Drew McIntyre Says Randy Orton Has Been 'Phoning It In' Ahead of Their WWE SummerSlam Match

Randy Orton has been one of WWE's most entertaining villains throughout 2020. While "The Viper" has been with the company for nearly two decades, he managed to kick things into high gear earlier this year when he started up a feud with Edge and revived his "Legend Killer" persona. Since then he's taken out the likes of Edge, Christian, Big Show, Ric Flair and Shawn Michaels with his signature Punt Kick, all while indicating that he's slowly losing his grip on his sanity. But for as great as Orton's work has been, the same could not be said for the previous few years. Orton has outright admitted he hasn't given it 100% effort at times, and in a new interview with Instinct Culture's Denise Salcedo Drew McIntyre outright said he's been "phoning it in."

But McIntyre was quick to point out that despite the often lack of effort, Orton remains one of the best wrestlers in the world. The two will clash at SummerSlam on Sunday for the WWE Championship.

"I know this is the biggest challenge I've had, since I beat Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania in the main event," McIntyre said. "It's our biggest show since Wrestlemania, Summerslam, and Randy Orton is a legend, a Hall of Famer already at this stage of his career, he's done so much. He's honestly been phoning it in half the time, he'd admit to that himself, and when he phones it in, he is still one of the best in the world. Over the past few months he's taken things to the next level, he's at the top of his game, the best he's been his entire career, on the microphone, in the ring. He's pure evil and it's the ultimate challenge for me, it's the Joker to my Batman, it's the match I need to prove myself."

If Orton beats McIntyre, he'll become a 14-time world champion. He has not held one of WWE's world titles since 2017.

Check out the full card for SummerSlam below:

• WWE Championship: Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton
• WWE Universal Championship: Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt
• Raw Women's Championship: Sasha Banks vs. Asuka
• SmackDown Women's Championship: Bayley vs. Asuka
• United States Championship: Apollo Crews vs. MVP
• Raw Tag Team Championships: The Street Profits vs. Andrade and Angel Garza
• Street Fight: Dominik Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins
• No Disqualification, Loser Leaves WWE: Mandy Rose vs. Sonya Deville