The Forbidden Lore Of WWE’s LA Knight
Drake was very critical of inter-gender wrestling that year, a controversial subject about which the most sensible thing to say is to say nothing. No good can come of it.
In an interview with 411Mania, Drake revealed that he wasn’t a fan of the sub-genre after declining to wrestle Tessa Blanchard (who he still endorsed as a talent in her own right). He said that inter-gender wrestling stretches suspension of disbelief, and prefers his wrestling with a sense of realism. He opined that he also didn’t like it when Rey Mysterio - “a legend in the business in a certain sense” - wrestled the Big Show. Beyond wading into the inter-gender debate, anything that could even be construed as a backhanded compliment to company royalty and future Hall of Fame inductee was unlikely to endear him to WWE - or allow him a way back in. Drake was also critical of his booking in an interview with the Wrestling Perspective podcast on April 2. “I’ve kind of been written into oblivion this past year,” he sighed. In the exact sort of comment that invited ridicule, he also said “If you look at the Rock, Steve Austin, and Triple H, those guys weren’t always in the title picture necessarily, but they were within reach. I feel like if you watch this show between last April and this past December, you’d have no idea I was the World champion the year before”.
Drake was fired by Impact over the controversy on April 7, 2019. This was the month of NJPW’s Madison Square Garden debut and the zenith of workrare-era NXT, which promoted the legendary TakeOver: New York event. The wrestling world was awaiting the debut of AEW in May. Dave Meltzer reported that WWE had expressed interest in Drake when his Impact contract was expiring in June 2018, but never made him an offer. No offer was forthcoming in April 2019 either, which was damning: at the time, WWE was on a major recruitment drive and was mostly unwilling to accept release requests in a new era of competition.
A passable wrestler, whose charisma felt ripped-off, who might be considered a public relations liability by the major leagues: Drake felt doomed to hit the MLW loop. He was in his mid-thirties, too. It felt like he had little promise to realise.
Then, NWA Power happened.
CONT'D...(3 of 5)