Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Eli Drake explains why he was fired from Impact Wrestling

Episode Date: June 24, 2019

Eli Drake was fired from Impact Wrestling recently amid reports that he didn’t want to work an intergender match with Tessa Blanchard. He sits down with Chris to explain what actually happened and what his plans are now. Will we see him back in WWE? Would he go to AEW? Audio equipment provided by Samson Technologies: bit.ly/CVVSamson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

What's up, y'all? It's Druski, and I've teamed up with Mountain Dew to produce a hilarious new basketball podcast called The Do Zone with Drusky. Learn the backstories of your favorite ballers and celebrities like Jamal Murray. Did you have like a favorite team? Was it the Raptors at the time or no? Was the Raptors even started around that time? Come on, bro. I ain't that old, fam.

You're talking like I'm 50. Taylor, Rokes, Asian Wilson, and many more. You won't want to miss this. Listen to the Doozone with Drusky on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and wherever you listen to podcasts. It's Chrysalamania, brother. That's a great question. Look at you, man. What's the powerful question.

Woo! This is the Chris Van Fleet Show. Chris Van Fleet Show. Ladies and gentlemen. Chris! Well, here we go. Yeah, this is the Chris Van Fleet Show, which I guess makes me, Chris Van Fleet.

Thank you so much for downloading this episode. I've been really enjoying doing the podcast, doing the audio-only version of these interviews. Yes, of course, they still exist on YouTube, as always. but I understand. Maybe you don't want to sit there and just stare at us for 20, 30, 40, 50 minutes. Although for an interview like this with Eli Drake, he was wearing a shirt with no sleeves. So maybe you'd want to tune in for that.

There's a lot of things also in this interview with Eli Drake where he references things that you do need to see. So just know that if you want to see the things that we are referencing, that option is available and will always be available. but really interesting chat with Eli Drake, who was recently fired from Impact Wrestling. A lot of rumors were swirling. It was because he didn't want to do an intergenre match with Tessa Blanchard. He gets down to the bottom of that and a whole bunch more. But first, the Chris Van Fleet Show is brought to you, as always, by Green Roads. And not all CBD products are created equal.

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com. Chris 15 for 15% off at greenroadsworld.com. The CVV show also brought to you by the microphone that I'm speaking into right now in the headphones that I'm wearing, the mixer. It's all of our podcasting equipment from Samsung Technologies. So if you want some high quality sound from Samson Technologies, at prices you can actually afford. Head over to samsonTech.com and check out their full lineup. So Eli Drake really gets into the nitty-gritty of why he was. was released from Impact Wrestling. He also goes into his short contract, his short time that he

had with WWE, and would he go back there now that he is a free agent? He also talks about being in Vegas at the exact same time as double or nothing, although he didn't actually appear at double or nothing. So without further ado, that's how it's pronounced. Here's my chat, my one-on-one with Eli Drake. Hey, your arms do look huge here. I woke up like this. This is how you know he's a gym rat. Carrying around the gallon all day.

Yeah, well, I mean, first of all, I probably need to get nose surgery and a bunch of other stuff. My throat just gets dry immediately. I'm not just constantly shoveling water down my throat. What would you do? Now I'm talking about it. I need it's like, now it's like a compulsion. What would you do if you were in the middle of a long promo and you feel it's starting to get dry? I've had that happen.

I've had that happen, and I've also had it happen where in the end of the match, we were like the climax, it's moving at its fastest pace, and I did that, and the fluid went into my windpipe. So I start choking in the middle of the match while I'm, again, at the highest height of this match, and I know how to do a promo immediately after. So I go outside the ring and I'm trying to do it, but I'm trying to choke everything out. I got to go over and grab one of the commentator's water, and it still didn't clear it up,

so it was the whole time kind of choking through the promo. And it's all part of the character that you're grabbing the water anyway. Well, yeah, I do what I want. Pretty much. Yeah. Thank you for inviting me to your place. Of course. Thanks for making this happen.

Here we are. You're literally in the heart of Hollywood. I am. The Hollywood signs are right there. Wow, yeah. We'll have to show that afterward. Yeah. Like when the Uber dropped me off, they're like, oh, damn,

he's right in the middle of Hollywood. Oh, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I'm like, I'm like, in the mess, but like. I don't know you're in the mess. I'm in the mess, but I feel like, you know, it's enough for moot. Like, if I go outside, it's quiet enough to where it's like, maybe it's not so bad.

You go block down and it's like, oh, shit, what's this? It's a circus down. You're a block from like the Hollywood Walk of Fame, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. So all the stars down there, all the homeless people and everything else. All the people dressed up like Spider-Man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, that's a real thing.

Yeah. No, yeah. It's, it's smelly spider-man. It's just hanging out. on them. Seriously. Like always getting fights too or it's like a territorial battle. I remember just a few years ago it was like Elmo

and the bumblebee Transformer were like fighting over a spot on Hollywood. That's a legit thing. Yeah. It's amazing. Book that. What made you decide that you want to live? A lot of people live in L.A. or they live in the valley. You're living here.

You know what? It was the view. You have a great view. Yeah. That was kind of what sold me on the whole thing. But I lived in the Valley for a little bit. When I very first moved here in 2009, I lived in recita with a friend. I literally slept on his floor for like four months.

