We spoke to Galloway by telephone on May 25 about his rebirth as a performer, his aspirations for Slammiversary, ICW’s migration to The Fight Network, Vince McMahon’s ringing endorsement of him on SmackDown in 2009 and more . . .

Drew has undergone a dramatic reinvention since he was axed by WWE almost two years ago. Formerly Drew McIntyre, one-third of WWE’s air guitar troupe 3MB, he reverted to his real name and shed his image as an underachiever via a succession of proficient, hard-hitting performances in companies like EVOLVE, Insane Championship Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and, of course, TNA.

June 12th is an important date for Drew Galloway. It was on this day in 2014 that he was released from his WWE contract. And it is on this day in 2016 that he will defend the TNA World heavyweight title against Lashley at Slammiversary, TNA’s pay-per-view in Orlando, Florida.

On June 12, you’re set to defend the TNA World heavyweight title against Lashley in the main event of TNA’s Slammiversary pay-per-view in a match which can only end via KO or tap out. You had a chaotic lumberjack match with Lashley on the May 17 Impact Wrestling. Can we expect more mayhem at Slammiversary?

“Oh, yeah. It’s winner by knockout or tap out only. The feud’s been going for a couple of months now: it’s been a wild build and a fun build and a painful build, all at the same time. I’m very passionate about making everything I do look as believable as possible, and there’s no one as believable as Bobby Lashley. So, this is a really cool situation to sink my teeth into. We’ve been having a fun and good feud, which the fans have been so receptive to.

“Across the board, I’ve been really proud of how Impact’s been: it’s been finding itself with the characters. The story lines have been really good. There’s EC3 vs. Mike Bennett, the Hardys, Matt and Jeff, and Lashley and I beating the absolute !*$% out of each other, and everybody trying to separate us. At Slammiversary, expect some hard hits and stuff that’s never been done before. I pride myself on being very creative. And I promise you the World title match will steal the show. And that’s on a show with Jeff Hardy [in a full metal mayhem match].”