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Former Impact Wrestling star Eli Drake announced this morning online that as of today, he is a free agent, thanking Impact for the time he spent working for the company:
Bookelidrake@Gmail.com #EliDrake #BreakingNews pic.twitter.com/d4UGGRrUAh
— Eli Drake (@TheEliDrake) June 4, 2019
Impact announced in April that Drake had been terminated with cause, announcing on Sunday 4/7, "Impact Wrestling announced today that it has terminated its relationship with Shaun Ricker, known as ‘Eli Drake’."
PWInsider.com was told by several sources that the root cause of the termination was that Impact management was upset with comments Drake had made about the company during interviews and had already been unhappy with him after he refused to wrestle Tessa Blanchard at the United We Stand event that took place Wrestlemania week in Rahway, NJ. Drake had been very vocal online about not wanting to do it, so much that it appeared to be a storyline explaining the change to Joey Ryan replacing him. Instead, it was very much a real situation.
Drake never responded publicly to the termination announcement. Before he was terminated by the company, Drake’s Impact deal was scheduled to expire on 5/31. Impact sources at the time of Drake's termination believed they could enforce a one-year non-compete to prevent Drake from signing with another company.
Drake debuted for the company in 2015 following a run in WWE developmental. Over the course of his Impact run, Drake also held the Impact Tag Team title with Scott Steiner and the now-defunct King of the Mountain Championship. With a great gift for gab, Drake had been a strong performer for the company over the course of his run.
Prior to his WWE developmental run, Drake had been a top heel for Championship Wrestling from Hollywood, where he was managed by the late Percy Pringle. He had also appeared in The Rock’s TNT reality series Hero.
Drake is seeking bookings via Bookelidrake@Gmail.com.
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