Before There Was LA Knight: There Was Eli Drake
The LA Knight we see in a WWE ring today was forged by Eli Drake (and Shaun Ricker) in IMPACT Wrestling and other promotions
The current United States Champion, LA Knight is known for his trash-talking, catchphrases, and mix of power, grappling, and striking in the ring. Before LA Knight stepped foot into a wrestling ring, Eli Drake was naming dummies, hosting “The Fact of Life” and welcoming people to the “Gravy Train" in IMPACT Wrestling and other independent promotions.
How did Eli Drake become LA Knight? Let’s look at the traits he carried and the evolution of the character to what we see today.
How Eli Drake Became LA Knight
The Character
Prior to competing under the name Eli Drake, Knight competed under his real name, Shaun Ricker. He competed for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as part of the NWA Championship Wrestling From Hollywood program. His character had the arrogance and smooth-speaking trash talk that we still very much see today.
His promos here featured early versions of some of his now most famous catchphrases.
His promos often started with his now signature “Let Me Talk to You” and ended with “That’s Not an Insult, That is Just a Fact of Life”. He would also refer to his opponents as “Dummies” frequently during interviews and promos.
Although the delivery had the smoothness in the ways that we have become familiar with from LA Knight, they still had some evolution to undertake before becoming the versions that we know today.
Following a relatively short run in the WWE developmental system from 2013-2014, Knight returned to the independent scene. Armed with his new ring name Eli Drake, and a hunger to build on his already memorable character, Drake took the indies by storm.
Making an IMPACT
Drake returned to TNA Wrestling prior to the rebrand to IMPACT Wrestling in 2015. In one of his first promos back on the independent scene as part of The Rising stable, he reminded fans of his signature catchphrases. What the fans watching live may not have realized was that the next few years would feature promos that made fans remember (or learn for the first time) how his promos would capture an audience.
Sticking with his signature opening line of “Let Me Talk to You” and his closing line of “That Is Just a Fact of Life”, fans in IMPACT, as well as other promotions such as Full Impact Pro, World Wrestling Council (WWC) and others, would listen as Drake reminded his opponents how dumb they are with his signature “Dummy” line. His “Yeah” chant would also start to catch on as well as other sayings such as “Gravy Train” and “Undeniable Kavorka” would become memorable phrases for any fan that watched Drake in action.
His in-ring segments included the talk show “Fact of Life” which sometimes featured guests that Drake was feuding with or would feature Drake doing a countdown such as “The Top 5 Dummies in IMPACT Wrestling”.
The charisma and arrogance in which he delivered his promos tended to invoke reactions from fans watching live and on social media. As a heel character, he was able to insult fans in ways that drew their ire. As a face, he was able to break opponents down verbally as fans reacted to every line in the promo. These traits would eventually be built on his made his way back to a WWE ring.
The Road Back to WWE
After leaving IMPACT in 2019, Drake spent the rest of 2019 and 2020 back with the NWA before heading back to WWE in 2021. Although this time he was under the name LA Knight, the Eli Drake personality was still very prevalent.
Everything from how he introduced himself (dragging out the L-A Knight the same way he did E-Li-Drake along with the hand motions) to his signature catchphrases, to calling everyone a dummy, Eli Drake was very much alive within LA Knight.
After a run in NXT and a gimmick change to the manager of the Maximum Male Models, LA Knight returned in full force in 2022. The crowds quickly latched onto his “Yeah” chant which quickly became a popular chant during live events and was quickly added to his merchandise.
As soon as Knight’s music hits the crowd reacts with a thunderous “YEAH” chat. It has drawn comparisons to the “WHAT” chant made popular by Stone Cold Steve Austin in the early 2000s.
Between the Ropes
Knight has a mix of technical and power moves. He is not known for high-risk maneuvers off of the top rope or dives outside of the ring. He referred to this in a promo early in his NXT days while taking a shot at notable NXT competitors such as Adam Cole and Finn Balor. His style in the ring has always been much more grappling and striking heavy as opposed to flying moves.
His finishing move in WWE is the BFT (Blunt Force Trauma) which is a modified stunner meet skull-crushing finale that sees Knight plant his opponent's skull first on the canvas. Prior to that, he utilized the “Gravy Train” that saw him hold his opponent at a slight angle from his back before driving them to the mat (similar to Sheamus’s White Noise finisher).
In Conclusion
Looking back at the early NWA promos of Shaun Ricker, the seeds that would become Eli Drake and LA Knight are all there. His catchphrase delivery became more refined, and some phrases became hotter than others. Some promo elements were phased out as the charter developed. We no longer see the in-ring show “The Fact of Life” but do see Knight getting fans to react to what he is doing in the squared circle. What we see today is the smoothest and most refined version of Ricker/Drake/Knight in everything from promos to matches.
Did you know LA Knight as Eli Drake? What are some of your favorite matches from him? Sound off in the comments below.
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I liked his work in Impact a lot as Eli Drake and he had a certain dynamic charisma he brought to the show there every time he appeared. I can't point to a specific match per se just his overall presence on the show. He carried himself like a major star back then, someone that looked like they would excel on the biggest platform, which is exactly what he did. His rise has been fun to watch and motivational in a lot of ways because it wasn't a lineal rise, and a long-time viewer who has followed his career can draw a lot of inspiration from the real person and his path to success I believe. Perhaps they can apply that in their own way in their own life.
My opinion is remarkably similar to Russ. I was a big fan of Eli Drake, even on an Impact show that was death to watch, and an even bigger fan once he made it to the NWA, which was much more fun to watch. Even when he wasn't a star, he always acted like one, and that's half the battle.
I always like to compare Eli Drake to somebody like Wheeler Yuta, who even when he's presented as if he's a star, seems to constantly be breaking his own back to convince you that he's still young, and not ready to be a star. Eli Drake never had this problem, and while it could've been bad for his career to act so big if he never made it, considering he has made it makes this a fantastic career move.
The interesting thing about it to me (especially in the modern wrestling landscape) is that I don't remember any particularly great Eli Drake matches. I remember a few very good LA Knight matches, but he had to get there first, and he made it without having a single match that truly stands out in my mind. It didn't matter. I cared about Eli Drake, and that's the key thing. You can have all the five star matches you want, but if nobody cares you're not going to make any money (I'm looking at you, Ricochet). Getting people to care about you is the name of the game, and Shaun Ricker can get people to care about any three syllable name he wants.