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The road to a championship belt was anything but easy for Shaun Ricker, but his belief never wavered.
He heard no so many times. He spent nights wrestling for free, wondering how he would pay next month’s rent. But he gritted his teeth and worked harder, believing he had the charisma that would one day put him under the bright lights.
Along the way, there were some close calls, brushes with destiny. Now, Ricker, who competes for Impact Wrestling as Eli Drake, the company’s global champion, is finally at the top. On Nov. 5, he’ll headline Impact’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view at Ottawa’s Aberdeen Pavilion.
To understand the champion, to figure out how the 34-year-old got to where he is, you need to know a bit about him and where he came from.
‘”I grew up watching this stuff,” said Drake, who was raised in Hagerstown, Md. “I can remember yelling at the TV when I was probably three years old. Nikolai Volkoff was talking some mad trash to Hulk Hogan. I was a big-time Hulkamaniac. Then you get to high school, there was Steve Austin, The Rock … those guys cemented it for me. ‘This is what I want to do.’
“I was a very shy kid, but I always wanted to be a performer. I was that kid that was so shy when I was at my grandma’s house, I would whisper in my mom or dad’s ear, ‘Could you ask her for a cookie?’ Those hand mixers, when I was a kid, I thought the metal mixer part looked like a microphone so I would take those, stand behind a door and I would sing and dance. I figured if I was behind a door, nobody would see me, nobody could hear me. It was like I was invisible.”
After high school, he packed his bags and headed to Cincinnati, where he wanted to train with Heartland Wrestling Association. At age 20, he began training on March 17, 2003, the one-year anniversary of his favourite match of all-time — Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock at Wrestlemania in Toronto.
Eli Drake strikes a pose for his fans.
“I think I had to put $600 down, then it was like $300 or $400 a month for that first little bit,” said Drake, who worked as a server at Ruby Tuesday, then at a wood mill to raise enough money to train. “There’s no money when you’re starting out in wrestling. I paid them to train and I almost never got paid for shows. At the most, I’d probably make about $50. I’m barely paying my rent, but I’m getting by.
“I got my first dark match with WWE, May 5, 2006, Columbus, Ohio — it was me and Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley at the time), we had a match on Heat against The Big Show, a 2-on-1. I didn’t know how to follow up, I didn’t know how to ask what I wanted, which was a job. I kept thinking if I just keep showing up at the arena, they’ll give me a job. It doesn’t work that way. That was part of the shyness.
“I had another tryout in 2008 in D.C., it was Monday Night RAW. They brought me in, it was me and Snitsky against Cryme Tyme. They really liked what I did, they brought me back the following week. I shot myself in the foot so huge, I showed up an hour late for the show. They would not talk to me for two to three years. That’s when my dad (Gene) started saying, ‘At some point, you have to do something, you have to save for retirement. My mom (Barb) from the start was like, ‘You have to get a real job with benefits.’ But to me, anything that I wanted was reality.”
Drake had been working for Championship Wrestling in Hollywood. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel. “Even when others began to doubt, I was like, ‘No, man, this thing is happening. I’m not letting it slip out of my hands.’ I was broke as hell, I barely was making it by. Everything kind of happened at once (in 2013). I got on (reality TV show) The Hero with The Rock. The WWE called, I had a great year at NXT.”
Released from NXT in 2014, he had a few months of “Now what am I going to do?”
Impact Wrestling brought him in, February 2015. He had a dark match, participated in Gut Check and was offered a contract. He would become part of The Rising faction with Drew Galloway and Micah. On an Aug. 24 Impact episode, Drake won a 20-man gauntlet match to win the global championship. Listen to his work on the microphone and it’s obvious why he’s a torchbearer for his company.
Eli Drake, a master with a microphone.
“Guys who are hard-core wrestling fans will try and crap on Hulk Hogan and The Rock. … They say those guys can’t wrestle. But those guys made more money than anybody in the history of the business because their personalities were so big. When I was in Impact and they handed me that microphone for the first time, I knew I was going to knock it out of the park. Eli Drake’s like an investment, you hand me a microphone, give me about five minutes, I’ll hand you back gold. Since then, the money’s grown, my exposure’s grown and now you’re looking at the global champion.
“Are my promos heel? I’m not sure. They’re a bit verbose, a bit brash, maybe a little arrogant. But wasn’t The Rock, wasn’t Austin and even wasn’t Hogan, in a sense? I always idolized the good guys. Even when Hogan went to the NWO, when he went to the black, that was the first time I liked a bad guy.”
Next up for Drake is a match against Johnny Impact at Bound for Glory.
“Everybody’s gunning for me, but Johnny Impact’s knocking on my door right now,” said Drake. “We had a helluva match at Victory Road, we’re going to try and step it up from there.”
The future sure looks bright for the shy kid from Maryland.
“Michael Jackson was very shy and subdued, but when the microphone was in his hand, it was time to perform. It was the same with me. I knew the kind of performer I wanted to be, watching Austin, Hogan, Rock, Ric Flair, Jake Roberts and guys like that. It was, ‘That’s what I want to be, if I want to be that, I have to turn it on.’
