159: Scotland to Louisville with Drew McIntyre | Soder Podcast | EP 153

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Up to 19 grams of protein and zero to five grams net carbs. Get 10% off at Hero.co with code iHeart. All figures per serving of Hero Bread. See nutrition facts on Hero.co for sodium and sugar content. I'm on the road. November 5th through the 7th, I'm going to be at Wise Guys in Salt Lake City. We added a late show Thursday. You could see me there. Salt Lake City, November 5th through the 7th. Wise Guy Comedy Clubs, one of the best clubs in the country. And then December 10th through the 12th, Comedy at the Carlson in Rochester, New York. Very excited. I love going back there. One time I was there, I was extremely constipated. So I'm excited to be back and to be able to eat your food and then poop it out. That's going to be real big for me. DanSoder.com. All tour dates. Go check it out. Thanks for watching. I hope you're doing all right. It's funny about this is the way this looks is it looks like you own the building and you're here to kick me out. How well you're dressed. Just like coming in and I'm like, you're like, you have you have 30 days to get out of this apartment. 30. I mean, 30 minutes. Drew looks like he owns the building. He's coming by to be like, Hey, you and your dog are out. Um, dude, I'm glad you're back. You're one of you're one of the guys that when, you went away for a little bit. Something that's interesting that I always want to know, especially as a comedian, is when you go away, sometimes like, I probably think you have one of the most famous going away stories. For those of you that don't know wrestling, you were the you were the chosen one when you were younger. And then it didn't work out. Then you go away, work the Indies work other things and come back bigger than ever and became the guy. And I think that's like one of the most famous going away stories. And I think that's one of the most famous going away stories. And I think that's one of the coolest stories in anything, whether it's wrestling sports, you know, comedy, music, that like idea of being chosen to be the guy. And then it doesn't work out. For a lot of people. That's it. Yeah, I'm glad there's a happy ending to that story. Yeah, that was given a lot. When I was a kid. Sure. And I just assumed that's the way it was. I started wrestling professionally at 15 years old. Sure. There was nothing in Scotland. I traveled 12 hours to the school, myself and some friends started the wrestling scene in Scotland. That was my weekend job, my summer holiday job. I stuck in at school the whole time, went through university, got signed at my last year of uni, got my degree in criminology, went straight to America, just turning 22. And three weeks later, I was suddenly on WWE TV trying to figure out what was going on, why I was in the same locker room as you know, the Undertaker and I mean, yeah, and the guys have those times looking around. I was just at uni, watching these guys. On TV, but this is okay. This is normal. I was a top guy in the UK. You know, I should be in WWE, right? This is normal. So when you're doing when you are growing up in Scotland, and you're getting into wrestling, I think, you know, as an American, we kind of take advantage of the accessibility of pro wrestling in America, whether it is the Indies, whether it is other companies besides WWE, we were growing up WCW and all that. When you're in Scotland, where do you watch it? Skynet or Sky? It was Sky at the time. And WCW, it was kind of weird the way WCW was, it was like the Cartoon Network would end at a certain time, and then WCW would come on after it. And you had to have a specific TV package. My uncle recorded a full VHS of WCWs for me. And I would watch WWE, WWF at the time, every week at home. And then when I get my VHS, I would catch up on the WCW. And my brother and I would rent all the Blockbuster videos, the same ones multiple, multiple times. So obsessed with wrestling. I feel bad for kids now. Because that was something that aisle of the video store, when you would see when they would get a new one, and you'd be like, and you check behind to see if they had it. I mean, what a feeling that the kids will never know for choice. And it really is. The funny thing is, there's so much to watch that you never know what to watch. Well, it's over. It's almost like an overabundance. Because I remember when it was a drip, you know, for us in America, there was WCW Saturday nights. So you'd be like, you know, I'm like 10 years old, I'm at home on the weekend. And I'm like, I want to watch wrestling. Saturday night would come and you're like, this is great. And it was in a little TV studio in Atlanta. You saw how small it was. It was just kind of like this. And I'm always interested about people that get into it in in a place like Scotland, where it's in. So you just you and your buddies were like, let's make a scene. Pretty much. I met the friends in wrestling through myself. I'm training them, basically, because I was the first one in Scotland to go to England to take the 12. hour journey to learn the basics. We had an adult who rented out like a leisure center, sure, like a community center with judo mats. And he really didn't know what he was doing. But he was an adult. I couldn't just rent a community center. I'm 15 years old, someone willing to show a license to another adult. And then a bunch of, you know, younger guys, kind of my age, a little bit older would come in, and I'd start showing them what I was learning. And it gave me people to work with, train with what I'm learning in England, but also teaching, you know, them. So that was a big part of it. And then, you know, you know, I started doing wrestling maneuvers, more skills. And eventually, we're like, we got to put on shows. So this guy would start putting on little shows, you know, was put me in the main events, which I was always grateful for. So from the beginning, you were a main eventer? Yeah, basically, for my first shows, like 16 years, you remember your first show? My first match? Yep, I was 16. And I got knocked out in the first 10 seconds, I still continued to 20 more minutes. And I got boot prints all over my back from being stomped to pieces. And my friend has been completely out of it. My dad took pictures of my back, like, what are you doing? I got boot prints all over your back. I thought I had my first match. Yeah, I think parents of comedians and pro wrestlers have the same approach, where they see you do it the first time they go, the fuck are you doing? Yeah, yeah, sure. You go, I love it. And they go, can't you love a job that's just a little more? I mean, and I honestly think, you know, both of us are have have grown in our in our fields or whatever, I think both wrestling and comedy are a lot more accessible fields now. Oh, 100%. People, you know, but when you were saying it, you know, you're 16, like, I want to be a wrestler. When I was like, I'm gonna start doing open mics. My mom was just like, what's an open mic? And you're like, well, you wait. And then you talk for three minutes, and you hope it goes well. You put a YouTube video, whatever out now or something on X or whatever, people catch on to it. And boom, you're off and running. And people because of social media. If you had social media back then, you would have been able to find other people in Scotland. So it's, it kind of took this like, gravity, those little forums and stuff. Yeah, yeah, trying to avoid all the creeps in there. The younger kids have a 15 year old boy looking at the grass. First off, there's no way this guy's actually 15. He's 40 at home. Yeah, this is not true. But I think what's