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Drew McIntyre Recalls Being Paired With Undertaker Backstage Early On, Taker Working Through Pain At The Time
Drew McIntyre was put underneath The Undertaker’s stewardship in WWE early in his career, and he recalled the experience during a recent interview. McIntyre was a guest on the Hollywood Raw Podcast and talked about how he was paired up with the Dead Man during his first run with the company and how much of a learning experience it was for him. He also talked about seeing Undertaker working through the pain of his injuries including a live event in Mexico City. You can check out the highlights below:
On being paired with The Undertaker early on: “He was awesome. He was put in charge of me, probably against his will, when I was about 23. That was about the time where I think that the powers that be realized that the older generation were starting to retire, weren’t gonna be there forever, and they had to start pushing some youth to the front. And it became the youth movement, and Sheamus and I were kind of the first two people they took as the kind of projects of, ‘Okay, we have to start building for the future’ with Sheamus on Raw and myself on SmackDown. And Sheamus was put under the Triple H learning tree. And I was going to the Undertaker learning tree and Vince said, ‘You don’t listen to anybody but The Undertaker.’
“So that was such an incredible opportunity. And I wish I thought the way I think now back then. Like, his wrestling IQ is obviously off the charts and at the time, mine was a lot lower than it is now. So many of those lessons that I got, they just flew right over my head. And thankfully I remembered a few, and light bulbs went off as the years went by. But that was such an amazing opportunity. And to watch how he conducted himself backstage he just always was the coolest guy in the room. You could feel him when he walked in the room, he had such a presence. If there was a situation, it was always dealt with calmly and by him. So it had such an impact on me in how to be a leader, and how to conduct yourself.”
On Taker working through the physical pain of his injuries: “To watch him in such physical pain. And I can talk about this stuff openly because of the Last Ride documentary; where I never would speak about this stuff that he was so open about in his life and what was going on backstage. But I would see him literally unable to walk at times, trying to put himself together in the training room. And this is non-televised shows, like I remember a specific one in Mexico City where I was like, ‘He can’t wrestle tonight, my goodness he’s a madman!’ Like, ‘Somebody stop him. Don’t let him go and do this show. He can barely walk.’
“And then I saw him do his entrance — which is always a bit slow, so he can get through that. But all of a sudden, he’s flying around the ring like a Mexican luchador. And I went, ‘How is this possible? I literally watched this man unable to walk backstage, now he’s hitting the ropes faster than anybody in the entire WWE, doing his diving clothesline . Hitting all his signature moves, having the time of his life.’ And he came backstage and he seemed fine till that adrenaline goes down. And it was back to the physical problems again. And I was like, ‘Man, look at him right there. That’s somebody that truly loves this industry so much. He’s willing to give everything, including his body to it.'”
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit the Hollywood Raw Podcast with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.
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