Drew McIntyre: WWE release 'a bit of a shock'

Drew McIntyre was released by WWE just one week ago after eight long years working for the company. Now, for the first time, he breaks his silence in an interview with Chris Jericho on the Talk is Jericho podcast to speak on his release, how he feels about it, how he received the news, and what the future holds.

Here's a short transcription of the start of the conversation:

"To be honest, it was a bit of a shock, a big bit of a shock. You know, however, or whatever anyone thinks about 3MB or myself and my wrestling ability we were on everything fulfilling a role. They felt that I shouldn't be filling it at the time, I guess, in their opinion. And we were on literally everything, so, yeah... To say it was a surprise was a very accurate statement.

"No, (I had) absolutely zero indication (I was going to be released). We were working as hard as we could in the position we were in to do the best that we could with every situation presented to us. Considering, I think we did a pretty good job for what they were asking of us.

"Yeah, I'm pretty shocked.

"A phone call (came) from the office -- and it's on the Internet if anyone wants to check (to see) exactly who called -- and to be honest I just told him... like, he gave the politically correct, you know, call. But he was surprised like I was. The outreach from people that I respect, like yourself, and direct messages on Twitter, people that I wouldn't name by name, they know who they are, people in wrestling that I just respect so much. My fellow colleagues, everybody, how they felt personally about me and my, whatever, my wrestling, however they felt of what I shouldn't be doing. You know, I'm not in a position to choose what I should be doing. I do whatever I can. I'm so happy to be in the WWE I'll do whatever they throw in front of me to the best of my ability. Yeah, when I saw how everybody felt I just was like 'god, I wish they felt that way.'

"I was at home, I had just woken up. I had a message, I assumed it was something to the effect of 'we need you on the weekend live events on Friday' or something. The last thing I expected was that, to be honest. You know, I don't know. I don't know how I feel right now. I'm nervous but I'm so excited about the future. Like, all I've ever known is wrestling. That's all I was ever gonna be. I was born to be a wrestler. I was naturally blessed being 6'5'' and the way I look physically and the way I look, whatever, facially, or how everyone might perceive me as a Sparatcus looking dude."

Listen to the rest of the interview below: