Drew McIntyre On When He Found Out About Dolph Ziggler Pairing

WWE Superstar Drew McIntyre was recently a guest on Jim Ross’ podcast, The Ross Report, in which they discussed several professional wrestling topics. McIntyre revealed that current NXT General Manager William Regal still mentored him while he was on the indies, and was a big part in getting him a second shot in WWE:

“The whole time I was gone [from WWE], I was gone for three years, he was always there for advice.” McIntyre continued, “we’d kind of speak back and forth and he always kept an eye on everything I was up to. And then, when the time came, my TNA contract was up, my wife and I decided not to re-sign.

“We tried to decide the next step, thinking, ‘is it Japan?’ He was the one that said, ‘alright, you need to have this conversation with Triple H. Now is the time to come back home.’ I got on the phone with Hunter and we spoke for about 30 minutes. And at the end of that conversation, I knew it was time to come home. He is the reason that I’m back right now.”

McIntyre then discussed his pairing with Dolph Ziggler on RAW. The former Intercontinental Champion noted he was happy with the pairing but only found out about it on the day he made his main roster return:

“I love it.” McIntyre remembered, “I got told about it when I got to TV that day. I didn’t quite know what was going on. I was a single’s babyface when I was NXT Champion there. And when I came back, I was leaning more towards the heel side with Dolph and Dolph’s somebody I go way back with and I was really looking forward to work with him.”

A lot of fans have been impressed with McIntyre since making his main roster return, and already want to see him on the main event scene as a singles competitor. McIntyre has heard these remarks, but urges fans to be patient and enjoy the storyline that is being presented right now:

“The way things have gone so far, people are asking a lot of questions.” McIntyre professed, “I know a lot of people are jumping way ahead and I appreciate all the positive things people are saying, but just remember there are 52 weeks of TV a year. Let’s just take our time and introduce the casual audience to who Drew McIntyre is now. We’re going to get there and it’s going to be a fun journey.”

As far as who he’d like to work with when he does go solo; McIntyre lists names such as Braun Strowman, Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns:

“When Braun Strowman and I stepped into the ring together, I could literally feel the crowd rumble.” McIntyre explained, “and I’m just back and I still have some equity to build with those casual fans, but just from a visual perspective, I could feel them rumbling, and I was like, ‘wow, this could be something really good down the line.’

“And Roman, he works his butt off. That’s another guy I’m looking forward to getting in the ring with. Rollins is killing it every single week. When we get the opportunity, we’re going to tear the roof off. And that’s just a few obvious names of guys that are working their butt off and I’m looking forward to working with.”