interesting about that is who was the first? Like, for me, I remember, you know, I started comedy in Tucson, Arizona, which is like, pretty much like you starting wrestling in Scotland. Yeah. But it was almost like the first I remember the first guy that I saw in person that I had seen in movies was this guy that had played a small role in Seinfeld. And he came into the club. And I was like, I just want to talk to him about that episode of Seinfeld. Oh, yeah, he don't want to talk about it. Who was the first wrestler that you saw in person? Like, Yokozuna? Really? That'd be the first one that I saw from WWE. Yeah, watching it back in the day. There's a picture online. Actually, you can Google Yokozuna. And I took a picture with him at the merchandise table where I look like a young girl, feminine features for this beard, got all these muscles. But yeah, I remember being in line waiting for the show and somebody walking by saying he wants 50 hard boiled eggs. I went, that's for Yokozuna. Just the biggest man I'd ever seen in my entire life to this day, probably the biggest man I've ever seen. But is that was that you're like, first, like, oh, my God, these guys are real. These guys are like, that's the guy I've seen on television. Incredible. And even years later, you know, he was a top of the card guy, a former WWF champion, like going up to some of the shows, you know, when I'm 10, 11, 12, whatever, and seeing guys through the gate. I think it was maybe like 14 at this point, maybe a little bit too old to be amazed. But I saw like Crash Holly walk by. I went, oh, my God, there's Crash Holly. Yeah, like he's on TV right now. And Luther Rains like blew my mind. I was like, I need to get closer to them so I can ask them questions. Tell them I'm going to be a wrestler. But I think that is like, I think that thing right there and anything you, when you do something you love, those are like those things that you remember that you go, remember how excited i was oh yeah i remember how excited i was to talk to jim norton when i first moved to new york and he walked by me and i was like oh and he's like brought up a joke he did i was like i really love that joke and they're like busy and they're like yeah cool man and i'm like all right nice seeing you so many moments like that because i got signed so young yeah as i say straight from my parents house straight from university straight to wwe boom you're on the show and all the guys i watched on tv around me did you when you moved from scotland to here right where did you move florida or was it connecticut i wish where'd you move to florida which i did after six months and it was like going from black and white to color i moved to louisville kentucky that's where ovw was the original wwe training center that produced through randy orton and john cena and the likes ovw for those of you that don't know wrestling was nxt before nxt it was like the developmental place where the wwe stars would get coached by all these great coaches and then they would eventually build up so i was there the last six months of its existence like touchdown in america it's not like nxt now there's a nice process where people get you know brought to america they get acclimated they get used to the way things are over here because obviously different countries different cultures back then they just cherry picked you went there you go boom you're in louisville now so i was just in a lodge scotland oh yeah so literally it was at school like six weeks prior at most of a university finishing up suddenly i'm in america i'm in a suburban lodge i remember i had a little kitchen and stuff yeah and i was like you go get some food i've told the story a lot but there's different audience yeah oh clearly but i went to a longhorn steakhouse so i walk in within the first hour of getting there i need to get some food i see the animal heads on the wall and i'm like they can't possibly be real why would anyone look at what they're eating that is yeah i don't know barbarians that's also funny to get the american psychology of like oh these guys are fucking nuts yeah these guys are just putting boar heads yeah horse heads is looking at all and i sat down the guy comes over to me and here's my accent and looks me in the eyes like where are y'all from and i'm like y'all it's just me i'm from scotland i'm from scotland i went okay is i'm related to robert burns so i went wow okay i'm actually from the same town as robert burns uh you know i grew up in air is college just five minutes from where i grew up um so that what a coincidence small world is yeah i'm saving up planning to go visit him one day i went oh that's interesting yeah anyway there's nothing scottish in the menu went back to the lodge called my mom told her the story and she was like oh my god i'm from scotland i'm from scotland the lodge called my mom told her the story and she'll be drew but robert burns has been dead since the 1700s now and yeah why do you think i left like i looked me in the eye told me he's saving up money to go visit them and then i turned to the tv and then i see that your commercials over here like there's a standard of commercials in the uk you know if you've been there you kind of see it's kind of like high budget yeah actors as always this you know set standard of the commercials i'd never seen a local car dealer do a commercial or whatever and i looked at the screen while telling this story and i see it for the first time having this conversation this big heavy set from louisville with a little crappy squiggly animated dogs there and it's talking about the competitors prices you know they're real high they're out of control tell them how bad they are rex is rough that's right they're rough and i went i need to get out of here these americans are freaking crazy day one i never thought about you guys just cold into our local advertising oh yeah because when you grow up in america you know like i remember that when i was a kid the local commercials deal and dug in denver and he was i love them now but you're seeing them seeing them first you're like what the fuck is this yeah that's somebody from like i don't know one of these movies where they kill you in the woods the wrong turn or something or texas chainsaw massacre i don't trust that guy i went to a gas station again in my first week and i looked around it was a guy it must have been 400 pounds wearing overalls with no shirt and bald and then i looked at another guy you know the flannel shirt the dirty trucker hat the scraggly ponytail and i'm like punked was big at the time like am i unpunked are they getting the new guys or something because this is every american movie i'm like i'm not punked i'm not punked i'm not punked that's the only american stereotype i've ever seen this of dropping you into kentucky especially kentucky is a wild choice that ovw is like we got some boys coming over from scotland we're gonna bring them to louisville and then just like big old child because i think that culture shock you're right now that nxt probably knows what they're doing they know to bring them over yeah everybody's very much acclimated now and and also the world is smaller now because of the internet yeah people understand shit factor meals i tell you what i'm getting in shape and i actually mean it i'm going to the gym like three times a week and i've been doing it pretty consistently you know what else i'm gonna do meal planning i no longer get to eat like a child i gotta eat very mature regulated real ingredients so factor meals factor meals is real food real ingredients made with high quality ingredients that you could recognize and trust over 175 banned ingredients you always know you're eating