Drew McIntyre has a chance to regain the WWE Championship Sunday night at WrestleMania Backlash. It’s a spot McIntyre likely once thought he’d never be in following his release from the company in 2014. McIntyre recently spoke to the Bleacher Report about lessons he learned from John Cena during his time away form WWE.

“I always talk about John Cena as someone I patterned myself after, after I was released rather than learning from him in the moment when I was there on the roster. Instead of working to better myself on the roster, it took getting fired and bettering myself personally before I thought of who I could look up to in this business and whose mentality I needed. I thought about John and how relentless he was with everything he did: be it in media, the gym, in the ring and every aspect of his life.”

McIntyre would continue to say that Cena was not the only person he learned from. He also mentioned that he has been influenced by The Miz as well.

“Cena is such a workaholic and The Miz followed that exact same path. I said to myself, ‘I’m going to be that guy, too.’ Whether it was outside of WWE or inside WWE, whenever I was given any kind of position where I was able to take the reins and get the media opportunities and they wanted to speak to me, I was going to take full advantage of it. The second I had that title, I said, ‘Give me it all! I’m that guy now, there’s no excuse, I want every little bit of it.’”

McIntyre will face Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman Sunday night in a triple threat match for the WWE Championship.