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Drew McIntyre has begun to make a name for himself in Hollywood, and he recently explained why these opportunities are now possible in the current era of WWE.
McIntyre was one of WWE's top stars when Vince McMahon was at the helm. He remained a prominent member of the roster when Triple H (Paul Levesque) became the Chief Content Officer.
While he has continued to solidify himself as a main player in the world title scene, he has also been dipping his toe into acting, like Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, and others. Though he has been absent from WWE programming, his return is reportedly in the works.
In a new interview, McIntyre discussed how he's able to take on these new opportunities and why that wasn't the case under McMahon's leadership.
Speaking on Busted Open, McIntyre discussed breaking into the acting world. He expressed his gratitude to Triple H and WWE President Nick Khan for giving him the freedom to do so.
“In the past, things have came up that have been brought to management and have been shut down," he said. "Like, ‘Hey, we need you here. We need you on the show. These days, both the lads see it as, hey, if this is good for you and your brand, you want to do it, that’s awesome. If it works for our brand, if it helps everybody, if it gets more eyes on the product, then they’re all about it. "
“Vince was very much like, I need you here. To be fair, we had so many live events back in the day. My entire life, up until the past few years, was wrestling every single week, 52 weeks a year, three times a week, minimum, so really needing people, the bigger stars to advertise on the live events to sell those tickets, and I get it. But there were some big opportunities."
McIntyre then joked that McMahon took issue with agents trying to get him into projects outside WWE. He circled back to how Khan and Triple H are receptive because they see how it can only help the company if its superstars grow their brand elsewhere.
"I won’t say some names, but the biggest names of all...Vince called and threatened to murder agents trying to get me into projects," he said with a laugh. "But yeah, he was very much of that mindset. But as I said, Nick and Paul are very much of the mindset, if it makes sense, if it helps everybody and helps your brand, which in turn helps our brand. I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. "
As of this writing, McIntyre remains absent from WWE, with no official word on when he will return. It's safe to say that when he returns, he'll aim to make a splash and win the world title back sooner rather than later.