Okay, so quick story. I was driving cross-country from Maryland. I'd spent like maybe a month there in between Ohio and coming out here, and I had no money. I did a TV show for Animal Planet where my character got eaten. by lizards or whatever. An animal plant pays like nothing. Thank you very much for the job, but it pays nothing. It was like 600 bucks or 800 bucks or something like that. So I took off from Maryland with about $50 in my pocket knowing I was going to pick up a check in Columbus, Ohio for about $600 or $800, whatever it was. And I was like, okay, that's enough for me to get

there, have a couple extra bucks left over and I'll be good at least for a few weeks and hopefully I can get a gig. I get to the Indiana state border. My check engine light comes on. Oh no. I'm fine. It'll be fine. Don't worry. Just keep going. I get into Denver. I'm good. The next day, I'm like, maybe I'll stop in Vegas and I'll just, like, hang out for a minute and just, I won't push it. But I get to Vegas and it's dead stop traffic. It's Friday night. It's like maybe 11 o'clock as I'm passing through. So I probably can get to LA until about 2 o'clock anyway. But I'm fine with that. So I'm on like a 12, 13 hour drive at this point. And I'm pressing the gas and I'm getting nothing. It's like I'm in, it's like I'm in, neutral. It's just RPM is going, I pull the car over, turn it off, turn it back on, shift in, I'm good to go. I'm like, fuck it. I'm not staying, I'm going straight to LA. I keep driving, keep driving. I'm on cruise control and I'm in the middle of, you know, have you ever driven to Vegas from LA? No. Okay. It's about a four hour drive. You're going through all like the desert. There's nothing. And so I got to like Baker, California, which is about 181 miles

from here, about 100 miles from Vegas. Coming down the hill, here's Baker in my sights, and RPMs start going again, and I'm on cruise control, and I'm like, this is not good. I pull the car over. I'm like, let me shut it off, turn it back on, and you know how when you shift, you can feel it shifting? Yeah. There was nothing.

But I try to hit the gas, and I'm just in neutral. You're in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, literally, and it's the middle of July, so it's like 100 plus degrees, even at night. And at this point, it was one in the morning. And my option was I can, well, sit here or I can call home because my mom had like this AARP roadside assistance for like 100 miles towing or something. I was like, I'm going to need that. But she was asleep. She had to work at like seven in the morning.

This sounds like the start of a horror movie. Oh, it's terrible. So I was like, I'll just take a nap for like two hours. She'll be up in like two hours, East Coast time. So I've got my windows down. It's the only thing I could do. And it was a risk because I'm thinking like some shit could jump in here and animal or something. Who knows?

But everything was fine. I woke up, called her, got the info. A tow truck came to get me. And he was like, hey, I can take you forward to Barstow, but they're probably going to rip you off. Or I can take you back to Vegas. And I was like, all right. And I just started doing the math. And I'm thinking, well, if I have to go and live in Vegas for a little bit and kind of figure it out, then I guess I'll do that.

And then I'll just get the rest of the way. So I had him take me back to Vegas and I'm just thinking like, I don't know what I'm going to do now. I guess I'm going to live here and try and get a job. So I checked in the Sahara Hotel. It doesn't even exist anymore. Just a bunch of craziness. But anyway, eventually, like my mom gave me like $500. A girl I knew gave me like $400.

And I think I had $300 left out of that check that I had. So I have $1,200. Now to get the transmission completely redone, which is what I needed, $1,500. I'm $300 short. The guy calls me like two days later. He's got it done and I'm like, I can't do anything. I'm $300 short. 15 minutes goes by.

He calls me again. He's like, you know what? He's like, how much you say I have? I said, I have $1,200. He's like, you know what? I've been in a situation like this poor. He's like, just come pick it up. Go do your thing and we'll call it even.

I'm like, hell yeah. Wow. So I go there, I pay him the money, get my car. I'd literally $10. And the first place I went, went was McDonald's. And I got some double cheeseburgers, loaded up, and got my ass to California as quickly as I could. And how long ago was this?

This was 2009. Okay. 10 years ago. Holy crap. It's almost a 10-year anniversary. So I ended up getting my friend's place. I literally slept in a sleeping bag on his floor for like four months. And I didn't leave the house unless there was money at the end of that drive.

So I was finding Craigslist jobs and all kinds of like I went to go do a Spanish translation job because I speak like slow, conversation. Spanish and I was like oh yeah I can do this no problem I got there and it was like I've got 10 people talking to me at once really fast and I was just like oh my god the guy still paid me but I was utterly useless wow but but it was it was a struggle it was a tough time but it ended up working out me and that friend actually who I've known since elementary school we moved to an apartment literally a block from here up the hill same exact street and so I don't know Ever since we got there, I just liked the neighborhood.

We had a great view there, except now it was the opposite direction. It was going this way. And so when I left to go to WWE in 2013, and I went to Florida, as soon as that was over, I was like, I'm going back to California. I missed that place. I love that place. And when I came here, stayed in the valley for a little bit. But I was like, I want to go back to Hollywood.

I just always liked the vibe. Now that I'm here, I'm kind of like, I'd probably like to be closer to the water. Anyway, hope that wasn't like the longest, most boring story. Super interesting story. Yeah. So you are now officially a free agent. I am 100% free agent, yeah. So, you know, in a nutshell maybe, or as long as you want to, you know, tell us,

how did this whole situation with impact end up ending? Well, so back in January, I basically just let them know, like, hey, I'm not intending to stay this year. And your contract was going to be up when? May 31st. Okay. So I'd kind of let them know my January. intentions that I wasn't planning to stay this year. I really thought about it last year and I almost left. I know they thought I was leaving. I thought I was leaving at one point and I ultimately decided to stay. And I was just kind of came to the decision like there's a lot of options now. I wasn't I wasn't happy with how like the first half of the last year went for me. But I will say the last part of the year was a lot of fun. Just doing what even though it was like Ellsworth. whatever. Just doing what we did in New York. Just that play that I had with the audience there

and with him so much fun. And it was like from then on, it was like a great time. And it just felt like there was more of an investment in me and whatnot. So I know that when I had said some of the stuff, they were like, ah, you know, I think he's disparaging. And it wasn't a disparaging thing. It was like, here's my feelings when how it went, you know, whatever. And eventually we kind of hashed it out. We had some emails back and forth and finally I had a phone call with Ed Nordholm maybe three weeks ago or so. It was just before the beginning of June.

So it couldn't have been three weeks ago. We'll say two weeks ago. Yeah, yeah. But he was very gracious to reach out. We had kind of spoken at length about what we could agree on, what we could do to move forward in a way that's amicable. And I was just telling him, like, I have no intentions

of ever kind of giving impact a bad rap. They've been very good to me. I live a comfortable life because of the money that I made there. I haven't done much of anything in the past two months since I was released on April 7th, which, you know, that was a little weird because, again, I only had, what, 40, maybe 40 days or something like that left on my contract.

