Former Impact Champion Reveals Why He Was Blacklisted From WWE

Sometimes stars who don’t make it in WWE end up finding big success with Impact Wrestling, and that’s exactly what happened with Eli Drake. After he was released from his WWE contract a few years ago, Drake signed with Impact and went on to win the Impact Global Championship.

Eli Drake recently spoke to The Mirror about what went wrong with his WWE run, and he revealed that he secured himself a spot on WWE’s blacklist when he failed to show up on time.

“When I was on the indies back in 2008, I had an opportunity with WWE when I went in and did a dark match and they liked me and wanted me to come back the next week. And here’s the part where I shot myself in the foot, I showed up an hour late on that second day, due to some circumstances, and after that, they didn’t talk to me for about three years. I was put on a blacklist. I didn’t even end up getting to WWE into developmental until my tenth year in [the business] and a lot of that again, some of that was me, some of that was politics, but a lot of it was BS. So, it’s a little frustrating every time I think about it, it kind of bites me in the ass every day, but at the same time, it’s also kind of what drives me.”

When asked if he has any interest in returning to WWE, Drake noted that he’s weighing all his options.

“It really depends. I am looking at all my options. I am very grateful for the opportunities Impact have given me and putting me on the stage they have put me on. I also have grown my bank account enormously! I’m doing well on that front. So I’m very grateful for it. But at the same time, I am a businessman, I am going to look into any opportunities that are afforded to me and anybody who wants to talk and wants to throw numbers my way and anything like that, of course I am open to that. Will I stay with Impact? That’s a definite possibility. It could be a likelihood, I really don’t know. It really depends on what else is out there. But I am interested in any opportunity that comes my way, that’s for sure.”

Do you want to see Eli Drake leave Impact and sign with WWE? Sound off in the comments below.