WWE's Drew McIntyre Opens Up About Making The Killer's Game With Dave Bautista

WWE star Drew McIntyre has had a pretty busy 2024. It started with a match with Seth Rollins for the World Heavyweight title on "WWE Raw" Day 1. Before the 2024 Royal Rumble, he beat future world champ Damian Priest. On Night 2 of WrestleMania 40, McIntyre beat Rollins to capture the title, only to lose it when Priest cashed in his Money in the Bank contract. And all throughout, he's been feuding with nemesis CM Punk, whose interference arguably cost McIntyre his title at WrestleMania and whose interference definitely impacted his title shot against Priest at Clash at the Castle. Punk was also a factor in McIntyre's own failed MITB cash-in on the same night he won the briefcase, though he gained a measure of revenge by beating Punk at SummerSlam.

With all the time he's spent on CM Punk, it's hard to believe McIntyre has had time for much else this year, but he's also made his first feature film for the big screen, appearing alongside another wrestler-turned-actor in former WWE star Dave Bautista. Wrestling Inc. got the chance to speak to McIntyre recently during the media junket for "The Killer's Game" — which took place the week before Bash in Berlin — about his experience making the film, his future in WWE, and his then-upcoming strap match with CM Punk at Bash in Berlin.

Kevin Tall: So on September 13, fans will get to see you grace the big screen in 'The Killer's Game' as you bring to life Rory McKenzie, an assassin tasked with taking out another assassin, Joe Flood, as played by Dave Bautista. First of all, what was your experience like making the film?

Drew McIntyre: Fun a lot, a lot of fun. Something I was excited about was the part of Rory sounded so much like a lot of people I know back in Scotland, but at the same time just something so different, something that excited me and the fact that it was with Dave, somebody I have history with and grew up around when I first came to WWE, I knew I'd have a certain level of comfort while I was over there. And not only did I have Dave, Scott Adkins, who played my brother in the movie, Angus, he was also there helping me relax. And once I got truly relaxed, which is basically when I saw the red light, that's been my comfort zone my whole adult life. When I see that red light I relax, I become the part. And it was something that I could see myself doing in the future, let's say, that I didn't see myself doing before.

How did you become involved with the project?

Dave, he called me himself, had told me the plot of the movie; I don't want to spoil anything for anybody, but he plays a hitman. Not much happiness going on in his life; he finds the happiness, things are going swimmingly until they're not and he puts a hit on himself and cannot get the hit undone. So a lot of people are coming to kill him. So I was excited about that. That sounds pretty fun. And he said 'JJ, the director has this idea for these Scottish brothers, the Mackenzie brothers, that are going to kind of be like, I don't know, Bebop and Rocksteady almost like. He's got somebody who's going to play Angus, a smaller brother, but he needed somebody who was physically imposing that could look like they're able to beat me up. Somebody who's ideally Scottish that has a thick accent, really ham up the accent; he's kind of unintelligible at times because the accent's so thick, who drinks a lot, fights a lot' and Dave's like 'I know that guy he exists. He's called Drew McIntyre, let me call him right now' and pitched it to me and yeah, I'm glad he did. Yeah, this has been so much fun. And now I'm sitting talking about my first movie, looking at myself on the front of the poster. It's pretty surreal.

This will be your big screen debut; how excited are you for its release?

It's very exciting. I love the movie itself. When I watched the preview at home, I got into it like this is the kind of movie I love myself and suddenly I'm on screen. 'Oh crap, that's right, I'm in this thing.' But I guess there's also a couple of nerves. I'm just curious what people are going to think when old Rory Mackenzie pops up on screen. But I know I had fun, so hopefully the fans will have fun watching the movie and watching myself in there.

Circling back just a bit, it sounds like maybe you didn't envision yourself being a Hollywood full-timer previously, but is that something you could see yourself doing after you've had your fill of professional wrestling?

Yep. I didn't see it in the past. It was brought to my attention in countless interviews like we're doing right now. As 'It's something we could see you in. I could picture you in this picture, put you in this, all these Marvel movies, you look like you've fallen out of Game of Thrones or something.' And I was just like, 'No, it's just not where I'm looking right now.' I'm so focused on wrestling and thanks to this opportunity and how much fun I had and the fact that my wife's always telling me, 'You need this avenue where you can put your creative mind to, especially when you start slowing down your career, you're closer to the finish line than you are at the beginning' and now I am very open to whatever gets put my way, something that piques my interest and if it does, I'm probably going to do it. So if anyone's got an idea out there, send it this way, I'll either tell you no or you'll have Drew McIntyre in your next movie.

