James Drake
Real name: James Dowell
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 181 lbs.
Date of birth: March 4, 1993
From: Blackpool, England
Pro debut: 2010
Trained by: ???
Finishing move: Sit-Out DDT
Biography
– In his early career, Dowell wrestled as ‘JD Sassoon’
– On November 18, 2012, The Blackpool Blonds (Sassoon & Axl Rage) defeated Notorious BAD (Sam Bailey & Sean Daniels), The Models (Joey Hayes & Danny Hope) and The Wristlock Rovers (Damon Leigh & Raynaldo) in an Elimination Match to win the FSW Tag TEam Titles
– On January 27, 2013, The Blackpool Blonds defeated The Wristlock Rovers to retain the FSW Tag Team Titles
– On April 6, The Blackpool Blonds defeated Notorious BAD to retain the FSW Tag Team Titles
– In mid-2013, Dowell began working as ‘James Drake’
– On May 26, The Blackpool Blonds (Drake & Axl Rage) defeated The Knights of the Squared Circle (Lord Graham Thomas & Dean MacManus) in a Cage Match to win the BWP Tag Team Titles
– On August 25, The Blackpool Blonds defeated Notorious BAD (Sam Bailey & Sean Daniels) and The Wristlock Rovers (Damon Leigh & Raynaldo)
– On October 25, The Cause (Drake, Zack Diamond, Dave Rayne, Axl Rage & Sean Daniels) defeated Cyanide in a Handicap Match to win the GPW Heavyweight Title. Amazingly, the group would be allowed to defend the title as a fivesome, as well as under the Freebird Rule
– On February 7, 2014, The Cause defeated Sexy Kev in a Handicap Match to retain the GPW Heavyweight Title
– On April 4, The Cause defeated Cyanide, Bubblegum, Ste Mann & Damon Leigh in an Elimination Match to retain the GPW Heavyweight Title
– On August 22, 2015, Drake defeated Ashton Smith, Soner Dursun & Mark Massa to win the FSW Adrenaline Title
– On September 20, Drake defeated Bubblegum to retain the FSW Adrenaline Title
– On October 4, Drake defeated Sexy Kev to retain the FSW Adrenaline Title
– On November 21, Drake defeated Ashton Smith to retain the FSW Adrenaline Title
– On January 17, 2016, Drake defeated John McGregor to retain the FSW Adrenaline Title
– On May 22, Drake defeated Jack Gallagher to retain the FSW Adrenaline Title
– On June 17, Drake defeated Liam Lazarus to retain the FSW Adrenaline Title
– On July 17, Drake defeated Sam Bailey to retain the FSW Adrenaline Title
– On August 9, Drake defeated Chuck Mambo to retain the FSW Adrenaline Title
– Drake worked as a jobber on the May 2017 WWE UK tour
– On July 16, 2017, Drake defeated Damon Leigh, Joey Hayes & Kenny Williams to win the FSW Lotto Thunder Tournament
– In September 2017, Gibson and James Drake teamed as ‘The Grizzled Young Veterans’ for the first time
– On November 26, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos) to win the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– On December 10, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher) to retain the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– On January 14, 2018, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) to retain the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– On February 25, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Mark Haskins & Jimmy Havoc to regain the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– On March 17, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated King Michael & Bitman in Guangzhou, China to retain the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– On March 25, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Jimmy Havoc & Mark Haskins and David Starr & Jack Sexsmith in an Elimination Match to retain the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– On April 6, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) to retain the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– The next day, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Ethan Page & Rickey Shane Page to retain the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– On May 27, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis to retain the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– On July 25, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated The Anti-Fun Police (Chief Deputy Dunne & Los Federales Santos Jr) to retain the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– Later that month, Drake began competing for WWE’s NXT UK brand
– At NXT UK Takeover: Blackpool, Drake & Zack Gibson defeated Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) to become the first NXT UK Tag Team Champions
– On January 27, 2019, Gibson & Drake defeated Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch to retain the NXT UK Tag Team Titles
– On March 23, Drake defeated Dick Riley to win the PWC King of Chaos Title
– On April 19, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Noam Dar & Kenny Williams to retain the NXT UK Tag Team Titles
– On April 27, Drake defeated Morgan Webster to retain the King of Chaos Title
– On May 12, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Chris Egan & Danny Hope in a Cage Match to win the FSW Tag Team Titles
– On June 1, Drake defeated Mike Bird to retain the King of Chaos Title
– On June 15, The Grizzled Young Veterans fought Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven & Tyler Bate) to a no-contest to retain the NXT UK Tag Team Titles
– On July 28, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher & Mark Davis) to win the PROGRESS Tag Team Titles
– On August 4, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Chris Egan & Danny Hope to retain the FSW Tag Team Titles
– On August 17, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Chris Egan & Danny Hope in a Tables Match to retain the FSW Tag Team Titles
– In 2020, The Grizzled Young Veterans were relocated from NXT UK to NXT US
– In June 2022, The Grizzled Young Veterans were repackaged as ‘The Dyad’. Gibson & Drake became ‘Rip Fowler’ and ‘Jagger Reid’ respectively
– In April 2023, The Grizzled Young Veterans requested their WWE releases. Whilst they were not immediately let go, they announced that they would be leaving upon the expiry of their contracts
– On October 14, 2023, The Grizzled Young Veterans officially left WWE
– In December 2023, The Grizzled Young Veterans signed a short-term deal with TNA and would debut at January’s Hard To Kill event
– On January 25, 2024, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated RED (Rickey Shane Page & Alex Colon), The Second Gear Crew (Matthew Justice & 1 Called Manders) and The Rascalz (Trey Miguel & Zachary Wentz) to win the PWR Tag Team Titles
– On February 17, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Monstersauce (Lance Archer & Alex Zayne) by DQ to retain the PWR Tag Team Titles
– On March 2, Drake briefly held the ATTACK 24-7 Title, winning it from Leon Cage before losing to Splits McPins
– At Sacrifice 2024, Drake, Zack Gibson & Mustafa Ali defeated Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin & KUSHIDA
– On March 31, The Grizzled Young Veterans (Drake & Gibson) defeated Subculture (Mark Andrews & Flash Morgan Webster) to win the RevPro British Undisputed Tag Team Titles
– The next day, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Sunshine Machine (Chuck Mambo & TK Cooper) to retain the RevPro British Undisputed Tag Team Titles
– The Grizzled Young Veterans debuted for AEW on the April 27 episode of Collision
– At Fantastica Mania UK 2024, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated Atlantis & Atlantis Jr to retain the RevPro British Undisputed Tag Team Titles
– At Fighting Spirit Unleashed 2024, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated TMDK (Mikey Nicholls & Shane Haste) to win the NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Titles
– On December 7, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated MxM Collection (Mason Madden & Mansoor) to retain the NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Titles
– On the ROH Final Battle 2024 pre-show, The Grizzled Young Veterans defeated The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds & John Silver)
