10 Things WWE Fans Need To Know About LA Knight
5. Termination From Impact Wrestling
Eli Drake was a member of the Impact Wrestling locker room from 2015-2019. He was a popular heel and a reliable in-ring talent. Though, his issues with management soon soured the working relationship. Drake had previously irked higher-ups with off-the-cuff public critiques about the company, but it was his refusal to work a match with Tessa Blanchard at United We Stand that turned the situation truly toxic.
To Drake’s credit, he refused the match well in advance, discussing it on Twitter two months before the pay-per-view.
Drake made the situation public on 22 February 2019 when he shared a fan tweet discussing how inter-gender matches expose professional wrestling as fake, ruins immersion, and also the lack of entertainment to be found in men beating up women. To this Drake added:
“You couldn’t have hit the nail more directly on the head. I have amazing respect for @IMPACTWRESTLING and @Tess_Blanchard and can see that she is likely the greatest female talent in wrestling today. Although that said, I will not participate in a one on one inter-gender match.”
Based on what is public knowledge, the punishment didn’t fit the crime. Added to this, Drake was fired by email, though, he found out via text messages and Tweets.