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Eli Drake, in a recent interview with the Wrestling Perspective Podcast, revealed that he didn't have trouble finding a new home once he left Impact Wrestling. As he became a free agent, Drake had interest from many promotions and even had a deal in place with AEW before ultimately inking a contract with NWA instead.
Fightful.com carried transcripts of his comments from the interview where he discussed the nature of his dealings with AEW.
We had a deal worked out. And then we didn't. And then we did again. And then we didn't. We just couldn't come to terms with everything. Then, I spoke with Joey Mercury at Ring of Honor and that happened just before talking to [Dave] Lagana and Billy [Corgan] at NWA. At that point, I was just weighing my options and seeing what was what.
Drake became a main-event player and won the Impact Heavyweight title. He was one of the most important wrestlers in Impact as the company went through the transition from Dixie Carter to new management. On the back of a former connection from TNA with Lagana, Drake revealed that his choice to sign with NWA was an easy one.
Credit all goes to Lagana. He was writing at TNA when I got there, so I knew him from before at Championship Wrestling from Hollywood. So he already knew what I could do. They gave me a direction and I stayed in whatever the parameters were, but I did my own thing. It remained that way as IMPACT continued forward. It's the same thing with NWA. At this point it's; put a camera on me, give me a direction, and I'll take the wheel.
Part of the reason for his departure had to do with his storylines becoming less and less important. He was also offered an inter-gender match with Tessa Blanchard but refused and his contract with Impact was terminated on June 4th. After that, speculation arose that he would likely be ending up in either WWE or AEW.
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