WWE SuperShow comes to the

Hampton Coliseum this Sunday May 21st, WWE Superstar

Drew Mclntyre opens up about wrestling

InterviewByYiorgo

This Sunday May 21st, World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) returns to the Hampton Coliseum with their very popular WWE SuperShow, where talent from both RAW and SmackDown brands will be performing on the same wrestlingcard.Someoftheincredibleadvertisedcardasof thiswritingisasfollows:

For the RAW Women’s Championship, Champion Rhea Ripley puts up her title against Shotzi. It will be an all out war when Cody Rhodes battles Solo Sikoa in a street fight There will also be a RAW Women’s Championship Fatal Four-Way match with RAW’s Women’s Champion Bianca BelairvsBeckyLynchvsAsukavsPiperNiven.TheUnited States Champion Austin Theory defends his title vs Matt Riddle The Intercontinental Championship will be up for grabs when Champion Gunther with Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci goes against Santos Escobar with Cruz Del ToroandJoaquinWilde Therewillbemanymorematches aswellandasalwaysthecardissubjecttochange

Tickets are on sale now, starting as low as $20.00 as well asgroupsales,specialoffersincludingSuperstarExperience and Walk The Aisle Doors open at 5:30 PM and the show startsat7:00PM.Also,foralimitedtimeonly,getanexclusive buy one, get one offer, when you use the code MOM. To get your tickets now, go to https://www.ticketmaster com/wwe-sunday-stunner-hampton-virginia-05-21-2023/ event/01005E6246D6A84C

Yiorgo: With us is WWE Superstar and former World HeavyweightChampionDrewMcIntyre Drew whyshould peoplecometotheWWESuperShowSundaynight?What shouldtheyexpecttoseeanddothere?

DrewMcIntyre:WithaWWESuperShow,thefanswill see the best of the best talent from both RAW and SmackDown, put on an exciting show that the fans will have an eveningthattheywillneverforget.WithbothWWEbrands there,youarealsoboundtoseesometalentfromthecompeting brands facing each other Our shows are spectacles and wehavesomethingforeverybody,fromtheyoungestkidsto theoldestadults,maleandfemale Also,ourfemalewrestlers are the best in the world, so talented and well represented onourroster

Y:Whoaresomeofyourfavoriteopponentstoworkwith thatyouknowyouwilltearthehousedown?

DM:Ohh(exhaling),Igotafewthere.SethRollinsisone, Roman Reigns is one, but if I was going to pick somebody thatIknowIcantearthehousedownwith,takethematch andshowaneworlapsedfan,wouldbemyselfandSheamus becausewhenwegetintheretogether,wedonotholdback whatsoever.Whateveryouthinkyouknowaboutwrestling if you start to question it, we have known each other for 20 years, we are not afraid to lay it in. We have that chemistry becauseofthathistoryandourrelationship

Y:CanyoushareafunstoryaboutSheamus?

DM: Ha ha, there are so many of them. If you ask him this question, he would take this opportunity to say horrible things about me That’s the kind of friend he is. He has always been like a big brother to me through my entire life. Always looked outforme my entire life.I always like tosay thatwemetwhenIwas19andhewas43yearsold,butseriouslyheisalittlebitolderthanme Agoodmemoryforhim and I, without throwing him under the bus like he would do to me, is the night I won the Intercontinental title, he beat John Cena to become WWE champion and we both satinthehotelroomafterwards,takingitallin Afterdoing the Independents together, coming up together, in Florida Championship Wrestling developmental together, we are bothsittinginthehotelroomtogether lookingateachother withtheICtitleandtheWorldtitlesaying what’sgoingon we were just wrestling each other in Europe and suddenly we are Intercontinental Champion and World Champion Thisisabsolutelyinsane.That’sreallyagoodmemory

Y: Can you tell us about winning the World Title for the firsttimeatWrestleManiaaswellascompetinginyourfirst WrestleMania?

DM: Winning my first World Title at WrestleMania was obviouslyaveryuniquesituation.Itwasattheheightofthe pandemic, no fans were there, and beating Brock Lesner in fiveminutes CompetinginmyfirstWrestlemania,Iremember walking out in front of the fans, at 24 years old as the Intercontinental champion, the same title Bret Hart used tohavewhenIwasakid,lookingaroundandseeing80,000 people in the stadium I’m the Intercontinental Champion at24andabouttowrestlethere.Icanstillclosemyeyesand seethatmoment

Y: I thoroughly enjoyed reading your book “A Chosen Destiny: My story” and highly recommend it Why did you decide to write it and what are you hoping those who read itgetoutofit?

