-- Drew McIntyre was recently on INSIGHT with Chris Van Vliet. He talks about WWE returning to the UK for Clash at the Castle, if the UK could host a WrestleMania in the future, why his accent has changed,
On WWE returning to the UK for Clash at the Castle:
"When I say that I dreamt of moments when I was a kid, I dreamt of main eventing WrestleMania and all these big moments that seemed attainable. In my mind they were attainable but nobody else believed that I could do it, coming from Scotland to the WWE. But the idea of main eventing a UK stadium show the level of SummerSlam 1992 didn't seem possible because they didn't run UK stadium shows. This is something I actively talked about, actively pursued and actively asked questions about for years, especially when I became WWE Champion. I had a lot more media going around at the time, especially high-profile media, and I mentioned it all the frigging time. Thankfully I guess that there were some talks going on behind closed doors that I didn't know about. It got to a point where I talked about it so much that someone had to say to me 'Do you know something you shouldn't know?' I said 'Nope, I know nothing. I have just got certain goals that I have been pushing for a while. You do what you are doing and I will do what I am doing and hopefully this will work out.' Thankfully it did work out, I got involved in the process eventually and it is happening now. I would love to take the credit for it but it's the unsung heroes behind closed doors that work in WWE that make these things happen. The problem with it being that if it did happen and nobody cared and nobody bought tickets for it, they kind of needed a public scapegoat. The fans would go 'McIntyre you were wrong you idiot!' The blame would fall here so I am happy that it worked out and happier, proud that I am main eventing and fighting for the title in the first stadium show in the UK in 30 years."
On if the UK could host a WrestleMania in the future:
"Yeah, I can't see why not. I'm not going to talk about numbers that I have heard at the moment until they are official, but we have seen the numbers that have been released, just the demand for the tickets broke records initially. Right now, we are on course for some big, big numbers from a business perspective. But people watching and tuning into Clash at the Castle and seeing the live audience, how loud and rowdy and crazy they are with the chants we have seen in the past with Raw and SmackDown that have come from the UK. I know a lot of people are going to go 'Why don't we do a WrestleMania here?' It's gonna be crazy, imagine those wild UK fans and people coming from all across the world joining in the passion, the atmosphere and the inanity of the UK fans."
On Drew McIntyre's accent changing:
"Everyone else on earth has heard Scottish accents in the past or has heard what Scotland tends to say when I talk. Every single person in Scotland has the thickest accent on planet earth, even though we only speak English. Even though people have said to me multiple times when I first got here 'You speak really good English.' Well I fricking hope so, it is the only language that I talk. We have these extremely thick accents, we mumble, most of us, and we use a lot of slang. I had to really work on it to the point where Vince McMahon told me when I was 24 'We are going to have to get you elocution lessons Drew.' After I gave him this passionate speech about my ideas and what I want to do for the company. That was the retort 'I think we are going to have to get you elocution lessons.' So I worked on it and I spent a lot of time learning to slow down, especially my time away from WWE. I learned how to make myself understood in these kind interviews and on the microphone, get comfortable in those situations, because I know how important it is. When I finally honed it and I finally felt good about myself and the world was saying 'Man, Drew is a really confident talker and has improved that area of his game.' I had Scotland to bring me back down to earth [Thick Scottish accent] 'Why are you talking like that? Why are you talking like this now?' That's why, because you can't understand us! I'm so proud to be from Scotland, but nobody understands us, so I have to soften the accent to make it a little less harsh."
