WWE’s Drew McIntyre on Physicality at Fastlane, WWE’s Peacock Debut

WWE is officially a part of Peacock, and tonight’s Fastlane will be the first of many pay-per-views to come to the streaming service. WWE already has a massive following, but having all of that content on Peacock puts every WWE superstar in front of even more viewers and potential fans. That includes Drew McIntyre, who will be taking on Sheamus in what promises to be an extremely physical affair in their No Holds Barred match. ComicBook.com had the opportunity to talk to McIntyre all about his match a Fastlane, the upcoming bout at WrestleMania 37, and the move to Peacock, which yes, includes an amazing conversation about Murder She Wrote that I am completely pumped about, but I digress.

In addition to Fastlane, Peacock will also be home to this year’s WrestleMania 37, and if McIntyre can take down Sheamus at Fastlane, he’ll get his chance to reclaim his WWE Championship from Bobby Lashley. That would be a big enough reason to get hyped, but it will also be the first WWE event with fans in the crowd in over a year, and that’s going to have a profound impact on everyone, including McIntyre, who won his first WWE Championship without a crowd at WrestleMania 36.

“Any time I could win the title, it’s been a special place for me. It means the world to me, be at last year at WrestleMania, obviously, we had no fans there, but being the height of the pandemic, the only original content in town, and the fact that I was the last match made it a feel-good story,” McIntyre said.

“I was able to make a lot of people smile, but winning the title meant the world to me, and when I won it back off Randy, we were in the ThunderDome, and my wife was able to be there virtually,” McIntyre said. “She wasn’t able to be there for WrestleMania. She’s such a huge part of my story. It felt exactly the same when I won it for the second time as it did the first time in different circumstances.”

If McIntyre beats Lashley, that would mean he’s won a Championship during each era of this rollercoaster ride of a year, as he won at the beginning of it with no crowds, then at the ThunderDome, and now at the first event with fans back in attendance.

“Now, heading into WrestleMania, Lashley’s the champion, he’s got the momentum, and I’m the one looking to prove that I still belong on top of the mountain,” McIntyre said. “We finally have fans inside that stadium, and I’m definitely looking for my moment with fans. Like I say, it’s going to mean just as much as the last two moments, but the adrenaline will be through the fricking roof.”

For McIntyre, it really is night and day when fans are in the building, and he can’t wait to have that feeling back.

“When I had 40000 people at the Royal Rumble going crazy when I won, there’s no feeling like it, when our fans are there, they’re our number one superstar, our secret sauce,” McIntyre said. “They are absolutely mental, they create such an atmosphere. That adrenaline really creates something special, and a special moment in history, and as special as last year was, and will probably be in history forever as that WrestleMania when the world stood still, and WWE entertained the world. This would be something else, to be able to pull off the big one, win my third title at WrestleMania.”

“They’re the most passionate fans in the world and they’re finally going to get live wrestling again, and it’s WrestleMania. It’s going to be absolutely insane in that stadium, when I walk out, the hardest part is just going to be able to compose myself,” McIntyre said. “I know when I get in the ring, that’s my comfort zone, that’s where I’m most comfortable in the world, I’ll be back in the game, but for that entrance, I know I’m going to have to calm myself down and try not to burst into tears or something.”

Fastlane will kick off the new WWE Peacock partnership, expanding the potential WWE universe in a huge way and allowing a whole legion of new and returning fans to get in on the fun.

“We’re just blown away. When we think things can’t get any bigger or better, they do. Every single year, I’m just always blown away,” McIntyre said. “WWE is so much bigger than people realize, we’re in 800 million home, 180 countries, 20 different languages, over a billion social media followers, you just think things can’t get any crazier, then suddenly, we have a partnership with somewhere like Peacock with such an incredible fantastic base of their own, and we’re bringing over our WWE incredible fans to Peacock, and then you’re merging the two brands together, and suddenly in the same platform you can have yourself Parks and Rec, Yellowstone, The Office, and Saved By The Bell, which I love.”

“Start things off with Fastlane, which is going to be an unbelievable show,” McIntyre said. “I’m hoping that everyone checks out Fastlane, like you say, the lapsed fans or the new fans, check out Fastlane, because everyone’s bringing their A+ game. They’ll be looking to make a mark, to make sure if they’re not already on WrestleMania, they’re going to get on WrestleMania.”

Speaking of Fastlane, the feud between McIntyre and Sheamus has opened a lot of people’s eyes to just how good Sheamus is in the ring, as the two stars seem to bring out the best in each other, and McIntyre is just happy to be a part of that showcase.

“It’s so cool that it’s been in there with myself that people have got up and paid attention, because he has been so good for so long, and he deserves that recognition,” McIntyre said. “We’re literally beating the hell out of each other, I’m sure you can see, but it was important to us that we hadn’t gone so deep in our story, we felt like we needed a really good first match to capture people’s attention, get them talking, and escalate things so we could keep telling our story, and escalating the physicality through the matches, and sure enough, we took it to the next level.”

“We escalated the story there, we gave people a little more taste of what’s been going on the past 20 years, and this Sunday at Fastlane, I made a guarantee, and I never guarantee something I can’t deliver on, it’s going to quite frankly get uncomfortable for me and Sheamus, and possibly the fans. We’re going to bring a level of physicality that a lot of people that are maybe tuning in to WWE for the first time are going to say, ‘I had a few opinions about wrestling before I started watching this, but these guys are beating the crap out of each other. I can see the marks all over their bodies.’”

As for WrestleMania, those who tune in should be prepared for an unforgettable show.

“It’s going to be a show that hooks everybody. You check out WrestleMania exclusively on Peacock, you’re going to be hooked for life, aside from the fact that matches are going to be unreal, I’d be more interested at times to watch the crowd, because our fans deserve their own place in the roster. The crowd is going to be so entertaining that night, they’re going to be out of this world. If you watch that WrestleMania, you’re going to hooked for life. I’m absolutely buzzing about the whole situation, like I say, I just can’t believe WWE continues to get bigger and bigger and bigger.

Now that WWE is a part of Peacock, that means you can watch a host of classic shows and new series right alongside WWE’s extensive catalog. One of those that came up was the new Saved By The Bell reboot, which by the way, completely rules, and McIntyre agrees, saying “Yes, it does.”

Because I’m me and happen to be a fan, I couldn’t help but bring up another classic show in Peacock’s catalog, the murder mystery series Murder She Wrote, and McIntyre is very much of the mind that Angela Lansbury’s Jessica Fletcher is actually the villain of that series.

“The greatest killer of all time,” McIntyre said. “I studied criminology, a funny story, I studied criminology at university, and we were going around the class asking, ‘Why did everyone take criminology, and some of your favorite shows?’ Everyone’s giving a little description, and basically, everyone said CSI and old Drew here has to say ridiculous things and has to say, ‘Murder She Wrote.’”

“She was like, ‘Murder She Wrote?’ I was like, ‘Yeah, the greatest serial killer of all time. She’s a genius, she goes to the town, a murder happens, she solves it. She moves to the next town, a psycho over and over and never gets caught, like Jack The Ripper. Maybe not all of the time, but most of the time,” McIntyre joked.

I mean, he’s got a point, and now I will watch the series in a whole new light. Also would’ve helped if the town had a capable Sheriff, but that’s neither here nor there.

You can watch McIntyre in action on tonight’s WWE Fastlane, which streams live on Peacock starting at 7 PM EST, and you can check it out right here!

You catch live coverage of the event right here on ComicBook.com, and as always you can talk all things WWE with me on Twitter @MattAguilarCB!