Impact Wrestling Is Being A Dummy
Eli Drake reveals his contract status hasn’t changed.
Eli Drake says he has yet to put ink to any paper in terms of signing a new contract with Impact Wrestling.
In a prior interview with the IMPACT Lounge, he revealed that his current deal expires at the end of May. At this point, it’s quite possible that the former Impact Global Champion will join his former lackey Chris Adonis outside the Impact Zone.
“I wasn’t too happy about it. It kind of hit me for a shock,” Drake said of Adonis’ departure during this week’s Impact Wrestling teleconference. “I wish he would have stayed, we had something pretty good. At the same time, I kind of get where he’s coming from.”
If Impact management fails to resign the 35 year old, it will be a crushing blow to the promotion as Drake has become one of its top stars. From August to February, he was the central figure of Impact’s weekly show on Pop TV, even headlining the promotion’s biggest show of the year, Bound For Glory.
“I’m the best mic man in the entire business right now,” Drake said. “No one can touch me. There are no scripts when I’m out there talking. It’s all coming from my goofy ass brain.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ieNtbdVhew
While his in-ring prowess is certainly exceptional, his verbal skills and brash, over-the-top personality are what brought Drake to the dance. He was one of the top 10 talkers of 2017, and has even drawn comparisons to The Rock.
“I’ve heard people say I’m an imitation,” Drake said. “I have mixed emotions toward it because I try not to pay attention to social media crap. You could say I’ve had a little influence from Stone Cold, Rock, Hogan, Flair, even Jake the Snake.”
Those five legends were also larger-than-life characters, an element in today’s pro wrestling scene that Drake believes is sorely lacking. One of the reasons he has become so popular (or despised, depending how you feel) is because he organically developed his character over time. Through his trendy fashion, hilarious catchphrases (Dummy, yeah!) and over reliance of former lackey Chris Adonis, Drake became the ultimate douchebag who never gets his comeuppance. It’s a classic wrestling character with a modern twist, a recipe for success in the business.
Unfortunately, Drake believes not enough of his peers are taking the same steps to building their own personas. “Character development promos are lacking – people are getting lost in what’s important,” he said. “Too many guys are focused on doing cool moves instead of telling stories. The moves are almost secondary to who are you, what are you doing and how are you doing it. At the end of the day, it’s all about entertaining.”
Although Impact’s ratings have increased in recent weeks, Drake sees the overall decline in the industry’s popularity as a result of too few characters and too many flips. (Something Petey Williams alluded to a couple weeks ago.) Harkening back to the Attitude Era, when the industry was at its hottest period, casual viewers would take notice of characters, quotes and moments. Cool moves didn’t hold their interest, he argues.
“D’Lo Brown was not known for his promos, but he cuts a better promo than probably 90% of guys in wrestling today,” Drake said. “That’s a sad state of affairs.”
That’s not an insult. That is just a fact of life.
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