Exclusive: Drew McIntyre is Prepared to Square Off with CM Punk in Hell’s Arena | Sports

Drew McIntyre has typically in contrast his promo change with CM Punk and Seth Rollins forward of WrestleMania XL to that of the shootout on the O.Okay. Corral. A crossfire of verbal assaults between heated rivals that may stay on in the reminiscences of wrestling followers for years to come.

The 1881 Arizona gun battle between legendary lawmen and a gang of cattle rustlers dubbed the cowboys is an much more acceptable analogy a number of months later, because the hatred between Drew McIntyre and CM Punk has far exceeded it is boiling level.

After falling sufferer to a heinous assault that ended with the damaged beads of his beloved bracelet swishing round in his bloody mouth, CM Punk put in a name to Raw GM Adam Pearce to challenge a problem on his behalf.

Punk was greater than keen to take a look at McIntyre's mettle by stepping again right into a construction that he himself had not been inside in greater than a decade. A construction that Drew McIntyre had no want to ever battle inside once more.

No matter what occurs this Saturday night time at Bad Blood, this lengthy chapter of their rivalry is coming to an finish. And it is coming to an finish inside Hell in a Cell.

“As I said this past Monday, I wasn't lying. I never lie these days,” McIntyre told The Takedown. “That cell has broken things in me that never have been fixed.”

The prospect of tormenting and torturing CM Punk past all recognition, nonetheless, was nearly as good a purpose as any for the Scottish Warrior to be his huckleberry.

Growing up an avid wrestling fan in Ayr, Scotland, McIntyre remembers watching Shawn Michaels and the Undertaker compete in the primary Hell in a Cell Match, which occurred 27 years in the past this Saturday at Bad Blood: In Your House.

Just 12-years-old on the time, Drew started to dream of at some point having the ability to observe in their footsteps. Those goals have been solely amplified the next summer season when The Undertaker and Mankind created the one most iconic second in Hell in a Cell historical past.

Just minutes into their match, the Deadman shoved Mick Foley off the highest of the cage. He fell 16 ft by the air earlier than crashing by the Spanish announce desk on the ground beneath.

“When I saw Foley get thrown off the top, I was like, ‘Wow. One day I'll take the bump off the top of the cell.'” McIntyre stated. “As I got a little older, I accepted the facts that I was terrified of heights. I thought, ‘I'm never ever gonna do anything that ridiculous.' As I got more into wrestling and realized how much things actually hurt, specifically cages and weapons, I thought, ‘Man, I really want to avoid Hell in a Cell at all costs.' So my childhood dream turned to my adult nightmare.”

McIntyre's nightmare would grow to be a actuality on October 25, 2020 when he unsuccessfully defended his WWE Championship towards Randy Orton at Hell in Cell. An ill-fated PLE idea centered round a number of Hell in a Cell matches happening in one night.

The fashionable model of Hell in a Cell is barely extra strong, standing 4 ft taller than the unique construction. Fear of heights be damned, McIntyre lived the boyhood dream – so to converse – when Orton tossed him off the side of the cage throughout their match. It was a roughly 10-11 foot drop, much more if McIntyre's top is added into the equation, earlier than he slammed again first by the commentary desk.

“I thought I legitimately broke my neck and broke something in my back. I bit through my tongue,” McIntyre stated. “I was spitting up blood, which we actually incorporated into the match. It was a cool visual.”

What a value to pay for a visible. McIntyre says his tongue was cut up after that fall. Looking not all that dissimilar from a snake you'll discover in the wild. Fittingly sufficient it occurred in a match with a person who calls himself the Viper.

“Legitimately the worst fall of my life,” McIntyre stated. “I've had these conversations with some of the other guys, like Seth Rollins. If we could both take back one thing in our career, it would be falling off [Hell in a Cell]. Never mind the stuff that happened inside the cell.”

Not even a 12 months later, McIntyre can be pressured again inside Hell in a Cell. This time as a challenger for the WWE Championship when he squared off towards Bobby Lashley. For the second time in eight months, McIntyre would depart the demonic cage with nothing greater than the battle scars he accrued over 25 grueling minutes.