So was this intergender match really the thing that made them go? It was part of it. We don't want you away. anymore? Yeah, there were basically three things that were named. Three offenses, if you will, but I think a lot of it just came from

misunderstandings in that nature. Because basically what ended up happening was so they announced the match and I had no prior knowledge of it. Nobody said anything. So you're just finding out about it when they announced? I found out about it on Twitter. And that's not terribly abnormal.

I don't think. I think that that's a more special situation. though, only because I know that somebody else who already turned that match down because of his own discomfort with it. But that's neither here nor there. I understand that they have a pressure to announce events and get it out there.

So I completely understand that. I completely empathize with that. When you've got 20 or 30 wrestlers and you've got two or three guys doing creative, there's obviously challenges there. At the same time, when I saw the announcement, I immediately emailed the next accessary outlets and just said, hey, guys, I'm not comfortable doing this. I will wrestle

anybody else on the roster. I'm just, I'm not very comfortable doing an intergender match. And I didn't hear anything after three or four hours. And, and I get that they can be busy. That happens. But at that point, it was like, I didn't see the announcement come down. I didn't see a return email. And I was just like, I, the announcement just kept building and building. And I was getting so many more mentions. I was like, I got to, I got to just get out in front of this. And so I try to do as respectfully as I could and just be like, hey look, I've got a massive amount of respect

for impact wrestling. They've done a lot for me. They've given me a platform. I had their belts here sitting behind me. Yeah, they are. Proudly display. And I have amazing respect for Tess Blanchard. I've literally told many people that she, I think, is

easily the best female wrestler in the world. Part of that's just like she's so intense with like everything she does. Our facials and the the moves, the actions. But at the same time, it was like, with all that considered, I wasn't comfortable with doing. What specifically made you uncomfortable? I don't like, there's so many layers to that.

I'll be honest, I don't even like wrestling really small guys a lot of times. It just feels phony. And some people are going to disagree with me on this. But I kind of like to use people who aren't big-time wrestling fans as kind of a litmus test. My girlfriend's a great example. I had a show in North Carolina last year. The guy that I wrestled was easily 100 pounds lighter than me. And she was just like, it looked like father and son wrestling in there.

Like it looked like you were just beating up a child. And so thinking about that and knowing that I'm leaving the company, I know I'm not going over. Had they told you this? No, but I do. Okay, yeah. I'm on my way out. I can see what's going to do the job. And that's fine.

Like, for the most part, that doesn't matter. But at the same time I'm thinking, I'm going out. I don't want to completely crush my brand. And there's something about, I can remember. So there was a story in the sheets a couple years ago when the Jarrett regime first came in about how, I guess, he and I had kind of gotten into it a little bit because I was kind of upset with the way that they came in. And it sounded like they were running down the talent. when, you know, they were saying, oh, it's smoking mirrors, and, you know, we have to really just, you know, tell the people that things are different. And really, it's about, you know, the office has changed, whatever.

And I'm like, I get that. That's fine. But, like, it looks like you guys are running down the talent and the promos that you're doing. And then on top of that, the guys who are the mainstays from, or who are the holdovers from, you know, the old regime are now just getting squash. Because it was like, me and Tyrus, a giant of a man. And I'm not a slouch. Yeah. And then it was like two kind of littleish guys that nobody.

ever heard of and they went over and it's like are we what are we being told right now but as play if i play devil's advocate here it's wrestling sure sure it is and and i would agree with that to a degree like it you know it's it's it's about the story that's being told absolutely 100% but what was the story that was being told there that was the part that was confusing and what was the story was being told if i was to wrestle test blanche because it was a one-off match so it wasn't going to go anywhere. Why not feed into something that was already happening, which was me and Eddie, or something of that nature, or even if it was a tag match where it was like me and somebody else and Eddie and somebody was feuding with my partner. And if we look back in hindsight,

Joey Ryan does make way more sense. He does a lot of intergenerations. 100%. Yeah. But even on a physical statue. Not a knock at Joe. It's just, yeah. We were even laughing the other day because he was like, I was doing my food prep and he was like, oh, my food prep's like, uncrustables. I'm like, uncrustables are delicious. They are. I can't deny that. But you can't eat them all the time. Well, I mean, I guess it depends. Maybe you can. So where did it go from there? You basically said, I don't want to do this. The announcement hadn't been taken down. Well, nobody had said anything to me. I guess eventually it was taken down or changed or whatever and Joey was very specific to actually reach out to me also

and he was just like hey I just wanted to let you know because he responded to the tweet and said I'll work the match and he was like I just want to let you know that that's not like there's no animosity I was like why would there be and so he actually made it a point then to have me on the next bar wrestling show but I ended up turning that down just because after the release and everything I was like you know what I'm just going to stay away from wrestling for like a good salad month or so.

So I appreciated that. At the same time, it was just like, let me just hang back for a second. But I went to TV a couple weeks later, nobody said anything to me. There was no, there was no, hey, what was that about? Or wasn't really happy with the way that was done or nothing. And at that point, you hadn't been fired yet?

No, no. We did that last set of tapings where I disappeared on TV and you never saw me again, which, is unfortunate because we actually filmed such an awesome thing that'll never see the light of day. So the last thing, I don't know if you saw the last episode I was on, last thing you saw was I got whacked and I was pretty much just out of door and that was all you saw. That was cut off from a larger piece. From there, when we went out the door, I slammed the door back on him, grabbed Kenny, come out, he attacks me,

I blow him, bop him with the cane a couple times. He's in front of the car. I get in the car and try to run him over, and he gets out of the way, and I basically just pull away, and we lead it in the pay-per-view. Oh, yeah. But I got fired. So that never, it pretty much just stopped at the point where I went out the door, which I guess was kind of a convenient cut point.

So it was like an accidental little, perfect little accident. But yeah, so then at that point it was like, even coming out of that, nothing. But that taping is when I did an interview with Petey Williams and Dennis Farrell, Farrell. I know him, but I don't know how to say the last name, Farrell or Farrell. And that was when I had said something about how I'd been written early last year. And that was what was taken as disparaging or whatever. And again, that wasn't even anything that I'd meant in an illicit way or in any kind of like, malicious way, which was basically like the one guy was saying, I haven't been used right.