something 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for up to 60 off rules and restrictions may apply you know i did a fringe in edinburgh in 2019 and my my shock was the lack of air conditioning oh yeah yeah you guys don't have air conditioning no and you didn't need it up till recent yeah and it's bad like they suddenly got hot over the past few years yeah i've been obviously visiting back my family and stuff i've been here 20 years i'm like when did it get hot it wasn't hot one day 21 years i grew up here and then we got hot day it's hot all the time even i was back like a few months ago like doing filming highlander we're filming in the highlands of scotland a million degrees every day where was this weather when i was a kid first off that reveal i didn't even realize that you were out filming highlander oh i mean i am i mean it's on the internet so i know i don't think i'm giving anything away no but it's a guy that grew up on highlander like on the movies yeah i am very excited for that oh me too as a scottish guy like someone said to me earlier like any kind of dream roles today i was like well i kind of started like you know a highlander yeah then where'd you go braveheart yeah you can't highlander's like i mean for those of you one of the best sword fights in a movie like in action movie history you grew up on highlander especially if you're a child of the 80s and 90s i am very excited for that that they're bringing that and it's awesome that you're in it where you was that another thing like similar to what i was saying with like yokozuna where you're on set and you're seeing like you know on the slate says like highlander and you're like yeah every day the the call sheets and stuff and you're like i'm in fucking highland angus mcleod i'm connor's brother it's like like growing up seeing knowing angus knowing the story knowing the movie yeah obviously meeting the chad um directed the john wick movies initially and he's been a great chat my agent told me you probably talked to him for 15 minutes like two hours later we're still chatting away and he's like so you want to be want to be angus so yeah sure i can do that isn't that great and also it's what's great about that is i think is someone that loves the original movies you go well great bring them back but the fight choreography has to be great and you're like oh it's the guy that did wick all the john wick then you're like he's unreal watching him just do his thing i was just harassed and i'm asking him questions constantly and sure watching you know like henry plays connor henry cavill russell crowe was there and just watching them and dave batista i grew up with always looked out for me he's the kirgan and he's the one that brought me into my first movie i did the killers game a few years ago it's the very first movie i did it was a lot of fun but kind of played an exaggerated version of myself this was more an opportunity with with highlander last rude and the w vertical shirt i'm sure we'll talk about a chance to see hey you know could i fit in this world a chance to show some range some vulnerable ability not just be big angry heavy number three because i'm a pro wrestler and i'm 285 pounds which what they've always done they've always done they go if there's a wrestle in the movie he's just going to be either the biker at the bar you know that doesn't say much and gives like a come on to the to the main character you're describing yeah every movie is a whore's mouth he's great your mother is a whore or when he goes isn't that right me and big joe's love the sign where he goes what are you gonna do about it dad well you know what he's talking about when he's talking to sam elliott it's like one of the best but that that was someone that grew up a wrestling fan there is kind of these like stereotypical roles for wrestlers until recently you know and now you guys are getting into it my question is is you're on the you're on the set with batista right i've i've done stuff uh acting stuff where other comics have been there and there's always this natural gravity to where like we're just off talking about working funny bones you know on set when you see batista do you find yourself talking about wrestling when you guys are there or like the business at all we do for sure he's curious how things are these days sure he's been he's been gone a long time and incredible the best of of all the guys who've made it acting wise like he's such an incredible actor i mean he's yeah he's gonna play kratos in god of war now just every role he goes into you forget he's batista the wrestler and i think my friend like boom he's that character he's that role and that's what bobby kelly always said that to me he said the uh the thing you want when your friend is in a movie is to forget that they're your friend because then you just go oh you did a good enough job that i i stopped watching you as dave oh yeah and you're this character exactly everything he's in so when you see him on set is it almost kind of like a like a like a comfort of like oh great i'll just go talk to him yeah especially when he brought me in for for say the original one the first movie i ever did sure this game and he cam me down there he could see me looking at all the big sets and stuff like oh my god this is crazy i was like you nervous i was like i'm nervous i'm nervous i was deep you've been nervous after all you've done he went don't worry about the rest of the movie i'm nervous i'm nervous i'm nervous i'm nervous i'm nervous i'm you relax you've been in front of the camera your whole life i went okay we'll see yeah sure enough since that camera come on all my friends because i've since i was 16 17 especially coming to america when i see red lights i just relax like i'm an extroverted introvert yeah i see those those red lights i relax instantly i knew who i have to be every role i've had thus far and it's working so far hopefully it keeps going this way keep going find the truth in the character put myself into the character and just run with the lessons i learned in wwe and just turn down you right here in the eyes and it's so cool to to have such positive feedback in this world do you feel like now that you've done this like are you seeing stuff it from the movie world that you go oh i'm excited to take this to the wwe with me like this new like almost like new skill almost learning how to be more subtle on stuff because the thing i've always loved about specifically professional wrestling is the ring psychology is all the psychology that goes into it and how good you are in the ring psychology is all the psychology that goes into it and how good you are in the ring psychology is all the psychology that goes into it and how good you are in the ring psychology i always loved watching you guys do that that's why it was great watching you come back to the wwe because you came back and you had all these new tools you had you'd came back done the indies and i became a man yeah so stop partying every single night and learn to balance that thing out you can't burn the candle both ends and set the candle on fire young comics this is something i learned especially you guys out there i was supposed to be a professional but i'm not an athlete and i was doing that every night because yeah wrestlers did after the show sure i mean that's what comics do you know and then you have a thing many many years with with comics and and uh rock stars like we've all got a lot in common yeah it comes to being on the road and it really is is that you're on the road and you're being on the road means you're slightly losing your mind all the time because you're not in your comfort area you're not doing the same