Drew McIntyre Talks Fan Backlash to Losing WWE Title to Cody Rhodes and Retirement Timeline

Drew McIntyre addressed several topics during an appearance on Insight with Chris Van Vliet on Thursday, including his recent WWE Championship loss to Cody Rhodes and his future retirement plans.

McIntyre dropped the WWE title to Rhodes on the March 6 episode of SmackDown, just over one month before WrestleMania 42. At the 53:40 mark of his interview with Van Vliet (h/t Felix Upton of Ringside News), The Scottish Warrior discussed the fan reaction to his loss and his own feelings about it:

"I don't make those decisions," McIntyre said. "[WWE head of creative] Triple H is in charge for a reason. But the fans getting disappointed on my behalf—I appreciate it. Sometimes I am equally as personally disappointed."

McIntyre also expressed his belief that those labeling him a "transitional champion" are incorrect despite him only holding the WWE title for two months.

"The 'transitional' thing people are saying, I don't believe that to be the case," McIntyre said. "I think it's another part of Drew McIntyre's story. Personally, it sucks. I would love to walk into WrestleMania with the title. Whatever was supposed to happen, it would have been very cool."

For quite some time, it looked as though McIntyre would defend the WWE Championship against either Rhodes or multiple Superstars at WrestleMania, but that changed at Elimination Chamber.

McIntyre interfered in the men's Elimination Chamber match, leading to Randy Orton's win, but Rhodes was then granted a title match against McIntyre on the next episode of SmackDown, and Rhodes was victorious due partly to interference from Jacob Fatu.

Now, McIntyre is set to face Fatu in an unsanctioned match at WrestleMania 42 in order to settle their heated rivalry.

McIntyre suggested that he understands WWE breaking up the storyline into two separate matches with himself vs. Fatu and Rhodes vs. Orton, and he views his WrestleMania clash with The Samoan Werewolf as a big deal.

"But things happen in the bigger picture," McIntyre said. "As I say over and over, as a company—with WrestleMania being two days—we need big matches, we need surprises. And this gave us two giant matches.

"For Drew McIntyre, you know, screwing over Cody—it makes perfect sense to set up the match for Jacob Fatu, and we get this crazy match: Drew McIntyre vs. Jacob Fatu. People see it and go, 'Wow, Drew was screwed… but did he deserve it?'

"And Cody and Randy get their match over there. I appreciate the fans, and if anything doesn't work out and I'm sitting there at one point thinking, 'Oh my God, no one cares, the story didn't make sense,' I'll be the first one to point it out. But that hasn't happened so far."

At 40 years of age, McIntyre is still performing at an elite level, 25 years after making his in-ring debut.

While some wrestlers begin thinking about transitioning toward retirement at his age, McIntyre noted at the 6:40 mark of Thursday's interview (h/t Upton) that he believes he has plenty of gas left in the tank.

"I know my wife feels like it's gonna be a lot shorter than I probably feel it's going to be, especially with how I feel now and how creatively fulfilled I feel these days," McIntyre said. "But as long as I'm happy, as long as she's happy, and as long as the fans are happy with what I'm doing, I don't see any reason to slow down anytime soon, especially when I see guys getting up there in age right now and moving as well as they're moving right now, because we've just moved so far forward with athletes. Look at LeBron James or [Cristiano] Ronaldo, for example, the same age as me, and they're just still at the top of their game."

McIntyre hasn't shown any signs of slipping in the ring or in terms of his promo work, so there is plenty of reason to believe he will be at or near the top of WWE for many years to come.

Given that the participants in the two likely WrestleMania main events this year are all 40 or older, McIntyre's age is essentially the prime for a pro wrestler now, and he should continue to receive plenty of meaningful opportunities in the future.