KEY POINTS

  • Drew McIntyre's time with WWE hasn't always been great
  • His WWE run started with an Intercontinental championship run
  • McIntyre looks back fondly at his run as a member of 3MB

In recent months, WWE has been releasing superstars left and right in the name of cost-saving measures--highlighted by the arrival of Nick Khan early last year.

From household names such as Aleister Black, Andrade and Braun Strowman to lesser-known but equally important backstage presence veterans like Tyler Breeze, all have seen their time with WWE come to an end.

Usually, superstars only come back after their prime years for one last ride before officially calling it a career.

The best example of this is Batista, who has had a successful Hollywood career and then came back to the company for one last Wrestlemania run against his former Evolution stablemate, Triple H.

This hasn’t been the case for Drew McIntyre’s career.

Dubbed “The Chosen One” in his main roster debut in 2009, McIntyre was quickly pushed to the moon as he was given an Intercontinental Championship run to start off his WWE career.

However, McIntyre had been floundering around the mid-card scene with not much to do.

Speaking in a virtual press conference, McIntyre was asked by International Business Times about the recent WWE releases and how the Three Man Band--commonly known as 3MB--came to be.

Drew McIntyre
Former WWE champion Drew McIntyre as he makes his entrance to the ring prior to a match. WWE

“I remember the idea of a pitch that Heath [Slater] was going to have a band and they were throwing out suggestions, Heath was throwing out suggestions, the writers were throwing out suggestions. I believe Dean Ambrose, Joseph Curtis (Curtis Axel) and Fandango were a couple of people suggested, those people that have a quirky personality so you can imagine ‘em in a rock group,” McIntyre recalled.

However, WWE chairman and CEO Vince McMahon wants to see superstars try something new.

“He doesn’t think like everybody. He thought, ‘I want Jinder Mahal and Drew McIntyre’ because we were so freaking serious with our original characters. He wanted to see some different personalities. It’s the ‘entertainment’ in World Wrestling Entertainment. He wanted to see what we can do and that’s why we got paired together,” the Scottish wrestler stated.

On how he found out he was a part of 3MB

“Before I got told, I believe they told Jinder in the hallway that he’s in Heath’s group, so no problem there. I think they drew straws to tell me,” said McIntyre.

“For some reason, I had a reputation as a bit of a hot-head when I was younger and I think they drew straws and that one writer [drew the short straw] and had to find me. He took me far away into the stands in the arena, sat me down, and took a step back so he wasn’t within a striking zone, then he told me,” he laughingly remembered.

“I said ‘okay, cool’ because I haven’t been doing anything for a long time and I was just happy to be involved in any storyline that would get me on television. I’ve been on Superstars for so long, felt like I was having good matches, and knew that I needed a character, I knew I needed a story, this was a story.”

3MB didn’t amount to much in the long run, and it led to the release of both McIntyre and Mahal--leaving Slater the only member on the roster.

However, all members would go on to become titleholders in WWE.

Slater, alongside Rhyno, would become the inaugural Smackdown Tag Team Champions, Mahal became a WWE Champion in 2017, and McIntyre would become a Triple Crown champion after a scintillating win over Brock Lesnar at Night Two of WrestleMania 36.

“It didn’t quite get off the ground, but the fans seemed to like it when we were on every show and the three of us had a lot of fun doing it together,” he said fondly.