Eric Bischoff Believes Drew McIntyre Can Develop Much Like Steve Austin And John Cena

Drew McIntyre has been WWE Champion for two months and has just been "himself" for less than a year. Some might not be thrilled with "jokey" Drew, but as Drew has explained in the past, what you see on television is more of how he is in real life as opposed to his previous Scottish Psychopath persona.

And Eric Bischoff believes there's even more room for him to grow.

Anthony Joshua, Wayne Rooney Attend 4/19 London WWE Live Event

“I have a lot of respect for him," Bischoff told Alex McCarthy of talkSPORT. "I enjoy his work, he’s believable, he’s credible, he immerses himself into his character and his role, which is all you can really ask for in a performer. Do I think he’s at the pinnacle of his potential? No. He’s only been at the position he’s been in for, well, what time is it? That’s how short a period of time it has been! The coffee is still warm in the cup. It’s not like he’s been in that role for a long time.”

He continued, “He’s already a phenomenal performer. Guess what’s going to happen a year from now? Or a year and a half from now? Was John Cena a great performer when he first became world champion? I don’t know, some people might say he was – when I say I don’t know I really don’t know – was he as good as he would ultimately go on to be? Absolutely not. No one is. Stone Cold Steve Austin didn’t just become Stone Cold Steve Austin. It took him a long time. When Stone Cold came to WWE, he was the freaking Ringmaster! The Ringmaster! He was the extension of a circus act for crying out loud. And it wasn’t until Steve found out who Steve Austin was as a character and began to integrate that into his persona on television and then it continued to improve and grow and become something bigger and larger than it started with. Drew is like that.”

McIntyre is set to defend his WWE Title against Bobby Lashley at WWE Backlash. You can view the full card for Backlash by clicking here.

Get exclusive pro wrestling content on Fightful Select, our premium news service! Click here to learn more.