JD Drake Reveals He Started Working For AEW After WWE Rejection

Current AEW and Ring of Honor star JD Drake could have ended up in WWE, had things gone differently. 

The Blue Collar Badass wrestled one match for NXT (on a February 14, 2020 non-televised live event) and had a tryout, before WWE ultimately passed. 

Speaking about the process during a recent appearance on AEW Unrestricted, the 39-year-old said: 

"When the pandemic happened, we thought it was done [his and WorkHorsemen tag team partner Anthony Henry's careers as independent wrestlers]. And then we got a phone call about a tryout elsewhere". 

He was initially hesitant to go to the tryout, though he agreed to when Henry informed him he had also been invited to participate.

"But that was also when they went through and done their medical [testing], they said I wasn't fit to compete, that I had too many issues with my knees, and this, that, and the other [thing]. And for lack of getting into everything I said, because it got really bad at points, I basically flipped them the bird and said, 'Hold my beer and watch'". 

Once he was informed that he wouldn't pass the WWE medical tests, Drake contacted QT Marshall, who started booking him for AEW. 

H/T Wrestling Inc.