Eli Drake Talks Changes That WWE Should Make
Eli Drake recently departed Impact Wrestling and seems to have many suitors for his services. He's already had stints with NWA and WWE, but there are many other options out there including New Japan and ROH.
Drake spoke to Wrestling Inc. on our WINCLY podcast about interest in those other promotions and what it would take for him to go there.
"I am interested in anyone who has something interesting for me to do and who is going to pay me well," said Drake. "Have I extensively watched the product? No, but I did check in with the Moxley match a few nights ago."
In addition to ROH and New Japan, Drake also mentioned WWE, AEW and NWA as possible options so everyone is on the table for him.
Drake and Moxley have known each other for a while as they teamed up to get squashed by The Big Show over a dozen years ago. Drake was asked if he had any of the same struggles in WWE as Moxley had as Dean Ambrose.
"Our struggles were different because he was on a different level than I was," Drake said before adding that he essentially got the whole Jericho interview before it aired when he saw Moxley at the Cauliflower Alley Club and they went to a bar together afterwards.
"He didn't tell me the AEW stuff but I kinda had an idea and he was like, 'Oh, I'm just gonna do whatever I want.' As far as his frustrations there, it's something that I hear really kinda blanket about WWE. I wonder, eventually at some point they've got to start hearing this and changing something. Now there's starting to be options and it does feel like prison where they are all gonna wanna escape as soon as they can."
Drake says WWE is offering more money now, which will turn some people on but if talent won't be treated as an adult they may not want to be there. An example of that is at the Performance Center where the whole NXT group would be punished if one person messed up.
"There's certain things that need to change including the pay structure. When you look at the amount of money they are making, and the percentage of that going to talent pay; it's really low," stated Drake.
Despite all of the things he doesn't like about WWE, Drake wouldn't completely rule out a return there.
"I would consider but it depends on the offer. If the offer's right I would consider anything," admitted Drake. "But that's a big 'if'."
In addition to being outspoken about the WWE or intergender wrestling, Drake has also been outspoken about deathmatch wrestling and he went into detail why.
"The deathmatch thing is overdone. If you have a feud and a buildup and it goes to some crazy match; that's fine. But two random guys with no backstory hit each other with light tubes and stupid crap like that just cheapens the whole thing," stated Drake who then compared it to a bland guy buying a Maserati and that becomes his gimmick because he has no other qualities.
Drake's full interview with Wrestling Inc was included in a recent episode of our WINCLY podcast. It can be heard via the embedded audio player at the bottom of this post. In it Drake discusses why he decided to leave Impact Wrestling, turning down a match with Tessa Blanchard, a possible leap to AEW, differences in the Impact regimes, a pre-Jericho interview conversation he had with Jon Moxley and more
You can check out past episodes of the WINCLY here.
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