Drew McIntyre has admitted that he lobbied to face Triple H at WrestleMania before The Game’s recent retirement from wrestling. 

The Scottish Warrior has already had faced some incredible names at WrestleMania, including showpiece WWE Championship bouts against Brock Lesnar and Bobby Lashley. Yet, there’s one bout name he never managed to face on the grandest stage of them all.

Speaking in an interview with Alex McCarthy on talkSPORT, the 36-year-old admitted that he had pitched to face Triple H at WrestleMania at every possible opportunity, but unfortunately never got the chance to ‘Play The Game’.

I pitched at every opportunity I could. How about us at WrestleMania? ‘What’s the story?’ [Triple H said] and I’d say ‘What’s the story? We’ll figure it out, but what about you and me at WrestleMania?!’ How awesome would that be? We got in the ring together a few times during my first run but when I returned, we did do a match in Japan that was really cool. We got in the ring together, we didn’t have anything in mind, and we just went for it. It was cool to go back and forth a little bit and you understand just how good he is, what a ring general he is.

McIntyre’s only interaction with Triple H since his return to WWE came during an eight-man tag team match on a live show in Tokyo, Japan during a 2019 tour. Drew teamed-up with Bobby Lashley, Samoa Joe and Baron Corbin in a lost effort to Triple H and The Club. 

The former WWE Champion also credits The Game for being the reason he made his return to WWE in 2018, admitting that he was set to re-sign with IMPACT and then had plans to go to Japan before Triple H convinced him to come back to the company.

“He’s the reason I’m back in WWE 100 percent. My mind was set at the time when I wasn’t going to re-sign with IMPACT that I’m going to Japan. 

I was made up in my mind and nothing could change my mind, but then [William] Regal, always been a mentor, gave me a call and said speak to Triple H before you make any decisions. That led to a phone call from Triple H, we spoke for about 40 minutes and my mind was made up in the first 10 minutes."

Him telling me ‘I’ve been watching you’ and I’m thinking I appreciate that, Hunter, but no you haven’t [laughs]. You’re too busy, you’ve got too much to do. You’re not sitting watching Drew indie matches! But sure enough, the way he spoke about some of my matches and the way I’ve developed I was like wow, he really has been watching.”

“Aside the fact he was proud how far I’ve come as a performer, it meant more to me how proud he was how far I’d come as a man, and he made it clear to me it was time to come home. I didn’t know it until I spoke to him, but then I knew it right away. 

“I knew it was NXT as well. Somewhere I could make a difference. He had the same thoughts. We had an agreement and he stuck to it 100 per cent.”

Triple H announced his retirement from wrestling last month, following a heart failure in September 2021. His last televised match was in June 2019 when he lost to former protégé Randy Orton at Super Showdown in Saudi Arabia.