adrenaline dump after the show you go back to your room it's the craziest you know my my fiancee she's always like all right but you gotta stop because i think you're gonna lose your mind all the time i stopped drinking 14 years ago and now for me it's like i go buy that snack part of the hotel and it's just like oh yeah i just want to grab all the snacks and just go sit in my room because it's like an adrenaline dump and you're like i need something i need something that grabs me but as you get older and you kind of learn how to to deal with all that stuff what i loved about watching you come back was like you came back you kicked the door down and it was just like fucking go it was great already fulfill the prophecy yeah if it's a band went on tv when i was 24 late you said yeah i'm gonna do it i'm gonna do it i'm gonna do it i'm gonna do it i said the early success and said this is the chosen one this is the future right here and if it all went well till it didn't and getting fired and just to reinvent myself outside the company how much of that was that energy of like fuck you i'm gonna show you like oh okay it was a definite chip on my shoulder i think that's and i think that can be a good thing because now it's not there it's more these days i don't compete with anybody but myself and it took a long time to get there that's the hardest part and i think that truly is like the hardest evolution to make is where you go i'm not running a race against anybody else but myself yeah and it's like the more i calm down the more i take because i would say you had one of the most interesting moments of your career wrestlemania 36 night two you win the title but it's covet you won the royal rumble in front of 40 000 people and where that pays off is a small 80 000 people at wrestlemania in tampa red lift for 12 years all my family were coming that against brock lesnar yeah in the main event the beast of carnet with my life's work yeah and then what's what's interesting for that personally for me what's interesting about that is i put my life's work in and my hbo special came out december of 2019 and i was going back on the road february of 2020 yeah so for the first time in my life i had tickets sold i had extra shows added we were about to jump into theaters and then you hit march and so there was this very personal thing where as it closes i can tell you i know how you feel that's what i mean well the whole thing is like i obviously can't say i don't know how you felt but what i felt is is a lifelong wrestling fan that still is a huge fan of it and i've protected my fandom because i think everybody needs something where they can unplug and enjoy that is it they aren't trying to turn it into a job wrestling for me has been always been that i always have been a big fan of wrestling for me i've always loved if i'm on the road and there's a saturday night main event or you know a lot of the times the big pay-per-view now saturdays and sundays i have my laptop in the dressing room or the green room watching royal rumble or summer slam and i love it but watching you get that moment as i was trying to process with the fact that my moment was because i lost all my momentum when when you know because you couldn't go on the road they shut everything down and i watched you and it was just like it was heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time where it was this moment where it was like you had been through hell you had got back you kicked the door down that royal rumble was fucking fantastic you know and then you get this moment where you do win the title you are the champ but it's for the crew yeah yeah that 80 000 people turned into a couple of commentators a couple of cameramen yeah and paul heyman paul heyman and brock and there is what was the moment after you win that title and you're like oh my god i'm gonna win this game i'm gonna win this game i'm gonna you go backstage are you kind of like cool but i wish it would have been yeah i kind of accepted the reality at the time like whatever we feel now whatever we know now everyone was terrified yes the world had shut down we all had questions everybody was scared what's the future going to look like are we going to be around in the future the people were genuinely terrified at that point and we were the only company entertainment or sporting company that we're going to push forward to give original content i you know was going to sacrifice my moment in front of lots of people to keep our show going in front of nobody sure and i'd accepted that i went okay i spoke to you know vincent man or boss at the time um and being like okay it's our responsibility to take their minds off things that's what we do all the time sure like yourself you say your comfort watch whatever people are going through you can always trust to tune into wwe you're not going to get politics religion any of that stuff you're just going to get you know a fun little show to watch to take your mind off the bad times and i'm going to be the one leading the charge during this difficult time and i'd accepted that role it's something that you nailed was it 2020 you know it's 2026 so it's easy six years later it's easier to forget how scared everyone was but at that time how big it was that you guys were still going to do wrestlemania you know because the other big moment besides your championship match was john cena's final match and he was going to do you know obviously before the retirement run that he did last year but with with bray yep and uh there was a lot of people that were going to do it and i'm going to the undertaker aj match there was just a bunch of stuff that i think as a fan that was nervous and scared of where the world was going at the time it really did provide a lot to have those two nights of wrestlemania i remember how excited i was that it was actually still gonna happen that i was like this is crazy we're still gonna get a wrestlemania and obviously the online people and other wrestling fans are gonna bitch but i think a majority 90 i think of wrestling fans were like fucking thank you yeah i remember that period and um i did all the media basically for the company at the time i was doing five hours a day i was seeing all the social stuff willingly i wanted to get better but also i was like give me the look so you know yeah i'm the guy give me the give me the work and i'm happy to put in the work and i saw the feedback there was very little negativity during that time compared to now where it's completely insane and i meet people that i met during that time via you know um the facetime chats what would you call it at the time but online meet and greets and sure where they were genuinely like in tears like thanking us for pushing on and saving their lives and i saw messages like all the time in my social And I knew we were doing the right thing when people were talking that way. Like, I'm trapped in this country. We're much more restricted than America. It's like Australia and whatever, where they're indoors, literally going crazy by themselves. And their escape was WWE. And I was like, we're doing the right thing here. I didn't even think twice about my title run. I knew, okay, everything rolls downhill from the top. I'm going to find new ways to reach our audience. I started breaking the fourth wall, like looking right down the camera. Yeah, there were a lot of. I didn't have a connection with everybody because there was no one in the crowd. I was the first one to do that when I won the title. I thought they'd edit it out. I looked down the lens and I thanked everybody. I made it clear, like, this is my moment. This is kind of our moment. Like, I've came through this struggle. We're in a struggle, but we're going to go forward together, was what I was trying to convey through my emotions in the time of winning the title. Because it was real to me. And that's the moment you would have in a hotel. Like, you know, from doing the stand-up, you've got a crowd. You know, your adrenaline's flying. I won the Royal Rumble, 40,000 people. I'm like, yeah, I did it. I bucked my knees, buckled. And then you get back to the hotel later, and you just have a quiet moment of reflection by yourself. And you have that personal moment that's never filmed. Mine was, because the adrenaline wasn't there because there was no fans there. And it was a four-minute match. I didn't even think about it. And I had that private moment in front of the whole world because the adrenaline wasn't flying. I looked at the title. I had a montage in my head of all the people that helped me get there, where we're at in the world. And my mother had passed. Like, that had all gone through my head in that moment. You know, the tears were going in. I looked right down the lens and reached out to everybody and thought I would get lost. It was filmed a week prior. So the fun thing was I watched Mania with the world. I didn't realize that. Oh, yeah. I watched it with my wife on the couch eating popcorn. And then after I won the title, she presented me the title at home, which was really cool. Oh, come on. How great of a moment is that for you and your wife? It was a good personal moment, yeah. Yeah, because that's when you go, that's what love is, is where you go, hey, fuck the 80,000 people. Congratulations. This is your hard work. My family were on FaceTime as well. Would you call it Skype maybe at the time? Yeah. We had everybody, like five people. Zoom or whatever? On the call. Zoom. Would it be there? Whatever it was, there was five of them on there. And yeah, the wife presented me the title with them all on Zoom. This podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp. It's World Mental Health Day. Listen, every day should be World Mental Health Day. Our mental health as the world right now, collectively, horrible. I do recommend therapy. It's good to talk to somebody. It's good to process your emotions, understand what you're thinking. I'm just saying, try therapy. It can really help. If you've been waiting to start therapy, BetterHelp works with more than 25 health plan networks, and eligible members have an average copay of just $23 per session with insurance. If you don't have insurance or live outside the US, you can still get 10% off your first month. So visit BetterHelp.com slash Soder to explore your payment options. That's BetterHelp, H-E-L-P, dot com slash Soder. Dude, Ridge Wallet, I've known her since the Comptown days. And if you didn't, that was like their first sponsor, and they went all in. And then Ridge Wallet, I've known her since the Comptown days. And then Ridge Wallet sponsored this podcast, and I got a Ridge Wallet, and it rules. It feels like the, listen, we might be near the apocalypse. That's why I recommend the Ridge Wallet. It is the apocalypse wallet for, you're going to be out there, and you're going to need ID to give it to one of the government androids that's been uploaded with AI and is scanning you. Ridge Wallet, it'll keep it safe. I'm telling you, man. And from October 8th through November 5th, Ridge is running their friends and family. So if you buy two Ridge Powerbanks, which are awesome, by the way, the Powerbanks are worth everything. I've taken the Powerbank on the road with me, and this thing is awesome. But like I said, October 8th through November 5th, Ridge is running their friends and family sale, two Ridge Powerbanks, and you'll get a third free. That's three gifts people will actually use, or two gifts and one for yourself, if you're being real. But Ridge Wallet is legitimately, I mean, I remember it forever. And now that I have one, plus they do, like, personal ones, they do, like, you can, you know, obviously get a personal color, but there's, like, they do sports teams, they do everything. So you ready to get a head start on gifting? You can find Ridge Powerbank at Best Buy and Amazon, or go to Ridge.com slash Soder for Ridge's family and. Why do they do friends first? It's family and friends. Why are you doing friends and family? Why are you trying to be different, Ridge? Go to Ridge.com slash Soder for Ridge's family and friends sale, where you can buy two Ridge Powerbanks and get a third for free. That's Ridge.com slash. After you purchase, if they're going to ask where you heard about them, please support our show and tell them we sent you. What was the first arena back that you did? Do you remember that? Yep. We did WrestleMania the following year in front of a. At Tampa again. Yep. A restricted crowd. The whole roster came out initially in front of the crowd, where everybody was just letting them know, hey, we're back. Yeah. We're getting closer to normal. And then I was the very first entrance. After all that time off, after being champion for so long, basically during the whole time, there was nobody there. I made the first entrance in front of the live crowd, which was so cool. How did that feel? Unreal to see people again and thinking about all the falls that I took. I shouldn't have taken. I fell off a hell in the cell with nobody in the building. For those who don't know, it was a 20-foot cage. I was halfway up with Randy Orton, and I fell 10 feet through a table, which usually breaks your falling. Feels bad, but not too bad. Turns out with no adrenaline, it really hurts. That is crazy. Yeah, I was in a way 270 or so at the time. What's also crazy about that is you're driving a car without oil in it, because that adrenaline makes the gears move. It really hurt. My back, my neck, I bit through my tongue. I looked like a viper, which is ironic, since Randy's known as the viper. Spitting up blood everywhere. Stop taking my shit. But there is that. I remember being in St. Louis for the first time back, and I remember the first hour I did back doing stand-up, I was like, I had to look, check my time, and I was like, I did like an hour and 10, because I was just not used to talking to people. So I was just like, I don't want to leave. Let's keep talking. You guys want to talk. Don't make me put the muzzle back on. I was like, this is great, but it was. And then sometimes there's moments where I'm on the road, and I try to go back to that moment of feeling of like, I just wish there was still a room full of people. Because I think something that was lost now that we learned in that time is to be grateful for these moments where it's like a stadium full of people going nuts. Because it used to be like, oh, my God. People don't have perspective in these days. I know. And we're all guilty of it. We're all guilty of it. But I constantly use reminders myself, like the difficult times and personal tragedies. And we lost one of our community, one of our family, Ben. He wrestled his pack, 40 years old, this past week, and just worked his life off as an amazing talent, amazing person. I mean, he wrestled on Saturday night. He wrestled on Saturday. In the pay-per-view. He was gone, and it shooken us all up. And you should please go watch. His matches. I think both companies, WWE and AEW, have put most of his matches on YouTube. Check it out from his NXT days to the main roster. One of the best high flyers to ever do it. From day one. I met him coming out in the backyard in Carlisle, England, as a teenager. He was a teenager, too. Yeah. And they told me, wait till you see him. And it just blew my mind. I mean, that arrow. I mean, all of his. No, unreal. And the best thing about him is the same person