10 Things We Learned From Speaking To Eli Drake
2. Was He Surprised At Ricky Starks' NWA Exit?
Since NWA Powerrr debuted late last year, one of the lesser-known names to seize the opportunity to make themselves known on an international stage was Ricky Starks.
Sure, performers like Eli Drake, James Storm, Thom Latimer, Ken Anderson, and the reinvented Nick Aldis had all shown previously what they were capable of, but the platform of the NWA gave Ricky Starks the biggest chance of his career - and boy, did he take that chance!
Starks constantly shone on the Powerrr stage, and he was even the first person to win the NWA's relaunched Television Championship. But then in a surprising move, Starks departed the NWA last month.
When asking Eli on whether it was a shock to see the Stroke Daddy exit the NWA, Drake told us, "I guess with the way that everything's happening with the current climate in the world, and we're not able to do shows, NWA has kinda given the option for people to restructure their deals or to possibly opt out if they didn't want to take this downtime and wait until we can do shows again. I've gotta imagine perhaps he's got feelers somewhere, he's got an opportunity somewhere. I'm not terribly surprised. I don't know what or how his deal was structured, but in my case I'm good to stay where I am for now unless somebody comes to me with a really, really good offer."
Clearly a big fan of the hugely talented Starks', Eli added, "With Ricky, I'm not terribly surprised, but at the same time we would have loved to have had him still, for sure."