Eli Drake Announces Free Agency, Releases Statement
Former Impact World Champion, Eli Drake is officially a free agent. Impact and Drake officially parted ways in April. The 36-year-old had been with the promotion for the last 4 years.
Drake posted the following to his supporters earlier today:
Impact Wrestling announced in April that they were no longer working with Drake. The announcement came after Drake and several others on the roster butted heads online regarding the issue of inter-gender wrestling.
“Impact Wrestling announced today that it has terminated its relationship with Shaun Ricker, known as ‘Eli Drake’,” an Impact press release reads.
In February, it was reported that Drake turned down a match with Tessa Blanchard.
You couldn’t have hit the nail more directly on the head.
I have amazing respect for @IMPACTWRESTLING and @Tess_Blanchard and can see that she is likely the greatest female talent in wrestling today.
Although that said, I will not participate in a one on one intergender match.
— Eli Drake (@TheEliDrake) February 22, 2019
Drake held the Impact World Championship for 146 days from 2017-18. He won the title on August 17th, 2017 in a 20-person Gauntlet match. During his reign, Drake defended the title in Mexico for AAA and in Japan for Pro Wrestling NOAH.