I met in 2004. It was exactly the same person he was right until the end. And people look back. I always say to them, how do you want to do this? How do you want to be remembered? Your body of work is one thing. But do you want people to Google you and find out you were a piece of crap the whole time? So do you think he's always going to be remembered that way? But again, perspective, gratitude. It could all be over tomorrow. Yeah. You know, let's think of what's the big picture, what actually matters. Relative to time, we're all here for that long. And also, you do see that. And you go, like, man, that's, you know, when it happens that quick, you go, damn, I wish I had, you know, to be gratitude, like, an extra hang with him or just one more conversation. Yeah, phone call or something. We missed each other. His WWE run, I was fired during that time. So we'd come up together, missed him there, and we'd see each other like no time had passed. That's great. Hearing from his close friends, he never changed one bit. Yeah, and that is. So sudden, it sucks, but he'll be remembered forever as an amazing talent and an amazing person. And a guy that when you watch in person, as someone, I watched, I saw him live multiple times, and he's a guy that would just do these moves that you're like, that's insane. Yeah, and also within the confines of professional wrestling, he made it realistic. Yeah. Like, high flying, sometimes it's nonsensical. And I try to talk to the young guys about, hey, like, people kind of know. It's a show. But you're trying to make them forget. You're trying to suspend their disbelief. Don't make it Cirque du Soleil where they're doing this just because of the moves you're doing. You need to create an emotional connection and make everything make sense. Make everything as real as possible. And the crazy things he did, the way he would put his matches together, his aggression and intensity, it felt logical to me watching, even though it was completely insane. Yeah. That he was capable of physically. I mean, he would do these, I mean, these flips. The UK scene, I think, in general, the entire UK scene, from when you started at 16 to what it is now, with, you know, with Finn and working his school in Ireland and the guys that have came out of England and all that stuff. I mean, I remember growing up watching SummerSlam 92 in London and Bret Hart versus the British Bulldog outside of the Dynamite Kid and the British Bulldog. And, you know, I think, like, a couple other guys, Fit Finley, and, like, there weren't a lot of UK guys. And now it seems like you guys are one of the strongest hubs in professional wrestling. Oh, yeah. I mean, there's so many guys that have came out of there that are fucking awesome, and Australia, too. Yeah, all around the world. All around the world. Representation, WWE, AEW, all across the board. There's just so many, like, amazing, like, talent. Their level in the ring is just unbelievable. The character level, like, the people who are developing these characters, they don't all have to look like me. Like, the prototypical wrestlers, different shapes and sizes now that are really connecting with everyone across the world. And it's so cool to see. And the amount of Scottish people, there's only 5 million people in Scotland. Yeah. We've had about 10. scots in wwe most of them girls like when i went to wwe it was the first ever scottish guy ever signed to wwe when i found out piper was canadian it was like a santa claus moment for me i was like i was very upset one of the greatest of all times roddy roddy piper billed from glasgow scotland clearly he's from i think vancouver or british columbia he's from canada but he growing up you know wore the kilt to the ring that's my guy he's scottish i mean bret hart was my guy but i love piper piper as well well that's you kind of you know it's funny i grew up in colorado so for me i always loved two cold scorpio and uh vader because big van vader was from the rocky mountains and you were like he was awesome so you always love like the guy that's from where you're from we were like i love that guy is that crazy to think that there's a bunch of younger guys getting into wrestling or younger guys and girls getting into wrestling that now drew mcintyre's their guy where they're like yeah i grew up a lot of them and it's wild to me when even i was gone from the company and what i achieved what i achieved my first run obviously not to the level where i'm at now i heard that from young talent that are now you know on shows doing well coming to america and it was so cool to to see the outside scene like i returned to my home company in scotland insane championship wrestling the pbc documentary i'm already out where they became part of the glasgow culture like it wasn't just a wrestling show it was a thing glasgow people do was go to this show i love it was 1500 people in my return i got fired i was there three weeks later giving my mission statement it got over really big and i remember mick foley talked about it in stone cold's podcast a lot of people put it over and i said we're going to do big things with this company they were filming part two of the bbc documentary and same fight club too if anyone wants to watch it out there and um we grew that crowd from 1500 people just scottish people scottish guys to 2000 people for my first title match at the glasgow barrel lands we sold out you know people at stones bowie everyone's played in that place and then 4000 people the following year myself versus grado a scottish baby face and over 7 000 people and an over 18s only show over 7 000 people in the hydro where wwe do just me and my mates all working together having a laugh and that's what i did when i was away from the company it was you know not just grow as a performer be with my mates and grow the business outside the company this is why i love wrestling when people are like oh because there's like this just like that's how i feel about comedy when you see some of my friends get out you know i would argue my two of my best friends are at the top top guys in the in not in the business and you just go like this is insane we used to just we long stories to tales like yeah remember that time like i get like embarrassed to show stuff and some things at the house now whatever i was like yeah i just put a pavilion with a hot tub and a cold tub but remember that time where like the house i grew up in my head touched the roof and stuff like i can't but they're telling my dad and stuff and he's so proud he's almost emotional man cries everything he's so proud of everything when i told him i was in highlander burst into tears my first title defense i won the title in january uh beat cody for the world title in berlin the next day by the way great match go watch that the bash in berlin thank you the next day uh my first title defense in front of a lot of people and i was like oh my god i'm gonna win this match live crowd so i won the title in covid nobody there i won the title of wrestlemania um five minutes 46 seconds i had it yeah but i was proud of that five minutes 46 seconds seth rollins and i had a personal moment no professional rivals sure no think a lot of each other we had a private moment the crowd giving the big you deserve i finally got the tens of thousands of people chanting for me i presented the title to my wife like we did this together babe hugged my brother you've always been there my original tag partner brother then cm punk the piece of crap it was what a way to start off night two of wrestlemania i came back and said how are you gonna follow that yeah it was i watched i mean obviously wrestlemania 40 i would put that i was a top five wrestlemania