| Advertisement |
March 19 (UPI) -- WWE superstar Drew McIntyre is gearing up for his second WrestleMania main event in a row as he challenges Bobby Lashley for the WWE Championship. "We're going to give them their money's worth, give them a main event they'll remember, and Drew McIntyre's going to have his moment in front of a whole stadium of fans," the grappler told UPI.
Advertisement
WWE will be allowing a limited number of fans to view WrestleMania 37 live at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. The marquee event, which will stream exclusively on Peacock, takes place over two nights April 10 and 11.
WrestleMania is WWE's biggest event of the year where legends are born, epic rivalries end and the world of sports entertainment is celebrated. McIntyre was in the main event of WrestleMania last year in which he defeated Brock Lesnar in less than five minutes.
No fans attended last year's Wrestlemania. It was held in WWE's empty Performance Center due to the COVID-19 pandemic, making it one of the most unique WrestleManias ever.
"Very proud and very happy with what we did last year, but I'm looking to go out there and show the world a couple of things," McIntyre said. "This is a traditional heavyweight clash, kind of what wrestling was built on.
"Also we're going to show everybody that Bobby Lashley belongs on that stage, in the main event of WrestleMania. He's absolutely killing it."
McIntyre and Lashley have had their ups and downs in WWE, with both men leaving the company and then returning. McIntyre was with WWE from 2007 to 2014 and returned in 2017. Lashley was with WWE from 2005 to 2008 and came back in 2018.
"Big things were expected of us, it didn't quite pan out. We went away, we worked extremely hard to get back and we worked extremely hard to work our way back up the card," McIntyre said.
"And you know, Lashley's been through some interesting storylines. He really ate some crap and learned to like the taste of it, but he put his hours in and paid his dues. He deserves every opportunity in the world -- but so does Drew McIntyre."
The Scottish Warrior was WWE Champion for the majority of the pandemic, wrestling in an empty Performance Center and later before virtual crowds inside WWE's ThunderDome. McIntyre also has been the face of WWE's weekly Raw show during an unprecedented time.
"I've wrestled in front of no fans and I took it as OK, let's try and figure out new ways to reach our fans at home, and it all rolls downhill from the top," McIntyre said.
He said he was excited to have fans live at WrestleMania 37, calling them "WWE's secret sauce."
McIntyre said that WWE gave everyone an escape during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I've spoken to my friends back home in the U.K., friends across the world, friends here, and they told me they were struggling, especially mentally. Having that constant thing that you could look forward to, that original WWE show every week, really helped them get by," he said.
Before he takes on Bobby Lashley, McIntyre will be battling his former friend Sheamus at the Fastlane pay-per-view event Sunday. The show can be streamed on Peacock or the WWE Network starting at 7 p.m. EDT.
Sheamus and McIntyre are close friends outside the ring, but on Raw, the Celtic Warrior felt wronged by not getting a WWE Championship match when McIntyre held the title. The pair have been feuding ever since, resulting in a number of hard-hitting matches. The rivalry will come to a head Sunday.
"Sheamus and I bring the best and worst out of each other. We've been friends for almost 20 years now, best friends. We helped each other through the good times and bad times and pushed each other to be the best version of ourselves that we possibly can be," the 35-year-old said.
Fastlane is the first pay-per-view event that can be streamed on Peacock. The WWE Network, WWE's streaming service that features pay-per-view shows, moved over to NBCUniversal's Peacock on Thursday, making it WWE's new streaming home in the United States.
Peacock will begin its WWE rollout with a dedicated page on the service, where fans can browse and access every pay-per-view event in the last calendar year, current or most recent season episodes of WWE original series.
That includes Steve Austin's Broken Skull Sessions, new weekly episodes of NXT the day after airing, replays of Raw and SmackDown 30 days after airing, documentaries such as Undertaker: The Last Ride, reality series like Total Bellas and collections and playlists of topical WWE moments.
All of the WWE Network content will be migrated to Peacock eventually. McIntyre said he was excited about the partnership and how more viewers will be able to check out WWE.
"There could be a new fan tuning in for the first time, and I want to give them WrestleMania every single time Drew McIntyre is out there," he said.