The other guy was saying I have been used right, but he can see what the other guy's saying. And I was like, well, I agree with both of you. Here's how. And so I kind of broke that down, making sure that I also mentioned that, hey, I've really enjoyed what I've been doing the last few months because I was. Yeah. But sometimes you read things or you hear things in snippets, and that could have happened. And so just a lot of that stuff all coming together.

Well, then I read that they were going to try. try to enforce a 12-month non-compete clause. Yeah. Which, I mean, WWE famously or infamously, has a 90-day non-compete. 12 months is a long time. It is. That was as long as my contract was.

Wow. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. I mean, different strokes for different folks, I suppose, in the companies, but my lawyer was pretty particular about not bothering with altering that in the contract, because she was basically just like,

It's something that's probably not going to be enforceable, you know, if you can prove that there's not a viable business interest. But at the same time, like, I don't think that Ed Nordholm actually truly intended to uphold that. And I only say that because he and I never really had any kind of issues. We never had a crossword. We were always very cordial. I would almost say downright friendly in our interactions. I think it was just a matter of maybe communications from other upper voices, so to speak. So who knows?

Well, I think you kind of trolled wrestling fans all over the world. Memorial Day weekend. Did you just happen to be taking a road trip to Vegas? Well, okay. So for people who didn't see this, it was the day of weekend of double or nothing. Yeah. And Eli posts on Twitter, him driving into Vegas while Viva Las Vegas is playing on the radio. Yeah.

Well, that's a, that's a, it's push it to the limit from the Scarface movie. And Viva Las Vegas. Those are my two entering Las Vegas songs. Okay. Every time. So you weren't trolling us? No, I was there. Yeah.

Yeah. My girlfriend and I had planned to go there. What? To actually watch double or nothing? No. No. We just happened to me in Vegas. We just had a lot of friends who were there.

So it was like, well, let's go there. And then I'm really good friends with Scorpio Sky. So it was like, all right, well, we'll go to the SCU all night. Yeah, the party. Yeah. We went there and some people probably saw me singing some boy band songs. Who knows? The funny thing is, I went over to the DJ for a second, because I went over to the DJ for a second, because

before I got on stage they were playing a little bit of hip hop and West Coast like Dr. Dre, Snoop, that kind of stuff's my, that's my bread and butter. Jam! Yeah. So I went over to the DJ and I was like, just when I got on stage, I was like, hey, can you hit some Dr.

Dre real quick? And he was like, yeah, yeah, I got you. And then not but 30 seconds later came Backstreet Boys. And I was like, fucking end other words, let's go. Because me and a couple of guys I used to work with way, way back in Ohio. We used to go to karaoke, like, every Tuesday, Wednesday.

We had a boy band called the One-Eyed Wonder Weasles. This should be your next wrestling faction. So we just go around, we do all boy bands songs and shit. So it was impossible to not know the words. Is I want it that way, the go-to? That was always. That's always the go-to karaoke for song. And then when that breakdown happens, I would jump up on the bar

and rip my shirt off. Are you a... Yeah, and I used to be able to hit that... I feel like my voice has gotten maybe too deep now because I can't hit any of those notes anymore. You're the Kevin? Is that what you're saying? You're the Kevin of the Backstree voice?

Who's Kevin? He's the one who didn't really sing, because he was singing low. Well... Who's Kevin? I used to be... Whoever the main guy is. See, I know in singing,

because Justin just went to such... Nick or Brian? Heights. I don't know. Come on. Sure. Nick and Brian. I was both of them.

Nick Carter. Oh, Nick Carter. Yeah. You're right. You're right. Okay. Yes. Yes, I know all the members of the Backstreet Boys.

I'm an entertainment reporter. What do you want from me? That makes sense. But I mean, like back then, I guess I was the Nick Carter. Now I'm the Kevin. Yeah. Nobody wants to be Kevin. Yeah, I'm sorry.

So you were there and you were posted that you were there. Just kind of tease people? No, every time I go to Vegas, I posted them in Vegas. It just happened to be an AEW's debut show. I mean, it was just the same weekend. Since you've become a free agent, have you heard from WWE. You used to work there.

Have you heard from anyone there? I mean, I have friends there I talk to, but there have been any, like, formal offers made or anything. They're probably sick at me by this point. I don't know. Why? Well, we talked for the last three years, and they made me some offers, but the offer to state impact was just better. Now, you could say that ultimately the offer to go to WWE would be better just because

I feel like the probably common knowledge that the upward potential is much greater. Of course. But the initial offer compared to what I was making and the schedule I was doing was like, do I really want to uproot myself and move to Florida? Yeah, to do NXT house shows basically for a while. Yes, and be making about a third of my salary. So it was kind of automatic. Yeah.

I'm just going to, because truth be told, a little factoid for everybody. I also do 2K games. I do the motion capture for the WW video games. I hope they're not pissed to me for saying that. Probably won't be because I've been doing it since 2015. All the gamers watching this are going to love that. Yeah. So, like, a lot of people are like, I can't believe.

They put Eli Drake's moves in here. I'm like, yeah, I did them. Because sometimes they just want, like, stuff that you can program in for creative characters and whatnot. So, but yeah, I've been doing that regularly since 2015. So if you notice how good the animations are now, me, me, I did a, I update. our truth entrance I hope he's in if he's not in one of any of the new games

go in the 2K18 2K19 Rtruth entrance that was me I killed it so killed it and if you do like if you do the rocks side by side

killed it Goldberg side by side me killed it Triple H side by side killed it wow I did a better triple H and triple H yeah I said it it on him I said it trips come and talk to me

The essence of the Triple H entrance is once you get onto the apron, right? Hold on there, rope there, looking around before the water's fit. You take that second. Well, you got to, okay, so you take your sip on the floor. You toss the bottle as you get in. Up with one knee. Yeah, but then you hold on with one. See, they've got the reference video going, so I'll study it for a second.

