Drew McIntyre reveals exact moment he thought WWE fans would turn against him
Drew McIntyre admitted he expected WWE fans to turn against him during his 2020 Royal Rumble victory.
The 30-man match featured lots of memorable moments, including Brock Lesnar’s early dominance and McIntyre’s elimination of Roman Reigns at the end. The match also saw WWE Hall of Famer Edge make his in-ring return almost nine years after he retired.
Speaking to The Dallas Morning News, McIntyre recalled how WWE fans booed Batista and Roman Reigns’ Royal Rumble victories in 2014 and 2015, respectively. He thought the Houston crowd might do the same to him after Reigns eliminated Edge.
“There have been situations in the past when the person they [WWE fans] want to win doesn’t win and they turn on the match,” McIntyre said. “And I had it in the back of my mind, ‘Urgh, if Edge gets eliminated here, these 40,000 people in Houston might be a little upset and boo the cr*p out of Drew McIntyre.’
“The fact that Edge got eliminated and then minutes later I eliminated Roman Reigns, and they cheered just as much for my victory at the Royal Rumble as they did for the Brock Lesnar elimination, it just blew my mind and really cemented me as [fans saying], ‘We want Drew to be our next guy,’ which felt really cool.”
As Drew McIntyre alluded to, Brock Lesnar eliminated 13 superstars in the first 26 minutes of the match. McIntyre then eliminated Lesnar with a Claymore Kick before going on to eliminate another five superstars.
Drew McIntyre’s latest WWE Championship storyline
After winning the 2020 Royal Rumble, Drew McIntyre defeated Brock Lesnar for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania 36.
The two-time WWE Champion recently failed to recapture the title from Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania 37. He went on to unsuccessfully challenge Lashley for the title again in a Triple Threat match – also involving Braun Strowman – at WrestleMania Backlash.
Drew McIntyre is set to face Kofi Kingston on next week’s episode of WWE RAW. The winner will go on to challenge Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell on June 20.
Please credit The Dallas Morning News and give a H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling for the transcription if you use quotes from this article.