“There’s a reason why (Impact colour commentator) Josh Mathews has a habit of calling me The Defiant One. I defy the rules, I defy the odds. Most guys don’t make it. Most guys that do make it, it doesn’t take them 10 years. Persevere. Keep pushing. Anything else in life when I’m told no, I move on. This is an obsession, it’s in my blood, I had to keep pushing. Being told no was rocket fuel.”
What kind of reaction will he get in Ottawa?
“According to my Twitter, these Canadian fans seem to be on my gravy train,” said Drake. “They might cheer me, they might boo me, but the bottom line is they’re going to make some noise while Eli Drake’s out there.”
BOUND FOR GLORY KICKS OFF SIX NIGHTS OF IMPACT WRESTLING IN OTTAWA
It isn’t WWE, nor do they pretend to be — president Ed Nordholm has referred to his company’s tagline being “Less Talk More Action” — but Impact Wrestling will hit Ottawa with six straight nights of action, beginning Nov. 5 with the Bound for Glory pay-per-view event.
All the events are being held at Lansdowne Park’s Aberdeen Pavilion, and will begin at 7:30 p.m. For the TV shows, ticket prices are $30 for floor reserved seating and $15 for general admission. It’s $40 for floors and $20 general admission for the pay-per-view.
Among those in action will be Impact global champion Eli Drake, Bobby Lashley (who also has a 15-2 record in mixed martial arts matches), Alberto El Patron, Johnny Impact, Moose, Ethan Carter III, Eddie Edwards and some Canadian stars — Gail Kim, Petey Williams, Rosemary, Taya Valkyrie and Allie.
Matches are held inside a six-sided ring, not the standard four-sided one. Show highlights are often matches from the X-Division (whose current champion is Trevor Lee), where the slogan is: “It’s not about weight limits, it’s about no limits.”
THAT’S THE TICKET
What: Impact Wrestling is holding its Bound for Glory pay-per-view in Ottawa Nov. 5, followed by five straight nights of TV tapings.
Where: Aberdeen Pavilion (Lansdowne Park).
Times: 7:30 p.m., Sunday-Friday
Tickets: TDPlace.ca or at the TD Place box office. $40 for reserved floor seats and $20 general admission at Bound for Glory; for the TV tapings, it’s $30 floor and $15 general admission. There are also ticket bundle packages available.
tbaines@postmedia.com
查看原文...
He heard no so many times. He spent nights wrestling for free, wondering how he would pay next month’s rent. But he gritted his teeth and worked harder, believing he had the charisma that would one day put him under the bright lights.
Along the way, there were some close calls, brushes with destiny. Now, Ricker, who competes for Impact Wrestling as Eli Drake, the company’s global champion, is finally at the top. On Nov. 5, he’ll headline Impact’s Bound for Glory pay-per-view at Ottawa’s Aberdeen Pavilion.
To understand the champion, to figure out how the 34-year-old got to where he is, you need to know a bit about him and where he came from.
‘”I grew up watching this stuff,” said Drake, who was raised in Hagerstown, Md. “I can remember yelling at the TV when I was probably three years old. Nikolai Volkoff was talking some mad trash to Hulk Hogan. I was a big-time Hulkamaniac. Then you get to high school, there was Steve Austin, The Rock … those guys cemented it for me. ‘This is what I want to do.’
“I was a very shy kid, but I always wanted to be a performer. I was that kid that was so shy when I was at my grandma’s house, I would whisper in my mom or dad’s ear, ‘Could you ask her for a cookie?’ Those hand mixers, when I was a kid, I thought the metal mixer part looked like a microphone so I would take those, stand behind a door and I would sing and dance. I figured if I was behind a door, nobody would see me, nobody could hear me. It was like I was invisible.”
After high school, he packed his bags and headed to Cincinnati, where he wanted to train with Heartland Wrestling Association. At age 20, he began training on March 17, 2003, the one-year anniversary of his favourite match of all-time — Hulk Hogan vs. The Rock at Wrestlemania in Toronto.
Eli Drake strikes a pose for his fans.
“I think I had to put $600 down, then it was like $300 or $400 a month for that first little bit,” said Drake, who worked as a server at Ruby Tuesday, then at a wood mill to raise enough money to train. “There’s no money when you’re starting out in wrestling. I paid them to train and I almost never got paid for shows. At the most, I’d probably make about $50. I’m barely paying my rent, but I’m getting by.
“I got my first dark match with WWE, May 5, 2006, Columbus, Ohio — it was me and Dean Ambrose (Jon Moxley at the time), we had a match on Heat against The Big Show, a 2-on-1. I didn’t know how to follow up, I didn’t know how to ask what I wanted, which was a job. I kept thinking if I just keep showing up at the arena, they’ll give me a job. It doesn’t work that way. That was part of the shyness.
