Drew McIntyre Gives Honest Take About His Recent WWE Title Reign

Just a few weeks ago, it looked like Drew McIntyre would be walking into WrestleMania 42 as the WWE Champion. He's not going to get that opportunity, thanks in large part to Jacob Fatu.

The Samoan Werewolf corrected the mistake he made during Three Stages of Hell back in January, and made sure that McIntyre dropped the title back to Cody Rhodes on the March 6 edition of WWE SmackDown.

The Scottish Warrior's third reign as WWE Champion lasted all of 56 days with just one successful defense, albeit a dominant one over Sami Zayn at the Royal Rumble. But how did he feel about it?

McIntyre adresses WWE title reign

“Awesome. Nobody saw it coming for one,” told Chris Van Vliet on a new episode of Insight. “I think everybody assumed that the Cody Express would keep moving on forward."

McIntyre told CVV that he thinks Rhodes is a great performer and WWE Champion, and there's no denying that he was on fire coming out of WrestleMania XL, but his run on the top started to become a bit formulaic.

He believes the brief shakeup along the road to WrestleMania was needed.

"My hearing is not great these days, [but] I could hear the crowd. I could hear the response. I could see the response [when I won in Berlin]. And it put Cody in a position where he had to chase. Gave Cody a bit of that edge back, which, in my opinion, he desperately needed. For me, it gave me some of that legitimacy. ‘Oh yeah, Drew can win the big one.’”

He may have lost the title, but McIntyre is satisfied with his creative direction

The American Nightmare is now a little over two weeks away from his fifth main event match in four years at the 'Showcase of the Immortals', while McIntyre is barreling toward an unsanctioned brawl with Jacob Fatu.

This will be the eighth consecutive year that McIntyre is competing at WrestleMania, but could it be one of his last? At 40 years old, Van Vliet asked Drew how much longer he plans on lacing up his boots.

“I know my wife feels like it’s going to be a lot shorter than I probably feel it’s going to be,” McIntyre said. “Especially with how I feel now and how creatively fulfilled I feel these days. But as long as I’m happy, as long as she’s happy, and as long as the fans are happy with what I’m doing, I don’t see any reason to slow down any time soon."

McIntyre signed a multi-year contract extension with WWE in early 2024. The deal will reportedly keep the Scottish Warrior with the company through the end of 2028.