Drew McIntyre Thanks The Rock for Believing in Him Months Before WWE Title Win

In July 2019, long before he was taking down Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 36, Drew McIntyre got a shoutout from The Rock as the next big thing in WWE.

McIntyre has not forgotten the compliment. The WWE champion spoke with TMZ Sports and gave a shoutout to The Rock for his comments. 

"I want to give a shoutout because you guys posted something, like four months ago, five months ago, with The Rock," McIntyre said. "I just remembered it right before I got on the call—'TMZ? Why does that ring a bell? They said something. They caught The Rock when I was doing nothing.' It was interesting and he took a moment when you said, 'Who is going to be the next breakout star?' and he said Drew McIntyre. If you watch what I was doing at the time, I was doing nothing. I wasn't showing my personality, which I've done over the past few months as I got steam rolling. 

"I wasn't on a winning streak or anything and he pointed me out. It's interesting with guys like, Vince McMahon and The Rock, when they see something in somebody that maybe others don't or maybe you don't see in yourself. I wanted to say thank you for seeing that in me, too. It's pretty cool, these people that believed in me that are so influential in the entertainment industry."

The Rock said McIntyre had a "great look" in the July interview, adding the next step of his potential would be connecting with the audience. McIntyre began doing just that in the build to WrestleMania, getting himself over as a no-nonsense babyface who could believably take down Lesnar.

It's unclear if The Rock's co-sign had any weight in WWE offices, but it clearly meant something to McIntyre.