That specific match with Lashley is one which Drew will brazenly admit, in all probability, did not want to be inside the cell. It was, nonetheless, due to the novelty of the Premium Live Event the place it was booked.

It's a a lot totally different story this time round as McIntyre prepares to dance in the Devil's playground. Desperate sufficient to lastly transfer on from the final agonizing 10 months of his profession, McIntyre has agreed to step inside Hell in the Cell for the third time and he will not be coming alone. No sir. Hell's coming with him.

“Everybody's watched the story unfold. They know we legitimately don't like each other. They've seen how hard we've been hitting each other in the couple of matches we've had at SummerSlam and the Strap Match. With Hell in the Cell, he knows it and I know it, we're professional enough to go in there and do our job, but… we're gonna beat the s— out of each other.”

The former World Heavyweight Champion has promised to make Punk bleed… so much. He's promised to depart him battered and completely damaged. Whether these phrases show to be hyperbole or not, the tip outcome is unlikely to be hindered by them.

This match is going to ship, as a result of regardless of their detestation outdoors of the ring, Drew McIntyre and CM Punk carry out the very best in one another as soon as the digital camera is rolling.

“No matter what I feel about him personally. I know how good he is, especially when it comes to storytelling,” McIntyre said. “I knew there was magic there and it took a simple Future Shock DDT tearing his weak little triceps off the bone to get it going.”

It's a rivalry each males wanted, and albeit, one the followers deserved. It was the right springboard for Punk to show he is nonetheless the man worthy of being referred to as the ‘Best in the World'. It's additionally introduced McIntyre with the golden alternative to present everybody, particularly Punk, that he is not but reached his ceiling as a performer in WWE.

“I am glad to see that he can still compete at the top, top level. ‘Cause I can assure you, I would have eaten him alive. In the ring and on the microphone,” McIntyre stated. “He's helped lift me up, but at the same time I like to think I've helped lift him up. Find his confidence. Find who CM Punk needs to be.”

Over the final a number of months Punk has typically referred to himself as Satan incarnate, relationship all the way in which again to his first promo change with McIntyre on the January 8 episode of Monday Night Raw. A presumably unintended foreshadowing of the place these two males would wind up in the event that they have been to journey down this path collectively.

That night time Drew stated far worse about his opponent this Saturday than Punk might have been prepared to hear. Calling him, amongst different issues, a self-serving narcissistic succubus.

“I believe he was shocked after I began speaking. He actually stated, ‘You're not known for your talking.’ I used to be so offended. I went off. During the promo I may see in his eyes, ‘Crap, this is not the same kid that I was d— to back in the day.”

Weeks later these two would spar again in the aforementioned O.K. Corral promo with Seth Rollins. McIntyre with a front row seat as Punk delivered a master class in trash talking in front of his hometown Chicago crowd. McIntyre says he saw the real CM Punk that night. He saw him again two weeks ago when Punk said Drew would have to end his life to beat him inside Hell in a Cell.

“There it is. That’s CM Punk right there,” McIntyre thought to himself in actual time. “Through this journey, as I’ve said, we've both lifted each other up. As much as he likes to take credit, ‘Oh, I made you relevant.’ I’m like, come on man (laughs). You came back, walked right into a giant match and I brought CM Punk back. We lifted each other up. No matter how we feel about each other.”

Whether he finally will get his hand raised Saturday or not, McIntyre says his rivalry with Punk won't ever actually be over. This chapter of it coming to shut, nonetheless, will likely be each unusual and thrilling for the Scottish Warrior.

Knowing the way in which the corporate operates now beneath the inventive route of Paul ‘Triple H' Levesque, McIntyre is aware of he'll have the liberty to search the reality in the subsequent story he will get to inform. Even although it might be unattainable to high his physique of labor over the previous 10 months.

“Whatever I do next, I've already told [WWE creative] you’re not gonna find something like this, because this is legitimate hatred, but I better have something I can buy into. That's based in truth. That I can really have fun with, because you see what can happen if you give me something I truly believe in.”

Bad Blood has a particular begin time this Saturday. The present goes stay from the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia at 6PM ET / 5PM CT on Peacock.

You can observe Rick Ucchino on X and on Instagram: @RickUcchino

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