As has been the case with pro wrestling for years, sometimes a wrestler has to be set free to wander the Earth (you know; like Caine in Kung Fu) before a former employer can see the true value of their worth. Cody Rhodes may eventually return to WWE’s fold after making a spectacular run on the indies. Ditto with Damien Sandow, and maybe someday, with Drew Galloway or EC3. Just to wantonly speculate on a few.
But there’s one name that WWE is reportedly interested in right now, who was in developmental not all that long ago. Shaun Ricker, who wrestles for TNA as Eli Drake and has been one of the agreed-upon bright spots for Impact Wrestling in 2016, is someone WWE very much wants to bring back, according to the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. He was previously signed to the Performance Center in 2013 and wrestled an NXT dark match under the name Slate Randall (probably just missing out on being in the Flintstones/WWE movie), and was released in August of 2014.
At the moment, Ricker is under contract to TNA, but that contract may be up soon, and depending on how things shake out in the new year, there’s a good chance he may be WWE-bound.
Ricker currently wrestles both under his real name and as Eli Drake all over the independent circuit. In addition to being a former TNA King of the Mountain Champion, he’s held titles in Championship Wrestling From Hollywood, HWA, EWF, and of course, he’s held the prestigious DDT Pro Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship.
According to anyone in the industry who knows him, he’s a fantastic guy and a tremendous talent. We’ll be keeping our eyes on how this whole thing shakes out, of course. There’s a good chance there will be a lot of TNA-related roster moves in the first months of 2017.
