Drake Maverick made his WWE debut in January as general manager of 205 Live, after a run of almost five years with TNA. He explained that his departure was dictated by financial reasons.
Appearing on a recent episode of E&C's Pod of Awesomeness, Maverick told hosts Edge and Christian that he left TNA when the company told him he would need to restructure his deal for less money in order to stay.
"My contract was a little steep at the time for it to be afforded, but it was around the same time my work visa was coming up," he recalled. "When I finally got back to the U.S., that's when it was said, 'We've got to lower your money or we've got to restructure your deal or we can't do business together anymore.' I was like, 'I really worked hard to get to this point monetarily.' I felt like I was worth it to the company. So we just parted ways."
Maverick spent almost five years with TNA as Rockstar Spud, the gimmick he had portrayed throughout his career until joining WWE. During that time, Spud was the "Chief of Staff" for Dixie Carter, the lackey-turned-rival of Ethan Carter III and even had a run as X-Division Champion. His role with the company diminished significantly in 2017 when Jeff Jarrett returned with creative control; he became the ring announcer, had a few matches on the Xplosion show, and a brief feud with Swoggle (aka Hornswoggle). He was released in October -- about six months after his last on-screen appearance on Impact TV.
In addition to being the 205 Live GM, Maverick also is the new manager of the Authors of Pain tag team on Raw.