You recently turned 39 in June, so assuming you're allowed to go out on your own terms, barring any kind of injury, how long do you anticipate your in-ring career lasting?

I have no timeline. I literally take life as it comes. We're all here for a good time, not a long time. And all that matters is I do what makes me happy. What makes me happy is wrestle and exciting projects like this. And I'm going to continue to do both until my body tells me it's time to stop. And that's not anytime soon.

Rory Mackenzie's vocabulary includes some words probably you won't hear on WWE programming on basic cable. With the move to Netflix next your, how do you think that'll impact what fans are hearing from you and other performers?

I mean, I was literally pitching to an executive last night about how I'm going to drop the C-word in the cold open on Netflix. They were not so receptive. But yeah, I mean, I'd love to say we're all going to go crazy and start swearing left and right, but the truth is, if you overdo the swearing or overdo the excess violence, it loses meaning. So even though we will have a little more freedom, I think we've still got to pick and choose those moments so that it doesn't get lost and people go, 'Alright, this is not hitting as hard because I've heard the same word 12 times throughout this three-hour show.' Or maybe two-hour show if we go back to two hours.

How do fight and stunt choreography compare to putting a live match together?

Very different. I wrestle a very physical style. I can't just punch people in the face or chop them as hard as I can until blood starts running down them. Dave probably wouldn't have appreciated that. So I just had to learn about different camera angles, how to deliver those punches so they look as effective as possible on film. And it was fun and because of my background with WWE, it was a seamless transition, but it was cool to try something different. And the best part of all was watching it back and seeing the results. 'Wow, this is what we were talking about here when I do this, and this is why this worked and this amazing.' I wish I knew his name off the top of my head; one of the heads of the stunt team was doing real time editing, was able to show me what it will look like in the end, and I just couldn't believe how quickly we kind of put it together, got the scene filmed and how amazing it looked 10 minutes after it was shot. And then seeing it in the actual film itself. It's just unbelievable what they can do today and how the movie looks, how amazing the fight scenes are and to have one of my own is just mind-blowing.

Speaking of live matches and trying to take out guys who were absent from WWE for years, you're scheduled to face your nemesis, CM Punk, in a strap match this weekend at Bash in Berlin. How are you feeling after last night's shenanigans?

I feel fine. I'm invincible. I'm in my prime. I'm a 6'5, 280 pound monster, handsome monster at that, and CM Punk is a fragile nostalgia act that is about to get whipped into dust on Saturday. He's got his licks in on me, but I've not hit him back once. If you notice, as I pointed out last night on Raw, he always attacks me from behind. He can't face me like a man because he's terrified of me and he should be terrified of me. I'd be scared of me too, but eventually in Berlin we're going to be strapped by the wrist to the strap. He can't get away from me. And when I finally deliver that first blow, he's going to beg for mercy and I'm not going to stop. I have to touch four corners and I'm just going and I'm going to keep going and I'm going to keep going with 'The Passion of the Punk' and I'm not going to stop until he stops moving. Then I'll drag his carcass round each four side, then he'll retire and everybody will rejoice and I'll get arm surgery from all the high-fives that I'll get from the boys.

If you could send CM Punk a message before Bash in Berlin, what would you say to him right now?

Can you bleep this?

Sure.

You're f***ed.

Anything else?

No, that's it. He's f***ed. He's genuinely f***ed ... And I'm keeping this [holds up wrist to show CM Punk's friendship bracelet].

Speaking of the bracelet, what initially made you even think of taking it?

He just wears it everywhere. He's clearly got some weird emotional attachment to a piece of trash and he hurt me in ways that I haven't gone into detail about during the first run I had with WWE and it caused my career to be adversely affected, it caused me emotional pain. So I want to cause him as much emotional pain as possible because the physical pain's easy. I tore his tricep without even trying. So imagine I'm going to do to him on Saturday.

Alrighty. Well I think we're out of time, Drew, so I appreciate you taking some time to talk to me today.

Thank you brother, appreciate you.

"The Killer's Game" will be released on Friday, September 13.