Drew McIntyre On Top Stars He Wants To Face, Being Close To Signing With NJPW When Triple H Called
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre recently spoke with Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated to discuss various topics, including Sunday's win over Bobby Lashley at WWE Backlash.
McIntyre had nothing but praise for Lashley, and said it's perfect working with him.
"Bobby is a once-in-a-lifetime athlete," McIntyre said. "He's not built for show, he's built to go. He has such an impressive MMA and wrestling background outside of the company, and it's so important for him to be presented in the right manner. I always thought Bobby could talk, too, but now he has MVP by his side, one of the best talkers in the game.
"Being so big and physical, it's so perfect working with Bobby. When he's presented the right way, it is believable that he can take down anyone."
Regarding potential opponents, McIntyre said WWE Intercontinental Champion AJ Styles is at the top of his list.
"The top of my wish list is AJ," McIntyre said. "We're two ships in the night. When I was gone from the company and headed toward Impact Wrestling, he was on the way out and I just missed him. He went to Japan and even though a lot of independent shows tried to get us together, it never worked out. AJ went to WWE, I returned to WWE, but we were both bad guys on Raw. I thought it was finally about to happen, and then he went to SmackDown. Eventually, it's going to happen."
He also named Sheamus, Jinder Mahal, plus SmackDown Tag Team Champions Kofi Kingston and Big E, Daniel Bryan, Cesaro, Randy Orton and The Undisputed Era (WWE NXT Champion Adam Cole and Roderick Strong) as Superstars he'd like to have singles runs with.
McIntyre also said he'd like to face two wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling – Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada. He noted that he was headed to NJPW when Triple H called him to return to WWE back in 2017. McIntyre believes his style would be perfect in Japan, but he could also learn a lot.
"Before Hunter called me to come back to WWE, the place I was going next was Japan," McIntyre revealed. "My style would be perfect there and I could learn so much. The two opponents on the top of my list were Tanahashi and Okada. Ospreay would be great, as well. I wrestled him outside of WWE in a couple of my favorite matches. But still, I have to go with Tanahashi and Okada."