i think top three i would even put it in there i put wrestlemania 40 top to bottom that moment night two i think night one everyone was like what's going on you know because they did the um they did the bloodline rule the tag team is yeah rock and rock and roman versus cody and uh seth seth and then they and then they won and night two starts off with that and it was like oh this is when he cashed in and then hit and it was unbelievable i mean you talking shit to him though it was just oh yeah that's good it's all about that emotional connection if you have a great match and no mix any noise what's the point but it's fantastic but i really do think like you know that live aspect of it and going back what i like to do is take friends of mine who aren't wrestling fans to live events yeah because i go don't watching it on tv you'll be able to point out direction and show my buddies back home yeah come to the live show and you'll see and i took i remember it was an nxt takeover this is when gunter was still walter and he took the uk title off pete dunn uh and it was at barclay center and i couldn't find anybody to go with and then i asked shane shane gillis at the time was my opener and i was like hey do you want to go you can drink beers and watch wrestling and he was like i haven't watched wrestling i like beer yeah he's like i like beer i like wrestling i like beer and he's like i haven't watched wrestling in forever and we sat there and he was just like that walter pete dunn match he's like who's this guy and i was like walter he goes this is my guy he's like i love him and since then he's been a gunter yeah he's been a gunter fan the entire time and that's what's crazy is like you know shane he was my buddy a guy that opened for me and now he's now that he's the top guy and we have that moment kind of like you're talking about with the cooling thing we were at an arena in utah that he had sold out yeah and he brings guys like me and big j and a couple other headliners that he used to work with for these shows and i remember we're in this tunnel and he's about ready to go out and he looks at me and he's like i just wanted to headline a thursday night at helium and it's like 20 000 people going nuts and you're like just a stadium yeah it was yeah he did the football he was there he filmed it at the football stadium it's incredible just the same as like our work we do we had one wrestlemania stadium show a year now i can't even count all the stadium shows yeah summer slam is growing so much yeah to stadiums and stuff it's just incredible but from the rock bands making it into stadiums now wb is in the stadiums you guys are in the state that's what i mean it's fandoms unbelievable it's crazy to watch you know i remember doing a show with shane in washington dc where it was literally 22 people to go to go see both of us i remember those days and then we're doing a dog yeah and then he's headlining the capital one arena and it's like you know 30 000 people and you're like this is insane it is awesome 12 000 i think sure what is the real project uh the vertical vertical short um it's um something that was brought to me i'd just been filming highlander i went into the last druid with russell crowe i was living in barcelona for 12 weeks so these two movies back to back where uh russell had actually called i met him on highlander briefly a couple hours you know had a drink or whatever is it crazy when you when you're just talking to maximus it isn't now but it was i mean the same thing yeah yeah initially watching him do his thing in highlander and then getting to spend time with them and he's such a you know wise wise guy such a life experience such a storyteller and then he called my guys you know said i want drew for this movie in spain and they said russell crowe's asking for him i was like sure he hasn't hung up call me back hold on robert de niro let me take this call real quick but none of that was true and then sure enough i worked with wwe and um i had to speak to nick canner president triple h sure all the becker head of creative and make sure they were okay with it because it was more time off tv it was another two months like hey i know just finished highlander and i've been off for a while from our show 52 weeks a year mind if i go do this thing with russell crowe they looked at it believed in the project and said go ahead do it as a more significant role a core character throughout the whole movie and chance to learn and spend time with russell which was unbelievable so i'm in barcelona and i get a call from ben hauser with wwe and say hey wwe is working on a cool little project i think you'll find interest and i want you to be involved with yeah we're working with the real shot company who do these vertical short movies and i want to send you the script over this character roscoe i think you'll find interesting and uh these little vertical shorts happen to be watching them as i was flying to scotland i was flying to barcelona i caught these little like quick little movie things or you know some one two minutes at a time they hit a little commercial but then you're hooked yeah yeah and the one i caught on one of the flights was this dad and he was just seemed like the nicest guy in the world and his evil ex-wife was after the call his money but then he had an evil daughter and the wife said it was like yeah give her all the money dad so much i don't know what's going on in part two piece of crap daughter i don't know where this goes and i was hooked into it he was like something from that world but it's not like a lot the thing you're describing he basically said just read the script and he was like i don't know what's going on it was an awesome script i was like this is a cool character it's uh throughout the whole thing there's there's action there's comedy there's heart in it which i was okay so where are we going to go with this because the things i saw weren't the biggest budget and it was like oh drew we're putting a lot into this real short putting a lot into this we're going to involve some of the superstars and it's going to be really good i love the script we beefed up the part we beefed up the script in general and um the way it's turned out we filmed in the hollywood hills we filmed at biltmore in la and we had an awesome bat cave our lead character is the james bond type yeah and the world's greatest secret agent favorite watch archer yeah i mean archer is one of the best he's basically archer yeah so i was like this is awesome you're arch i'll be cute to your to your archer cue from james bond but i'm the techie guy at the computer they just trying to reel him in and he's just like yeah man i've solved the mission but uh you know there's this girl she's like a 10 right now and a lot of this is improvised because it allows so much improvisation so like you said you know she's a 10 man so i'd like to provide something like i don't care if she's got a magical vagina that grants you wishes you're gonna get on that chopper that i said you're gonna get right now so they gave us that kind of freedom to have fun and the way it turned out is it's going to be awesome it's gonna be a lot of fun and it's coming soon i think that's also what a lot of studios and companies are realizing is like um you know we'll sit here and talk about being on the road and all the experience of putting in the road miles and learning that stuff but what happens is good leadership where they go well you do it we trust you things used to get noted to death oh this the this it's like it's awesome they're giving you a chance to make something and you go let me let's just see what this is oh yeah if they don't like it they're not going to use