Drake Maverick faces Kushida in the NXT Interim Cruiserweight Championship Tournament tomorrow night (May 20). It could be his last match in WWE.
That’s because, as the above ten minute production “The unbreakable dreams of Drake Maverick” chronicles, Maverick was one of the many people who were released from the company back on April 15.
In a heartfelt Twitter video posted that afternoon, Drake revealed he would still compete in the tourney despite being let go. Since then he’s been on a babyface journey, with NXT using his release as an angle - even having the man who beat him in the Interim Cruiserweight Tournament, Jake Atlas, playing the role of a Maverick super-fan.
The odds of WWE spending all this time and money to build up the former(?) Rockstar Spud just so he can sign with AEW or Impact in a few weeks are long. Right? Even though I doubt he wins the tournament, I could see him losing in the finals (or a likely last chance semi) followed by Triple H offering him a new contract a la Cedric Alexander at the Cruiserweight Classic or Mia Yim after the 2018 Mae Young.
But is there any way that’s not at least a little bit tasteless? Whether he’s re-signed or not, or however long his contract status has been a work... isn’t that awful for the people who definitely lost their jobs last month?
Or is this just what everyone in this wild business signs on for, that any aspect of their life is fair game if there’s money to be made using it in a story?
I don’t have the answers. That’s a dope video, though.
Let’s go Drake!