interview, McIntyre revealed that he was preparing to head to New Japan Pro Wrestling prior to his WWE return in 2017. You can read more about that here.
McIntyre also recalled Samoa Joe pulling him aside to let him know he’d caught him for real with a Claymore Kick. You can read more about that here.
As always, we’ll aim to provide any further updates on future plans for Drew McIntyre as soon as we hear more.
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