Drew McIntyre talks about release from WWE on Chris Jericho's podcast

Former WWE superstar Drew McIntyre (now going by his real name Drew Galloway) was a guest on Chris Jericho's podcast and talked about a number of different topics. Here a few highlights:

On how it felt to be released:

"To be honest, it was a bit of a shock, a big bit of a shock. Whatever anyone thinks about 3MB or myself and my wrestling ability, we were on everything. We were filling a role and they felt that we should be filling it at the time I guess in their opinion and we were on literally everything. To say it was a surprise was a very accurate statement."

Whether there was any indication that his time with the WWE was coming to an end:

"Absolutely zero indication. We were working as hard as we could with the position that we were in to do the best that we could with every situation presented. With everything considering I think we did a pretty good job with what they were asking of us. Yeah, I'm pretty shocked."

On how the WWE went about releasing him:

"I got a phone call from the office. It's on the Internet if anyone wants to see exactly who called. To be honest, in his tone he gave the politically correct call, but he was surprised as well as I was, as you said yourself was. The outreach from people that I respect like yourself and direct messages on Twitter from people that I won't name by name, they know who they are, people in wrestling that I just respect so much, my fellow colleagues […] when I saw how everybody felt, I was just like, 'God, I wish [WWE] felt that way.'"

"I was at home, I had just woken up, I had a message and I assumed it was something to the effect of, 'We need you on a weekend live event on Friday,' or something. The last thing I expected was [to be released] to be honest. I don't know. I don't know how I feel right. I'm nervous, but I'm so excited about the future. All I've ever known was wrestling. That's all I was ever going to be. I was born to be a wrestler. I was naturally blessed being 6'5'' and the way I look physically and they I look facially, how everyone perceived me as a Spartacus-looking guy."

How 3MB was formed:

"To be honest, with 3MB it was unfortunate because we were pretty much dead in the water before we began. A funny story, the day before 3MB was formed [Vince McMahon] wanted to find out how well I would be as a good guy, as a babyface. He put a match together with myself on Superstars with myself and Jinder [Mahal], of all people, the day before 3MB was formed. We had a match on Superstars, it went real good, the crowd got with me considering how they had known me in the past and it came off real good. The feedback was, 'This could be a really good thing for Drew.' The next day, [McMahon] decides Heath Slater, who was doing the one-man band gimmick at the time, needed a band. He looks down the list and everyone is expecting some obvious choices, I won't name the names, but people can pretty much figure out who might fit in that situation. He looks down and goes, 'Okay … Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal.' I think everybody in the room's jaw dropped."

"The biggest problem of all was that I actually had a broken wrist at the time and it had been broken probably six months prior. I just hadn't said anything. I just tried to work through it. I knew something was wrong. Finally, the doctor caught me messing with it at every single show. He looked at it, X-rayed it, finally decided a couple of weeks before 3MB debuted that I need surgery. I don't know if someone wasn't willing to speak up, they weren't aware yet, but 3MB had started and the heater had a broken wrist and needed wrist surgery and was not allowed to be touched for six months and not allowed to touch anybody else. So we were dead in the water right before we even began. It was unfortunate.

"The Shield debuted right after us. We were dead in the water to begin with. I literally couldn't do anything. I managed for six months. When I came back, we were already beyond repair."

"We just didn't get a fair shake that we should have."

On having his ideas shot down:

"There were so many ideas. I became friends with Adam Jones from Tool, who was willing to do anything with us for nothing and they weren't biting. I didn't understand that. It just didn't seem like good business when he came to me and said, 'Hey Drew, I'm willing to do anything to help you out. I pitched it and it didn't go any further."

McIntyre and Jericho also talk about how he made his to the United States and the real reason why he thinks his push up the WWE ladder was unceremoniously derailed.

On his future plans:

"I'm not sad. I've had a good time. Like say over and over again, I will be back. It's that simple, but I'm excited to just show everybody what I can really do. I'm so fired up. I'm beyond fired up. I love wrestling. I want to travel around to as many shows as possible. When I'm on a show, I'm one of these guys who phone it in. I'm a wrestler. I'm bringing something not many people can bring. I'm 6'5'', 250 [pounds], in shape. I like to think I can go pretty hard. I can make people remember and I plan to make a stamp all over America and the world."

To hear the full interview, click HERE.