it but it was cool I got told like, hey, the lead actor I play, chase who plays adam the secret agent he was like hey you know i kind of improvise a lot i went me too yeah i could do that here he went do it here and it was like the okay corral we'd be back and forth try to make each other laugh if it was appropriate for the scene does that keep you sharp even though you're away from the wwe does that keep you sharp for like oh when you come back for promos oh yeah that's my favorite thing the past few years um when i was outside the company i really worked on the microphone stuff i mean you came back great came back great i found my voice finally found my character which is basically me there's a lot of truth in there and then i found like in real life i just talk so much crap and people are always laughing but i'm not like yourself i'm not like intent like in terms i can sit and write something i just unintentionally funny apparently and then sometimes i was like wow i kind of rip on people a lot i'm british i'm scottish we talk crap all the time maybe i should start doing that on screen and i really started letting people have it to the point they were forgetting they're playing a character like you said that about me i know i did i said about your character twitter don't be such a loser it's not you it's the character i'm talking to that sample size of the perfect sample size we want to see what he's talking about you and punk that entire rivalry oh yeah well it's fantastic to the point wrong winner in the end but in the end as a wrestling fan where where you get me as a lifelong fan where you go i feel like these motherfuckers really don't like each other it's a piece of trash yeah so much fun making fun of i don't care if you have offended him his stupid little feelings i saw he got himself in shape and i'll be gone for five months he finally found the gym that skinny fat piece of crap i was like oh you're in good shape for you you're not in good shape look at me he's like i'm in good shape you're in good shape for you oh your t-shirts lost their sleeves all of a sudden yeah like i really had so much fun during that period just ripping on him like you know i would call my wife into the shower that's what i don't know you they come up with your stuff yeah i'll be in the shower and if i think of like an idea i thought was funny and if she was rolled her eye i went oh that's a good one because she rolled her eyes i shouted baby i've got an idea like i've got one for punk she's like what is it and i was like okay like you know he's straight edge like yeah he doesn't drink he doesn't smoke um but he's he's injured all the time right i was like okay here's the line you know what's ironic about you punk you're straight edge you don't drink you don't smoke but you spend all your time in rehab nailed him with it on live tv i saw his face that's so great though you're soaping your hair and you go got him chuckling away but he to be fair he's a big piece of crap can't stand the ground he walks on but he is very very good at his job he's very good on the microphone he's charles manson like qualities the way he draws people in i'm like clearly i'm the good guy google my name my degrees of criminology google my name beyond all reasonable doubt i'm a good guy google his name piece of crap beyond all reasonable doubt and yet you're you're a warrior who got you through the pandemic you're picking him or this guy that comes back when shit's sweet yeah it is that is uh that's just awesome to hear because i love hearing about how what goes into a promo or when you get a good line where you go like got him oh yeah because that's what you keep something that the whole story and yeah people don't always are happy about it but i always just say as a mate just have something ready for me that's exactly how stand-up works too where you kind of just go like oh i think this line's funny i'll say it to katie sometimes she'll go is that it and then that makes me go well maybe it's just a premise yeah and you come back in here and you go i'm gonna go right i'll take some of the guys go is this funny like that's pretty funny i'm very cool just making sure roll your eyes at me we're putting in front of millions of people we do that we do that all the time i think honestly that's how most comics write jokes is you'll be with another comic and you go this is how you say it without putting your pride on the line where you go hey you ever heard anybody do a joke like this and then they go no and then you go you're a good guy you're a good guy you're a good guy you're is it funny you're like what do you know yeah uh dude thank you for coming by man when they said that you were able to do the podcast i was like drew mcintyre's the fucking man and i think you are like as we're uh similar age ranges and just watching someone like you uh kind of get a golden ticket and then have it taken away and work your ass back to not only earning it but to standing that ticket is something that i think anybody in any field should watch and and study and go like it's never over until you say it's over thank you and uh it's fucking awesome and i am legitimately fucking stoked for highlander like that is that was a real time finding out that wasn't a movie that was like oh dude i can't fucking wait i can't wait to see it's gonna be awesome but we'll be out to next year though the first thing about those agent of shadows on the real real short app yeah check out the real short app and check the wwe reels uh in the short form but uh more importantly go get the world title yeah i'll be back soon you know i'm kind of focused on hollywood drew right now this is the longest time i've had off in my career like i've literally never had five five months off ever even with injuries i'd torn my bicep in 2017 and i got so bored i would drive to the pc in orlando when i lived in tampa two hour drive um and i'd work with sean michaels because why wouldn't you not want to work with sean michaels but i was like yeah can i come in and just work with you i was like yeah sure because i've been crazy in these past five months it's been wild been out the ring but the opportunity to do all these projects at highlander last drew i'm agent of shadows on the real world and um there's a disney thing i can talk about now coming out i did a little voice for something that i won't ruin now hex it's called hex go see it go see it i've been trying different things and the boss has been cool with it it's so cool and it's awesome that wb's directly getting involved with the future because everybody now is like this on their phone the fact that it's quick snippets people have no attention span this is the youth they're going to be obsessed with that's that is the way to go you gotta you gotta adapt and you gotta move forward but dude thanks for coming on man no thank you for having me discover a spectacular island destination with crystal blue seas endless sunshine and the cool bahamian breeze baja mar located in nassau bahamas offers your choice of three luxury hotels the richly refined rosewood the playfully hip sls and the stylishly modern grand hyatt with over 45 restaurants bars and lounges baja mar serves up delicious dining from world-renowned chefs like daniel balud and marcus samuelson nightlife venues like the new john batiste jazz club and the caribbean's most luxurious casino at baja mar you'll find every pleasure under the sun and one-of-a-kind experiences for the entire family like baja bay our 15 acre lush tropical water park interactive wildlife experiences including our daily flamingo parade world-class spa and so much more visit baja mar.com 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