You pick up the little nuance. You're like, where am I grabbing the rope? Where am I doing this? And it's just finding that perfect mimic. But, yeah, you kind of hold it and you kind of look, and kind of wait for it, and then when it's time, boom. But then you've got to do a step through and go up to the other turn buckle. And then it's like all this stuff and whatever.

So go and watch 2K games and a lot of these entrances. So I just had an interesting conversation. Oh, so good. I killed it. I just had an interesting conversation with Sean Spears. He was saying that his time in developmental with WWE completely changed when Matt Bloom took over. And I know you had some issues with Bill DeMont. Yeah.

How different would your time have been there had Matt Bloom been there? I think incredibly because Matt Bloom had started coming in on the tail end of my time there as kind of like a guest coach. And then he was more of a mainstay there. And always very complimentary, always kind of like a huge fan, if you will, of what I was doing. So I was really disappointed only six months after I had been released to learn that now he was the head guy. And I'm like, oh, I would have flourished so much. but it wasn't but 12 months after I'd left that they made me an offer to come back. But like I said, impact was always very good to me.

I have to say that because when I had first gotten there, the money that I was making, they were paying me dailies. I think I had like a small guarantee. It was like almost nothing. But then on top of it, it was the dailies that really may, or not dailies, but per appearance. Yeah. And, you know, you add it all together. It was about the same as I would have been making it.

NXT maybe slightly more. But once I got that offer from WWB and I was just like, oh, okay. Because at that time, I don't know if you remember, but Impact was like on Destination America. And there was, Ring of Honor was also and at the same time, we were like, are we getting canceled? Yeah.

Because it was like August and we were like, I think it's over. I think it's done. And so I had run into some guys that I knew from NXT and they were like, what would you think about coming back? And I was like, I'd love to come back. I think my company's closing. I don't know. and so they were like, all right, I'll bring up your name.

We started talking. And so at that point, they did owe me some money, but the way that they paid was they would pay you at the time two weeks after your episode aired. They would pay you for that episode. But there wasn't a stretcher like three or four weeks where I wasn't on any episodes. I need my money because I think for that taping, I'd made a pretty good chunk of money in that set of tapings. and for the most part they always paid me on time there were a couple times

where it was like maybe a week late week and a half late there were the horror stories of like the bounce checks I never had that but at the same time the lateness never bothered me I was always good with my money

I was always very frugal I mean a lot of people would be like oh you're living in this fucking apartment or like you drive a corvette but my corvettes is like a 2008 it's still a corvette though yeah but I mean I bought it cash like $22,000

I'm not paying payments I'm not up to my eyeballs in debt. I have no debt. I'm very, anybody who knows me I'm super frugal. Someone called it cheap. But so like, it didn't affect me if my checks came in like a week late or whatever. But I know there are some guys who

supporting families and stuff like that. So it was a completely different dynamic and I completely... So did you go to Impact and go, I've got this offer from WWE? I didn't say that so much, but it was basically like, hey guys, I really appreciate the opportunity of you giving me. But I am owed this money and I'm dying.

Like, I don't think I'm going to be able to pay my rent this month because I've got all this money that you guys owe me that I would easily be able to pay my rent with, but it hasn't come in. And I was like, I would like to respectfully ask for my release, blah, blah, whatever. And basically, I got a call immediately. We really want to use you going forward. We want to start to build around you, blah, blah, whatever. He was like, if you stay with us. This was John Gabbick at the time. He was like, if you stay with us, I promise you, when this first term ends, we'll rip up your contract,

write you a whole brand new one. At that point, I'm like, just get through the first term, refuse, because it was like one year with an option to renew. I was like, just get through the first term, refuse the second, move on. True to his word, when that time came up, a whole new contract, more zeros on it. And I was just like, my first inclination, because basically they like gave it to me and they were like, here you go, pass me a pen. And, you know, I don't know how many

of the guys are just like, okay. And that was my first inclination because I've never seen that amount of money before. At the same time, I'm like, I'm going to call my lawyer. Just to figure everything out. So it was really good. She was amazing. They worked everything out. And there I was. I didn't go anywhere.

And it was just like, I had programmed raises and all this kind of. It was just like, everything was perfect to the point where I was like, why am I going to leave? Yeah. I got this great situation where I get to live where I'm going to live. driving the car I want to drive. I get this beautiful view every damn day.

Which we will show you at the end of this video. Don't show them. Let's be stingy. What I heal. Real life heel. Did you always have this ability to talk? Like in high school, were you like hosting talent shows or something like that? No, no, no, no.

Like when you had to give presentations at school, were you the guy who nailed it every time? No. Well, no. I was very shableness. as a kid, although I was so eager in class when it came time to like read, I was so about it.

I don't know why, but like, sometimes you have to read aloud or whatever. I'd be, I was like, hell yeah, come on, let's do this. I would like, I would read it like I was actually like deliver. It wasn't like, this is the greatest day. I was like delivering. So you're doing like character voices

and everything. Well, I wasn't the voices. So like sometimes I remember in like 10th grade English, we were doing like probably different Shakespeare plays and stuff like that and so they'd have us like they'd pick one person to do one part one person to do the other one for like two pages

or something so we'd read them out loud and like I would really get into it I was never in drama or any of that stuff it was actually a drummer I was in a drumline for a long time so that was my performance but other than that it wasn't until honestly I'd say ninth and tenth grade I walked through the halls

kind of like this and didn't really like kind of dress kind of whatever, frumpy, I guess you'd call it. And around like 11th grade, that was when like Steve Austin blew up, the rock blew up. Yeah. And there was something about their characters and their confidence, their damn near cockiness, where I was just like, I want to be that. And so I started to dress differently. And I started to walk differently.

And all of a sudden it was like, my chin was up. And I was just like, you know, walking around different. And I'd start wearing the shirts with collars and stuff. and it was just like, I'd start taking on more of this persona. And so I can remember I did like backyard wrestling like twice ever in my life. What was your backyard wrestling? I was stone called Sean Ricker, really creative. And it was all these got kids and they had like really developed characters.

And I was like, no, no, I'm just going to wear my Austin 316 shirt and give stunners. That's what we're doing. Were you jacked back then, too? I was like ripped, but I was little. Sure. You had skinny guy abs. Yeah, but I had skinny guy like arms, though, too. Okay.

