10 Things We Learned From Speaking To Eli Drake

6. Refusing To Wrestle Tessa Blanchard

Eli Drake NWA
Impact Wrestling

Before Eli Drake departed Impact Wrestling in 2019, it was long known by both Eli and Impact management that he was leaving the company. But when Impact announced publicly that Drake would be facing Tessa Blanchard at the United We Stand event, Eli refused to compete in that match and took to social media to make certain comments about Impact.

Elaborating on why he said no to that Tessa bout, Eli told us, "I've done mixed tag before, so I'm not opposed to that. I'm in a group chat with some of the guys who were working there, and one of them had already told us that they'd pitched this match to him - it was him against Tessa - and he said that he wasn't comfortable with it. But they said something to him before they announced it. With me, they just announced it and said nothing to me - after one guy had already turned them down for being uncomfortable with it. First of all, how do you just announce that when one guy already said he's uncomfortable with it and just assume I'm good and cool? And in my mind, I'm thinking, 'They already know I'm leaving, because I told them in January. Okay, they'll try to bury me on my way out.'"

On Blanchard, Drake added, "I've got immense respect for Tessa - she's probably the best female wrestler in the world - but she's also 5' 4" and 140 lbs, and I'm 6'1" and 230 lbs. It just doesn't look believable to me."

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.