Eli Drake is not booked for the July 22nd Impact Slammiversary pay-per-view in Toronto because he still has not committed to staying with the company, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Drake’s deal reportedly expired this past weekend but he did work the Impact Wrestling TV tapings, to lose a match. The two sides continue to talk but there is no word on a new contract being signed.
Regarding a possible return to WWE, The Observer confirms that there is interest as there has been talk of signing Drake within WWE in recent months.
Following a stint on The Rock’s TNT reality series The Hero in 2013, Drake signed a WWE developmental deal in mid-2013 but was released on August 1, 2014. He joined Impact in the spring of 2014.
Drake spoke with The Mirror back in April and recalled an October 2013 dark match plus his run in WWE NXT, saying NXT was “great and terrible” at the same time.
“Ah no, that was when I was already with WWE actually, my dark match in 2008 was me and [Gene] Snitsky against Cryme Tyme [in WWE’s ECW]. The Yoshi Tatsu thing was just kind of thrown on me last minute and that was a hell of an experience,” Drake said. “At the time – I think they were just messing with us half the time. Bill DeMott [former head coach of WWE’s Performance Center] came back and grabbed me five minutes before the match was supposed to happen. He said ‘are you ready?’ and I was like ‘yeah’ and he said ‘alright, it’s you and Yoshi, hurry up’. ‘Okay’. Ha ha. I put my stuff on and went out there and had a match. And believe me, it was a stinker. It was terrible.
“That whole run at NXT, it was great and terrible at the same time. I enjoyed it, I made a lot of friends from it, I actually liked being on some of the workout programmes they had us doing there, you’re able to stay crisp by staying in the ring four or five days a week, but at the same time, it was a lot of BS, especially with Bill DeMott there. But from what I gather now with him out of the picture, it sounds like things have changed for the better there. Hopefully the guys are enjoying it more.”
Drake also commented on if he sees himself staying with Impact or going to WWE, or elsewhere.
“It really depends. I am looking at all my options. I am very grateful for the opportunities Impact have given me and putting me on the stage they have put me on. I also have grown my bank account enormously! I’m doing well on that front. So I’m very grateful for it,” Drake said. “But at the same time, I am a businessman, I am going to look into any opportunities that are afforded to me and anybody who wants to talk and wants to throw numbers my way and anything like that, of course I am open to that. Will I stay with Impact? That’s a definite possibility. It could be a likelihood, I really don’t know. It really depends on what else is out there. But I am interested in any opportunity that comes my way, that’s for sure.”
Source: WrestlingINC
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