Drew McIntyre Opens Up About Losing His Confidence In 2013, If He Would Ever Shave His Beard

Since his return to WWE in 2017, Drew McIntyre has clearly evolved from his first run with the company. Speaking to Sports Guys Talk Wrestling, the former 3MB-member-turned-WWE-Champion says there are moments early in his career he could've believed his current success, but there were also other moments he would've never considered it.

"In '07/'08 if you had told me I would become WWE Champion, I would've said, 'Absolutely, of course I am,' because I was such a cocky kid," McIntyre said. "It was probably around like, you know, '13, '14 that I wasn't the most confident. That if you had told me I was going to become champion in general, I would not have believed you because I had lost all my confidence."

McIntyre's ups and downs were touted in his WWE Network documentary, WWE 24: The Chosen One. Even though the documentary touches on all of McIntyre's successes, the WWE Champion says it was important to him that his tough times were highlighted as well.

"Yeah, I mean, the 24 as I wanted it to be – I told WWE Network to not hold back," McIntyre said. "I told my family and friends, 'Don't hold back.' Tell the true story, and not just the good times but the bad times and the really, really bad times, because I don't want to lie to my fans. I want them to know exactly who I am, and hopefully I can, you know, inspire them during these difficult times. The night is always darkest before the dawn."

Speaking on the bad times, McIntyre reiterated that there are some moments from his documentary that he would not want to watch back.

"There are certain parts that are difficult to watch back," McIntyre said. "The time in my life when my mother got sick and inevitably passed. When I talk about that in the documentary, I can't watch that and watch myself talking about it. It's hard to watch my dad get emotional about it, also. Even watching my dad with how proud he is of me, thanking my wife for looking after me, and helping me finally grow up from a boy in my early career, getting fired, to finally becoming a man because she's a huge part of my story. So those parts are pretty difficult for myself to watch. But I wanted to let the world into the McIntyre family – the Galloway family – and tell them my true story with no details left out."

Aside from his evolved demeanor and presentation, the 'Scottish Psychopath' looks physically different than his first run with WWE. He's bulkier, sporting darker hair, and has a black beard to boot. When asked if he would ever ditch the facial hair for a clean-shaven look similar to his first run, McIntyre says there's no chance.

"Absolutely not," McIntyre said. "I still look about 15 [years old] underneath this beard. I know when I was younger, I looked like one of those Abercrombie Fitch models, or a swimsuit model, or something... Underneath this beard is still that baby face. It doesn't quite complete the rugged, Scottish look."

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit Sports Guys Talk Wrestling and give a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.

Liam Crowley contributed to this article.