For the second consecutive year, Drake Maverick has been released by WWE.
On Thursday, November 18, 2021, Drake Maverick was one of eight WWE talent released by the company. He'd been competing on the WWE Raw brand in the 24/7 Title scene after being called up from NXT earlier in the year. Prior to that, Maverick was actually fired in 2020, and quickly made his way back into the company after an emotional post-release video prompted WWE to book him again.
Prior to WWE, known as Rockstar Spud, Maverick competed for TNA Wrestling as a fixture on the brand for nearly five years. Upon joining WWE, he was involved in numerous angles, including managing AOP, winning the 24/7 Championship eight times, and teaming with Killian Dain on NXT TV.
Within moments of the release becoming public, Maverick posted a video that started off similarly to last year's post-release video. The clip cuts off and Maverick takes a much different tone, saying they can't fire him from wrestling, and his dream was always to be a pro wrestler. You can see the full video below.
John Cena, who rarely comments publicly on these matters, reacted to Drake Maverick’s video. In a reactionary quote tweet, John Cena would implore fans to view the video and offered praise to Drake Maverick for being a talented performer.
In an internal e-mail, WWE head of talent relations John Laurinaitis cited budget cuts as the reason.