Drew McIntyre Says He Knew UK PLEs Were A Good Idea Even Before Clash At The Castle

Speaking recently with Under The Ring, Drew McIntyre shared his thoughts on the lead-up to 2022’s Clash At The Castle and his labors to get WWE management on board with the concept (via Fightful). McIntyre explained he had been pushing for a UK-hosted WWE show for years and knew the fanbase would be present to support the performance. You can find a few highlights on the subject and listen to the full podcast below.

On his support for a UK PLE before Clash was planned: “Man, it feels good to be right. I don’t like to say I told you so but… [laughs]. I had been harassing management for many, many years. When it came to the stadium show in the U.K, I’ve always known the passion for the UK fans, I knew that they would show up if they were getting something that was theirs and I know financially how good it would be for the company. Obviously that’s not my [place], it isn’t for me to say, ‘We should just do this’ because I don’t understand the logistics and that was the excuse I got initially. But when it got to the point where we were doing super shows in places like Australia, suddenly things like logistics and time difference raised my eyebrow. I said, ‘Okay, we really should be looking at this.’ Eventually, I heard rumblings of the conversation of [the UK] maybe getting a stadium show and eventually, I was able to get involved and speak to the government. It was so cool to finally get a significant stadium show at Clash At The Castle, and also to be in the main event and to hear the fans.”

On what international success means for the industry: “Then to see every show afterwards, seeing the TV [tapings] selling out left and right and just in general, the product across the world, WWE is so hot right now selling out all over the place. You get big shows in places like Puerto Rico and the UK, to see how passionate the fans are, hopefully shows the US fans [that they] better up their game or we may start taking our shows elsewhere across the world. We want to hear that kind of noise in every single building we go to, not just somewhere outside the US.”