Like, everything was pretty cut out. I was just, I looked kind of like this, just like, what am I now, 2.30, 70 pounds lighter. Like, so my senior year, I ran cross country. It was the only year I ran cross country. And I only did it because a couple friends of mine were running. And I was like, I can get in shape for winter sports if I decide I want to wrestle or I decide I want to play basketball or whatever. I didn't do either of those things. but I ended up being really good at cross-country.

I was third-only team, qualified for states. I ended up getting scholarship offers. Not to anywhere big, but still scholarship offers, and I'd never run cross-country in my life. So I was like 100, probably 155 pounds of that time. I think by the time I graduated, I was like 165. But of my friends, I was like the muscular one. So yes, but no.

And idolizing Austin and the Rock, and then later on in your career, you're getting compared to The Rock with his style of promo. Yeah, I hear a lot of that. But, you know, it's funny when I did the hero, it's a reality show back to 2013. There were sometimes where one of us would be talking without seeing who was on screen,

and both people that were watching it with me and myself sometimes wouldn't know because we have very similar tones and voice. And people think I'm putting that on. That's just my voice. I can't do anything about that. That's so true. Now that you say that,

and there's going to be people that are just listening to this? They're going to be like, now I hear the rock. Great. But yeah, I mean, I definitely take from their, I would never ever say anything that they say because that's very particular to me. I don't want to feel like I'm stealing material.

Yeah. At the same time. If you smell what Eli is cooking. Right. Yeah. But at the same time, like, I absolutely will take their essence, the way that they move, the way that they carry themselves or talk, the mayorisms and all that kind of stuff.

the one thing that I like is I've seen people create gifts or gifs is a gift or gif. I think the correct term is jiff. Okay. So let's say you can't hear anything I'm saying. If you can see that there's energy without hearing me, then I'm doing something right. And then throw in what I am saying and it sounds and seems like I mean every word of it. Because in that moment, I'm like, it's pretty. probably an oversell to say it's a trance, but in a way it kind of is because in that moment,

I believe every fucking word I'm saying to the point where I can like bore a hole in the screen or whoever I'm talking to and say it with 100% authenticity. Now, if somebody wrote something for me, would I be able to deliver it that same way? I don't know. And that was kind of the cool thing with going into impact was I had worked with you. I had worked with David Lugana at Championship Wrestling in Hollywood like a few years before that. So when I got there, he kind of tried to write things to me, and I hate when people do that because they'll try and write my quotes in, and I'm like, stop that. Let me just give me what you want me to say.

But at the same time, sometimes I would read it. I'd probably use like 5% of it. But there were a lot of times little juicy bits, though, that I could take out. And I could be like, okay, this will work. I can use this subject, blah, blah, blah, but at least I knew the direct. I was going. But if he'd have told me, hey, I need you to do this word for word, I'd have been like, I probably can't do it. I can do it. But it's not going to be nearly as good. Yeah. Did you take anything from the Rock working with him on the hero that, you know, you've now applied to your career? Not, not really. We didn't get too much one-on-one time or anything like that. Because, I mean, the guy at that time was WWW champion. He had painting game coming out. He was working on Hercules. I think another G.I. Joe or Fast and Furious

or something like that was coming out. So it was literally, he would come in, we'd shoot some stuff, he'd have to go and get on a plane to Australia for a movie premiere. Then he'd have to go to Buffalo to do Monday Night Raw. Then he'd come back down and we'd shoot something the next day and it was just

like nonstop. And some of the crew members would tell me his coffee and energy drink amounts that he was taken down were just amazing. I don't know how his heart keeps going because it was like crazy amounts of energy drinks and coffee. But the guy is literally the most go, go, go,

hardest working guy ever. I wish I had that energy. And he always finds time for the gym. Yes. There's so many people that are watching this or that follow the rock on Instagram and go, I just, I don't have time. I don't have time.

I just, I mean, I go to work and then I come home. I'm so tired. It's been a busy week. I'm just not into it. Just go. If the rock can find time for it. Yes. The guy, it's not easy when he's doing.

Now, look, would you rather be doing that or doing your job? Of course, you'd rather be doing when he's doing. But it's not easy. No. I mean, the guy's up at all hours of the night. When you're shooting crazy hours, you're traveling, traveling like that, even if you're doing it private like he's doing, it's still, it's awful. Yeah.

It's fine and it's fun. But you're going to different times old. He travels with that gym. Yeah. How do that? Isn't that insane? I didn't get that. He does.

He travels with that whole gym. And wherever he's shooting in film, how do you even set that up? They make a tent for him. Like, you know, you've been... Okay, so if he comes down to L.A., where the hell do you set... There's no land to do that. You know, when you're filming, they'll put you in a trailer or whatever. Well, all those times from filming, yeah.

Yeah. You know, they block off parking lot. Yeah. Well, no, that's true, actually. They will make an entire tent, and it's his traveling Iron Paradise. God damn. Yeah. I need that.

That's goals right there. Yeah. Yeah. Geez. Well, actually, I'm thinking about starting my own gym, but we'll see what happens. Here in L.A.? Yeah. I've been feeling around like, hey, what are the startup costs?

What am I looking at as far as like if I want to have employees or stuff like that? Because, like, I know a lot of people have like these boutique gyms where it's like just personal training or it's just... Yeah. I want to have actually open gym where people can just come in and do stuff, but also, you know, have the ability to have personal trainers or group fitness or whatever. And I'm not talking like a big global gym. thing, but like maybe the size of like an anytime fitness, a little shoebox thing, but like with a bunch of power

racks. Yeah. Space for like the turf where you can do the sleds and basically the stuff that I'm missing at my current gym because the memberships for some of these, I called a gym that I found on Sunset Boulevard that looked perfect for what I wanted. Power racks.

Like I said, the different machines that my gym doesn't have, the battle ropes and the sleds and all that stuff. $1,000 a month. What? $1,000 a month. Do you work out at the L.A. Fitness at Highland or Hollywood?