DM: It was not a case of me deciding to write a book. I am not so egotistical that I thought the world needs that 37 year old Scottish wrestler’s story A third party reached outtoWWEandaskedthemsinceDrewisveryopenwith his story with his ups and downs with not just his career but his life, we really think he could help people with his story Would he be willing for us to put a book together? WWE brought it to me my wife and I sat down and we talked about it and we said absolutely let’s do this. I’m not going to hold back, I’m going to be completely open with the object being: wrestling is what I do, that’s the foundationofthebook,butit’smoreaboutthelessonsi’velearned and showing everybody, hey you may have come through some difficult times, things are going to get dark but there is a light at the end of the tunnel I’m trying to tell everybody whateveryourdreams are,thecrazier they are,trust me you can truly achieve them.

Y: What is a story that is in the book that you are most proudof?

DM:AstoryIamproudofistellingmymother’sstory.My momAngelawasmyhero IstartedappreciatingherwhenI gotabitolder Shewasafflictedwithararegeneticdisorder thatkickedinherearly20’s Sheessentiallylostthebalance portionofherbrain Itceasedtoexist.It’scalledcerebellum metaxium and she was told basically, you will never have a normal life you will never have kids Your brain is going to deteriorate to the point that you will be non-functioning as a human being anymore. She saw the best doctors neurologists all across the UK and got it somewhat stabilized.Shewastoldshewouldnothaveanykids Shemetmy dad,gotpregnantwithme,wasadvisednottohaveme,she saidIdon’tcare,Iwouldratherdie.Shehadmethenhadmy brother Growingupshedideverythingeveryothermother woulddoeventhoughshecouldnotbalanceherselfandwas in a wheelchair a lot of the time She did absolutely everything: made our dinner cleaned the house,did the laundry nothing held her back, all the way to the point that she had cancer shenevercomplainedandshealwayssaidthatsomebody else had it worse off then she did. I truly had a superheroforamother Sototellherstoryinbookform,it’sgoing toimmortalizeherandthat’sthecoolestthing

Y:TellusthestorybehindtheClaymoresword,sinceit’s namedAngelaafteryourmom.

Y: It was not my idea to be honest. They wanted to name theswordandIassumedIwouldhavetonameitsomething stereotypicallikeBloodyBonnie ItwasMr McMahonthat said,“What’syourmother’sname?”Heknewherstory.Isaid Angela, and he said, “That’s exactly the sword’s name.” As soonashesaidit,Isaidthatisexactlythesword’sname It’s reallycoolbecauseeverytimeIhearDrewandAngelaheading to the ring or I hit a spot kick, Angela will start getting revengeoneverybodyandtohearmymom’snameonWWE programmingisreallycool.

Y: It’s also very obvious in all of your interviews that you love your wife Kaitlyn very much and you give her a lot of creditforsupportingyou.

DrewMcIntyre:ThesedaysIdon’treallyplayacharacter onTV,Iplayme,andwelinkittomyrealstory,realupsand downsthatthefanshavewatchedmyentirecareerincluding getting fired, hitting rock bottom. The reason I was able to comebackwasn’tjustmyknowledgeofwrestling,itwasalso the fact that Kaitlyn stood by my side. I achieved so much more as a person and together we got me back on track to reachmypotential

Y:WhatwasitlikegrowingupinAyrandPrestwick,who were the American wrestlers that you enjoyed watching and what made you decide at such a young age to become aprowrestler?

