Drew McIntyre Discusses His Feelings on Not Facing John Cena at WWE Crown Jewel, Working Against The Undertaker at Extreme Rules 2019

During a recent interview with Insight with Chris Van Vliet, former WWE Champion Drew McIntyre discussed how John Cena recently revealed that the original plan for WWE Crown Jewel: Perth was for a match between him and John Cena. Instead, it got changed to Cena vs. AJ Styles

Drew McIntyre says, although it sucks he didn’t get an opportunity to face Cena, he ultimately got to be WWE Champion instead, so he was fine with it. He also spoke at length about working against The Undertaker in a tag team bout at Extreme Rules 2019. It was Undertaker’s last match event in front of a live crowd. Below are some highlights from insight:

Drew McIntyre on If He Feels His Match With John Cena Got Taken Away From Him

“It sucks, and I wish I did get that opportunity with John, not just for a one on one match, which we never had, as long as we were around each other, but a chance to get the microphone with him after showing what I could do with like CM Punk and so many others that are known for being the best on the mic. John is unbelievable. I would love that moment. Love the chance to go back and forth with him. I mean, the public never knew about it. I knew there was a plan before that, actually, that had to change. Then there was that plan, and there was a pivot again. I believe it came down to like John said, because initially people thought, Oh, my God, you see what Cena said? What? The match with Drew never happened. And then the match with AJ happened, and the way they worded it was like, you know, John said it was public, or whatever it was.”

“It wasn’t public. Nobody knew. He tweeted, ‘Want to see me and AJ’ and they went hell yeah we do! If he tweeted, ‘Want to see me and Drew?’ They probably would have been happy to see both as well. So like, yeah, behind-the-scenes stuff, you know, that did happen, and it was disappointing. But at the same time, a great match with John and AJ. They got John’s last few months back on track, which I was happy for him, because I felt like we could have done a little better in that first part of the journey, and maybe I would have got one of the matches. But again, crap happens. Sometimes you go one path. It doesn’t work. You got to go back on the path and just fall out from it. I can be personally upset, or I can be like, All right, I’m in a tag match here. It’s disappointing, but I was around him. I learned for years, and he’s retired now. I was the World Champion for a few months, so I’m fine.”

On Being Part of The Undertaker’s Last Match in Front of a Live Crowd at Extreme Rules 2019

“I’ve talked about this publicly in my book, My Chosen Destiny, still available now, where Vince put Undertaker in charge of me. ‘You don’t listen to anybody but The Undertaker, he’s your mentor.’ I spent so many years with him, around him, learning from him, and to have his last match in front of a live audience was insane. Obviously, we didn’t know that was the case at the time, but looking back, it’s absolutely wild. The match was coming off the other match, it was a big disappointment. We don’t have to mention what it was, but we know, and we really wanted to give Taker a match to remind everybody who The Undertaker is, that he can still go. We went out of our way to make sure that night he was The Undertaker and back whole again. At the start, I got in his camera shot. Shane and I were in the ring, and I used to stand chest up, shoulders back, and I felt like I always had to be the big, tough guy. I see people doing it now, and I’m like, relax, relax.

“But it’s easy for me to say, because Triple H every week going relax. We know you’re a big guy. You don’t have to stand like this the entire time. Your money’s here, body Lucy goosey, you’re blowing yourself up. But I was standing there waiting for him to come in the ring. I didn’t realize I was in his camera shot. He’s doing the whole presentation, taking off the jacket, getting ready for the hat. Looks at me and says, ‘Back the f*ck up.’ Oh, f*ck! Got out of his camera shot. Didn’t realize I was blocking his camera shot, yeah, that was my first so far, so bad. But the crowd were unreal. We were on first, the match was unreal. You could say whatever you want at the end for the tombstone, like being a little split second off. But there’s something to things not going perfect in pro wrestling, because in real fights, nothing goes perfect.”

McIntyre did have a chance to step into the ring with Cena on the August 8 edition of WWE SmackDown. He and Logan Paul faced Cody Rhodes and Cena in a tag team bout. Cena and Rhodes won the match by disqualification.

Drew McIntyre is currently scheduled to face off against Jacob Fatu in an Unsanctioned match at WrestleMania 42. The premium live event takes place on April 18-19 at Allegiant Stadium in Paradise, Nevada. It will air live on the ESPN App in the U.S. and on Netflix internationally.