I do. You're like right in the middle of the Spider-Man. Oh, my God. I usually, I drive because sometimes I'm lazy, but a lot of times I walk down there, but there is a way to kind of circumvent that. So I usually just kind of go the back way. You're in the heart of the most touristy spot in all of California.

If you go, if you go that way, it gets nasty. You go this way, it's not as bad. Wow. Yeah. Oh, man. What am I doing here? Yeah. I'm...

I hope you're not going to open your gym there. Well, not... No, no. Well, actually, I've been thinking about maybe going just over the hill and the valley. It might be a little bit cheaper, but I don't know. It might be a little bit more normal there. There's anything wrong. Not really.

This whole place is a mess. But, I mean, I'm ready at this point to go move to a farm somewhere and grow my own food and meat and all that stuff. Yeah, you and Joe Rogan can go hang out in the mountains. Right. Yeah, he lives not far. You know, that's one of the things that I've talked to friends about. I'm in a relationship for the first time, really ever. I mean, I've had relationships before, but this is the longest one.

Congratulations. Thank you so much. But as a single guy, you kind of get used to that hunt. And I think that that kind of feeds certain primal urges and whatnot. And I'm almost thinking like, okay, I need to supplant that somehow. So maybe I should actually try actual hunting. So I can kind of keep those primal fibers. is working and actually go out and like kill my own food and stuff like and they say that you

actually grow like a greater appreciation for the food that you're eating because it's it's I mean obviously if you're killing for sport you're an asshole but if you're actually killing in kind of I guess a what's called a food chain life cycle type of way we're actually using it which is what a true hunter does yes somebody I mean somebody's got to provide the food have you hunted before I not but I other than fishing does that count I don't know probably I mean I mean it's kind of a version of hunting I suppose but I mean as far as actually in the wild gun bow and arrow something like that no not yet well you know if you're not signed to a major company right now now's the time I got time yeah I just I

don't know how the hell to do it or who to go with so I need I need an experience hunter out there show me the ropes don't dick chaned me and shoot me in the face though let's go the Eli Drake please yes reach out yes the problem is a lot of people are going to and now be messaging you about this. Yeah, and I won't answer, like, probably 90% of them because that's my whole queue of, like, requested messages is just like, brr-r-r-r-but-then again,

I'm thinking about just completely deleting those apps off my phone. Now, I'll keep the accounts active. Maybe I'll post from, like, my computer or something, but, like, I just, it's such a time suck. It's such a place. But it's essential to what you're doing. I guess. It is.

Is it, though? There's people that can get over online and then get signed. Yeah, I guess. For sure. That's true. Maybe I just don't have the desire enough to do that. I'm not sure.

Because I think to myself, I'm like, okay, there were celebrities before. They didn't have Twitter or Instagram, and people were still able to enjoy them and enjoy their talents and whatnot. It's a new world now, though. I guess I just don't feel like it's completely essential. And you know who's a good example? John Moxley. That guy's never on Instagram. He's never on Twitter. I think he only had one when he was in WWE because they made him and he posted, I think, once ever. Still, loved, adored, booked.

And then you get a guy like The Rock who uses it all the time. Well, somebody's using it, but I don't know. I think it's him. He sent me messages on there. Well, okay, that's true. I think there are exceptions, but I think for the most part, he's not sitting here. It's probably like, hey, here, I approve this, send it up. But then if he actually wants to reach out to somebody, then it's probably like, hey, you know, whatever. Yeah. So do you have the goal to be signed to a major company by the end of the year? I don't know. Are you just going to start your gym and, you know, call it a wrestling career? So I, um, I started to hedge my bets already by, um, I learned stock trading. Uh, so I've been doing day trading for a while. Okay.

Just making a little gains, nothing too crazy. Yeah. Get rich quick or any shit like that. It's just like, let me learn a skill that can produce regular income. And so I've been doing that for a bit. So that's your morning every day. Stock market opens here in California. I am so not a day person, but it helps that my girlfriend also has to get up at like five in the morning to go work her job.

Oh, so this is perfect. Five in the morning, you wake up, you read, you know. I do a little bit of day trip. I get up with her. I had my coffee. I sit there until about. I'll quit the day usually around like 10 o'clock. Go down and do my cardio and then I'll grab breakfast around like 11 or no.

And so it's a solid time. So now I've had options to go different places. Some other things haven't quite come to fruition, obviously because of the contract disputes I was having earlier with impact. But now that's all clear. And I'm just kind of like thinking about it, figuring out what I want to do. And honestly, there has been a lot of contemplation of maybe I'm just done.

and maybe I'm not I don't know every day it changes some days I'm just like yeah fuck it but you're enjoying the freedom right now yeah yeah but you know what though I even enjoyed the freedom I had with impact was it was very free

I think I was fortunate enough to get in there at a time where there was still more lucrative contracts I know some of the guys you hear some of the complaints now I don't know what the truth is to that or what the falsehood is to that I was making good money and making that good money and not having a very tough schedule was great at the same time they booked me out it was for free but that went to my date so it wasn't really for free because i'm getting paid on it um

so it was it was cool i felt free then but now i'm like super free but at the same time it's like what am i doing and i don't know we'll figure what are you doing what am i don't know what am i going to do but i mean you can really write your own future i might do nothing i don't know i don't believe that i do i mean i might I don't know if I, but what do I believe? What do you believe? I don't know. All right. See?

That's where it is right now. I'm willing to say, I don't know. I know that, you know, I know that the sun's going to rise tomorrow, and Eli Drake's probably going to lift some weights. What if the sun doesn't rise tomorrow? What if this whole thing just comes to an end? Now we're getting deep. Yeah.

Wow. You ever done DMT? No, I'm just kidding. I was turning into the Joe Rogan experience. We mentioned him a minute ago, and I got a friend who always sends me that meme. But I feel like he's like anti-Joe Rogan, but never actually listened to him. He's got good interviews. There's a lot of people that are anti-Joe Rogan until they listen to him.

Well, yeah, because I think that they have this weird idea that he's like right-wing. He's this weird, like, yeah, like a stoner guy. No, he's incredibly well-read, super knowledgeable. Yeah. Incredible conversation. He just happens to give a voice to people from all walks, but like some people are, like, like, oh, well, he's got this person on. I can't like him.

