Drake Maverick Issues Emotional Statement On WWE Release, Reveals Tournament Matches To Come
Drake Maverick took to Twitter today and posted a video after his WWE release was announced.
Maverick revealed that WWE Senior Director of Talent Relations Mark Carrano was the one making the calls to talents & producers today to inform them of their departures.
In the video seen below, Drake got emotional when discussing his release and revealed WWE is allowing him to compete in the tournament to crown a new Interim WWE NXT Cruiserweight Champion. That tournament kicks off tonight but there's no word yet on Drake's opponent. Drake mentioned being in 3 matches during the tournament. It's possible that the tournament was previously taped.
Drake tagged WWE Hall of Famers Triple H and Shawn Michaels in the caption of the video, and called it his immediate thoughts.
"So, I just got off the phone with WWE Talent Relations' Mark Carrano," Drake said. "Who literally told me that as of today I have been released from my WWE contract, and due to the current climate, the current climate with what's going on in the world, like everybody else where I probably didn't take this as serious as it is at the beginning, but it's affecting people's lives, it's affecting people's jobs, and it's affecting the way people make a living.
"I'm very fortunate that WWE is still allowing me to compete in the NXT Interim Cruiserweight Title tournament, but it's very likely that those will be the last matches that I ever have. There's a lot of people that I'm not gonna get a chance to say goodbye to, that I really loved, that I really cared about. They make me a better person. And again, I'm very grateful that I get that, other people won't get that, but if these are the last 3 matches I have, I just want everyone watching at home to know you'll have my all, you'll have my everything. It's not about a title anymore, it's about my life. It's about feeding my family, paying my bills. So, if I don't make an impression, if I don't win – that's it for me. So, I just want everybody to know that you're all going to get everything I have."
As noted at this link, Drake's release came as WWE released more than a dozen producers and talents as of this writing, and more cuts are expected to be made as the company continues with coronavirus-related business changes, which are detailed at this link and at this link.
Stay tuned for updates. You can see Drake's full video below:
My immediate thoughts.@WWE @WWENXT #WWE #NXT @TripleH @ShawnMichaels #Cruiserweight pic.twitter.com/Afw58V7eo1
? Drake Maverick (@WWEMaverick) April 15, 2020