10 Things We Learned From Speaking To Eli Drake

5. He Found Out About His Impact Firing On Twitter

Eli Drake
ImpactWrestling.com

Shortly after saying no to the Tessa Blanchard match, Eli Drake's time with Impact Wrestling officially came to an end.

That departure was officially announced on April 7, 2019 - the same date as WrestleMania 35, and just three days after Impact's United We Stand show - but Eli had to find out the news for himself courtesy of Twitter.

Reflecting back on that firing, Drake explained, "I heard about it via email. Nobody called me, nobody even texted me. Nothing. I didn't even find out by email, I found out via Twitter. The morning I got fired was WrestleMania Sunday. I woke up to three our four text messages with, 'Hey, is this true?' and a link to a tweet. That's how I found out."

Eli Drake spent five years in TNA/Impact, winning the promotion's World Championship, King of the Mountain Championship, Tag Team Championships, and having had Feast or Fired success - which makes it disappointing to see the company leak out news of his Impact release before even interacting with Drake directly about this decision.

Still, Impact's loss is clearly the NWA's game.

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 and Presenter, 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 day job, his role as 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 and Eli Roth to Kevin Smith and the Russo Brothers, to Kevin Conroy and Frank Miller, to Bret Hart and Sting, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, and Brian Flynn, to many, many more. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is a long-standing season ticket holder and an FSA Award-winner for his time co-hosting the Fearless in Devotion podcast.