And it's like, you got to let people talk and get the viewpoints out, asshole. What's the matter with you? We covered a lot of things. Yeah, I don't even know what we're talking about. This is completely aimless and I'm fine. We'll get back to wrestling for one more question before we wrap this up. Yeah. Was there anyone an impact that you didn't work with that you wish you had the chance to work with?

Bobby Lashley. I'd said that for a long time. I always thought that we had a good personal chemistry. and the one or two times that we cut promos together was a lot of fun, but we never actually, like, tangled in the ring. I feel like Killer Cross would be good. We've done some stuff outside in, like, Vegas, but he was much newer then, and I don't think it came out as well as it could have.

But we still pulled off some pretty decent stuff, but I think just the mic work alone between the two of us would be really, really stellar. Yeah, there's, I mean, you're one of the best on the mic. I appreciate that. That's true. I have a habit of, I have a habit of like, if I want something done, like I need it now. Like, I've got my whole setup over here. Like, I made my own music last year because, like, I felt like the, I felt like the music that I had was kind of stale.

You're Sean Michaels, making your own entrance theme? I guess, yeah. But, I mean, I actually, like, I went out and bought this piano. I have no idea how to play the piano whatsoever. But I am a drummer, so I was like, I have rhythm. I can at least, if I listen and I know what I want, I can do it. So I basically just sat down and made my own music last year. I've got a couple of them in the can where I'm like,

all right, maybe I'll do this alternate version if this one goes stale. One more thing, actually, before I wrap this up, your catchphrase with dummy, yeah, where'd that come from? That was an accident. Well, yes and no. It was two things that came together that I was already saying on a regular basis. So I'd been saying dummy on the Indies since like 2011, probably about 2011. I think I was watching old Bobby Heenan or something.

And I think also, I feel like on Howard Stern show, they say it a lot. Ralph Sorrello always says that sometimes Howard will say it. I think I've heard Artie Lang when he used to be on the show say it. And I was just like, no, nobody uses that word anymore. Why don't I use that? and I remember probably around the time I was at the WWB Performance Center sometimes people would say

when I used to be a server I would just walk around just spouting out dumb stuff I remember I worked at the BJs in Culver City and I would just like most people come around the corner and they'd go a corner but instead I'd go everybody and then everybody knew I was coming

so that kind of became a thing when I was at the performance center I would just say it And I'd be like, and to the point where like Joey Mercury was running drills with us. And we would do a kickout drill where you'd have to kick out of 100 pins. Like, oh my God. Pretty quickly. And like basically to fuck with everyone around us and to test my win, he was like, all right, you need to say everybody every time you kick out. So I would do that.

And then everybody started saying it. Everybody. And everybody would start saying it back to me. But it felt weird to say it back to them. So they'd start saying everybody. And I'd go, yeah. And so that was just there. And so when it came time and I was at Impact and it came up with the idea to do the fact of life show and they wanted the button and a sound bite for it, they basically took me in a truck and they were just like, just say whatever, say dummy, whatever.

And I was just like, dummy, dummy. Dummy. And then one time I was just like, dummy, yeah. And at that point, we did a bunch of takes. We had all of them sitting there. And I think it was John Gabrick, who was actually like, that's the one. And I was like, I was like, you think so? And he's like, yeah, yeah, that's the one.

I'm like, okay, man, if you think so. And so I didn't think it was going to go over so great. But then we kind of played with it earlier in the day. Like I said, I'm not one to do a script. So we kind of just went out there and I just kind of dicked around a little bit. And it was just like, let me just, I'll say some stuff. I'll mess around with it and just see how it feels. and as we were doing it, everybody around the ring was laughing

because I would just hit it and it would go, dummy, yeah, and then on the back end, I'd go, yeah. And it was just like, all right, this is going to be a lot of fun. So then the first time I get out there, it was like, let's just roll with it. And I knew the direction I was going, but it was like, for the most part, I can't tell you how many times I go out there and I don't know what I'm going to say. Like, I know the direction I need to go. For the most part, like I haven't planned anything.

Sometimes I'll have some stuff in the back pocket. But a lot of times it's just like, I don't know what I'm about to say, let's go. Or sometimes a lot of times, if you notice like those back lot promos that they don't do them as much now for Impact, but they used to do them a lot more. Those would basically be like, somebody would come and grab me and be like, hey, can we just get like two-minute promo? And I'm like, okay, come on, let's go. And it was just, let's go. Well, as we wrap this up, can I be a, can I be a dummy? Well, I mean, if you're here, you're probably a dummy.

Yeah. Well, I wish I had the app still. I mean, I could probably reactivate it, but like, I don't know. This has been great. I really appreciate it. I hope so. Yeah. I feel like this flew by.

This is the first time I've ever had anybody coming to my home and interview me. Well, there you go. Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Appreciate it. Thanks. So there it is.

A very fun, interesting chat with Eli, Drake. And how interesting is it? I don't know for you, but for me. As soon as he said that people said he sounded like the rock, I couldn't not hear the rock. the Rock's voice. I don't know if in the audio version only, I don't know if that's better or worse.

You tell me, but a big thanks to Eli Drake for taking the time to do this interview for inviting me into his home in Hollywood, California to make this happen. I really appreciated that, and I can't wait to see where Eli, Drake, ends up next. Also, big thanks to Greenroads. Use the code Chris 15

at Greenroadsworld.com to save 15%. Also, thanks to Samson Technologies. head to samsontech.com to see their amazing microphones like the one I'm talking into right now. And thank you for joining me on this audio adventure. I'm really enjoying this. If you could leave that five-star review, that would be so awesome. We will see you soon. The Hammer Alley podcast, an 80s flashback mockumentary. Back in the 80s, there were a thousand bands trying to make it in the world of rock. But there was one band that had it all. Hammer Alley.

happened to Hammer Alley? How did they go from top of the rock? I'm looking for a music video. They're a band from 1987. Hammer Alley. Ever heard of them? To Rock Bottom. Dude, I was born in 1987. I can't believe he's doing this. Hammer Allie. Follow and listen on your favorite platform.