“I had another tryout in 2008 in D.C., it was Monday Night RAW. They brought me in, it was me and Snitsky against Cryme Tyme. They really liked what I did, they brought me back the following week. I shot myself in the foot so huge, I showed up an hour late for the show. They would not talk to me for two to three years. That’s when my dad (Gene) started saying, ‘At some point, you have to do something, you have to save for retirement. My mom (Barb) from the start was like, ‘You have to get a real job with benefits.’ But to me, anything that I wanted was reality.”
Drake had been working for Championship Wrestling in Hollywood. He could see the light at the end of the tunnel. “Even when others began to doubt, I was like, ‘No, man, this thing is happening. I’m not letting it slip out of my hands.’ I was broke as hell, I barely was making it by. Everything kind of happened at once (in 2013). I got on (reality TV show) The Hero with The Rock. The WWE called, I had a great year at NXT.”
Released from NXT in 2014, he had a few months of “Now what am I going to do?”
Impact Wrestling brought him in, February 2015. He had a dark match, participated in Gut Check and was offered a contract. He would become part of The Rising faction with Drew Galloway and Micah. On an Aug. 24 Impact episode, Drake won a 20-man gauntlet match to win the global championship. Listen to his work on the microphone and it’s obvious why he’s a torchbearer for his company.
Eli Drake, a master with a microphone.
“Guys who are hard-core wrestling fans will try and crap on Hulk Hogan and The Rock. … They say those guys can’t wrestle. But those guys made more money than anybody in the history of the business because their personalities were so big. When I was in Impact and they handed me that microphone for the first time, I knew I was going to knock it out of the park. Eli Drake’s like an investment, you hand me a microphone, give me about five minutes, I’ll hand you back gold. Since then, the money’s grown, my exposure’s grown and now you’re looking at the global champion.
“Are my promos heel? I’m not sure. They’re a bit verbose, a bit brash, maybe a little arrogant. But wasn’t The Rock, wasn’t Austin and even wasn’t Hogan, in a sense? I always idolized the good guys. Even when Hogan went to the NWO, when he went to the black, that was the first time I liked a bad guy.”
Next up for Drake is a match against Johnny Impact at Bound for Glory.
“Everybody’s gunning for me, but Johnny Impact’s knocking on my door right now,” said Drake. “We had a helluva match at Victory Road, we’re going to try and step it up from there.”
The future sure looks bright for the shy kid from Maryland.
“Michael Jackson was very shy and subdued, but when the microphone was in his hand, it was time to perform. It was the same with me. I knew the kind of performer I wanted to be, watching Austin, Hogan, Rock, Ric Flair, Jake Roberts and guys like that. It was, ‘That’s what I want to be, if I want to be that, I have to turn it on.’
“There’s a reason why (Impact colour commentator) Josh Mathews has a habit of calling me The Defiant One. I defy the rules, I defy the odds. Most guys don’t make it. Most guys that do make it, it doesn’t take them 10 years. Persevere. Keep pushing. Anything else in life when I’m told no, I move on. This is an obsession, it’s in my blood, I had to keep pushing. Being told no was rocket fuel.”
What kind of reaction will he get in Ottawa?
“According to my Twitter, these Canadian fans seem to be on my gravy train,” said Drake. “They might cheer me, they might boo me, but the bottom line is they’re going to make some noise while Eli Drake’s out there.”
BOUND FOR GLORY KICKS OFF SIX NIGHTS OF IMPACT WRESTLING IN OTTAWA
It isn’t WWE, nor do they pretend to be — president Ed Nordholm has referred to his company’s tagline being “Less Talk More Action” — but Impact Wrestling will hit Ottawa with six straight nights of action, beginning Nov. 5 with the Bound for Glory pay-per-view event.
All the events are being held at Lansdowne Park’s Aberdeen Pavilion, and will begin at 7:30 p.m. For the TV shows, ticket prices are $30 for floor reserved seating and $15 for general admission. It’s $40 for floors and $20 general admission for the pay-per-view.
Among those in action will be Impact global champion Eli Drake, Bobby Lashley (who also has a 15-2 record in mixed martial arts matches), Alberto El Patron, Johnny Impact, Moose, Ethan Carter III, Eddie Edwards and some Canadian stars — Gail Kim, Petey Williams, Rosemary, Taya Valkyrie and Allie.
Matches are held inside a six-sided ring, not the standard four-sided one. Show highlights are often matches from the X-Division (whose current champion is Trevor Lee), where the slogan is: “It’s not about weight limits, it’s about no limits.”
THAT’S THE TICKET
What: Impact Wrestling is holding its Bound for Glory pay-per-view in Ottawa Nov. 5, followed by five straight nights of TV tapings.
Where: Aberdeen Pavilion (Lansdowne Park).
Times: 7:30 p.m., Sunday-Friday
Tickets: TDPlace.ca or at the TD Place box office. $40 for reserved floor seats and $20 general admission at Bound for Glory; for the TV tapings, it’s $30 floor and $15 general admission. There are also ticket bundle packages available.
tbaines@postmedia.com
查看原文...
