Drew McIntyre has shared a message addressing his frustrations ahead of tonight’s episode of WWE SmackDown.
A matchup between McIntyre and Fatu is set to take place on SmackDown this Friday night. In a social media promo, McIntyre expressed his discontent over not walking into WrestleMania 42 as Undisputed WWE Champion. He voiced disappointment for his family, including his nephew who will attend the event without seeing McIntyre walk down the aisle as champion.
“Came for a check-in. Been a rough few weeks, right? Yeah. Same old story for Drew McIntyre,” he said. “Difference this time is that so many people are opening their eyes to the truth that I’ve been preaching and realizing it’s not whining, it’s not complaining. It’s just been fact this whole time. I don’t care how many of you are trying to jump on the bandwagon. It doesn’t make me champion, does it? I’m not gonna shy away from the fact that I should be walking into Mania as champion either. Family are all coming to America. Nephew, should be seeing his uncle walk down that aisle as champion but he’s not. I’m not gonna focus on how it all went down. I’ve done this dance so many times. I gotta keep fighting, I gotta keep pushing forward. But this time, I’m doing it my way.”
McIntyre then shifted focus to Fatu. He praised Fatu’s athleticism in the ring while mocking his past physique. McIntyre then dove deeper into his own WWE tenure where he was once on the same roster with the likes of Triple H, Shawn Michaels, Ric Flair, and Umaga.
“There’s a bunch of stuff I’ve got to focus on, but right now let’s just focus specifically on Jacob. You cannot move around WWE without bumping into a nepo baby or a fraud — Jacob happens to be both. I’ll say this about him, he’s an animal. Freakishly athletic for a guy that used to resemble a bumblebee and move like one. But [he’s] a pretty jacked bumblebee these days, I’ll give him that. He’s quick and he’s strong, he’s legitimately a bad man. He’s a man in a world full of boys. This used to be a man’s business. And as a bad man, I like that. But I’m quicker, I’m stronger, I’ve got the experience fighting the best this industry has to offer for a long time, hell I was in the same roster as Triple H at one point and Shawn Michaels. And that same day when I was looking around at those two, I went ‘My God, there’s Ric Flair in the corner.’
“I was in the ring with one of the best members of The Bloodline. I didn’t need anyone to fight my battles. I fought Umaga in WWE. That’s how long I’ve been around and yet I’m still one of the youngest grizzled young veterans. This point I should be way more grizzled [with] all the crap I’ve been through. But I am the original athletic freak in this game.”
Lastly, McIntyre said that he was not intimidated by Fatu’s criminal past and prison time. McIntyre proceeded to confirm his appearance for SmackDown despite claiming last week that he was “quitting” the show.
“Just cause you did time Jacob, means nothing to me. Nobody knows my whole story, they don’t know anything about me. They know what I put out there. Everyone says they’re a gangster until the real gangster walks in the room, right?”
“What does my future hold? I really don’t know. I really don’t know at this point. But what I do know is I’ll see you this Friday on SmackDown, Jacob.”
The road to WrestleMania 42 saw McIntyre drop the Undisputed WWE Championship to Cody Rhodes after Fatu got involved in the match. Rhodes will now defend the title against Randy Orton at Mania.
Though McIntyre and Fatu are facing off on SmackDown tonight, it’s expected that their rivalry will continue into WrestleMania.