DM: I was a big fan of Bret “The Hit Man” Hart when I wasakidandmydadlikestotellthestorythatIwasabout6 yearsoldwhenIgotthefamilytogetherforafamilymeeting and I announced to my mom and dad and my brother who isoneyearyoungerthanme,thatoneday,Iamgoingtobea WWEwrestler.Theywerelikeoksure.Kidssaythedarndest things LikeonedayIamgoingtoplayprofessionalfootball (Europeansoccer)orbeanastronautorbeawrestler ObviouslyyougetolderandgetmoreseriousbutIneverdeviated from the plan I used to go over to my cousin’s house they were10yearsolderandmybrotherandIusedtohidebehind the sofa when they were watching wrestling It was almost forbiddenforustowatch Itwasalwayssocaptivating,these larger than life characters, I just knew from the moment I laideyesonit,somethingtoldme,that’swhatyougottodo Ispentmychildhoodtryingtofigureouthowtopossiblydo it. I sent away to America for all the inside secrets to wrestling books when I was 9-10 years old, I would read about the backstage workings Finally when I was 15 my mother let me go to the one wrestling school in the UK that was a 24 hour round trip I lived in Scotland and it was 12 hours theretodomytrainingthen12hoursback Ididitasoftenas IcouldaffordandIwascompletelyobsessedwithmakingit happen.At16yearsoldIstartedtheScottishwrestlingscene and we started putting on shows We had an adult help us out because there is only so much a 16 year old could do I would train the guys with what I was learning in England then put on shows Eventually, I am 21 years old I am very fortunatethatIgotmydegreefromtheuniversityincriminologyandwassignedbytheWWEthesameyear Iamthe firstScotchmansignedbyWWE.

Y:WhataresomefondmemoriesfromyourtimesatOhio Valley Wrestling (OVW) and Florida Championship Wrestling(FCW)?

DM: I was on board for about six months when WWE ended their working relationship with OVW so my OVW memories are brief I got there and it just so happened that theWWEwritersweretheremyfirstweek Theywerelooking at some of the talent that were on the WWE roster and they needed a body to get in the ring so they just said, “Hey kid,doyoumindjumpinginwiththisguytoshowwhathe’s got?” I was just a body and I got in there, rolled around, cut a little promo I guess the timing was right because Wade Berrett was getting in after me By the time he arrived, I was already competing on Smackdown at 22 years old, and I had just arrived in America so I didn’t spend too much timeinOVW.IwenttoFCWinFlorida.Icamebackoffthe roadbecausetherewassomuchIstillneededtolearnabout the American style, working the cameras, the WWE style etc WhenIwasinFCW,that’swhenItrulylearned.There was Steve Keirn, Dr Tom Prichard, Billy Kidman, Norman Smileyandtohelpwithmyspeakingabilitywhichwasnon existingatthetime,oneofthebestever DustyRhodes You can’t help but learn from those guys That was way much more fun than I was supposed to have That was truly my collegerightthere.

Y:Whydidyounevergiveupfollowingyourdream?

DM: I would be lying if I didn’t say I questioned myself, butthetruthiswhenIsatdownandlookedatmyselfinthe mirror all those times, there was still that voice in the back ofmyheadthatsaid,thisiswhatyouarealwaysgoingtodo Don’t know how yet, but you are going to show the world you can do this Thankfully, I had Kaitlyn, my girlfriend at thetime,nowmywife,bymysidesaying,“Ibelieveinyou. SobecauseofherliftingmeupandknowinginsideIhadso much more to give then the world had seen in my first run, I was able to get out there and as time went on, grow my confidence, be around everybody and they believed more inmethenIbelievedinmyselfatthebeginning.Asaleader back in the UK, they lifted me up, my wife lifted me up and everyoneelse’sbeliefinmeallowedmetobelieveinmyself.

Y:YouhaveworkedtheIndependentprowrestlingscene all over the world and have seen them first hand up close and personal. What advice can you give upcoming talent working for the Independents whose goal is to work for a majorpromotion?

DM: First of all I would say get your reps in and keep working shows and start thinking outside the box. Watch WWE and all other major promotions and see what they got and what makes you different then everybody that you seeonthescreenrightnow.HowcanIstandout?It’snotthe sameasitusedtobe I’m6’5 and370lbs Youdon’thavetobe that size anymore. As long as you are unique and stand out, are different and have the passion to give it everything, you will get your opportunity Keep doing those reps and keep your buzz going Social media is such a big tool these days and if you use it correctly you can really get some serious buzz going When I was released from WWE, I used social media to take the whole world with me, rebuild my name, re-educate the people to who I was. If you use it the right way,thinkoutsidethebox workyourbuttoff youtrulycan achieveyourdream.

Yiorgo is an arts, entertainment and sports writer A stage, TV and movie actor, heis also a sports entertainer, educator, motivational speaker, writer, storyteller and columnist