In an interview with Fightful, Drew McIntyre revealed that it was both Triple H and William Regal that convinced him to return to WWE and join the NXT brand back in 2017. Here are highlights:

On getting fired from WWE: “When I got fired that day. I got the phone call, I was a little surprised. I think the person on the phone was a little surprised; the fans were a little surprised. But to be honest, there was no way I could logically transition into anything serious. And I don’t think it would have panned out if I did. I think I had to go away, apply the lessons I learned outside of the nonstop WWE environment. ‘Cause this place never stops. We’re always creating content. It’s very difficult to re-invent yourself, you know, within this world if people know you a certain way.”

On what he decided to do when he returned to the independents: “So the way I looked at it, I got the call, by the time my girlfriend, now wife, got home, I’d already made the plan. I was going back to Scotland to get my mission statement. I was gonna show the world who I really was and what I could really do. And thankfully things worked out, people gave me a platform to show who I was. And that started as “I’m gonna return to the company no matter what and as a more polished performer.” But, at the time I was building companies around the world, and I really considered “I’d probably never go back to WWE, I’m making a difference.”

On returning to WWE: “The WWE name sells the product, like Drew Galloway, Drew McIntyre—real name’s Galloway—is what was making a difference to all these companies around the world and do I really want to go back when I’m making such a difference. And it wasn’t until my TNA contract lapsed; my wife and I had to decide our next move that day. I was thinking I was gonna go to New Japan probably ‘cause I really wanted to go there and really wanted to work there. Then I got a call from William Regal, who’s a bit of a mentor of mine, who told me we’d take a call with Triple H. We spoke, and decided the next move was WWE and NXT in particular.”