Drake Wuertz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Drake Wuertz
Drake Wuertz - 2019-04-25 - 03.jpg
Data
Ring name Drake Wuertz
Drake Younger
Polaris
height 175 cm
Fighting weight 82 kg
birth September 10, 1984
Indianapolis, Indiana
Trained by American kickboxer
Chris Hero
Ian Rotten
Low Ki
debut August 31, 2001
retirement 2015
Website Network presence

Drake Wuertz (born September 10, 1984 in Indianapolis , Indiana ) is a retired American wrestler . However, he became known to a broad masses under his then ring name Drake Younger , with whom he competed in the independent scene . He is now a father of three and is currently under contract with the WWE , where he is used as a referee at NXT under his real name . Wuertz is currently also being used in the television formats WWE Smackdown and WWE Raw .

Career

Sports background / beginnings

Wuertz had a background as a wrestler and began at the age of 10 as an avid Hulk-Hogan fan with so-called backyard wrestling . Its active wrestling career began Wuertz age of 15 on August 31, 2001, when he wrote his first match in the promotion Insanity Pro Wrestling under the ring name Polaris denied. Wuerz played his first match in the IWA Mid-South on February 1, 2002 . There he performed mainly as a technician. Nevertheless, due to his young age, Wuertz was only used in the lower combat map.

Independent

Wuertz in his ring role "Drake Younger" at a CZW event (2013)

Until 2010, Wuertz never tried to work for one of the big well-known wrestling promotions ( TNA and WWE ). Rather, he was drawn to the small independent leagues. And so he alternately appeared in the IWA Mid-South and IPW promotions . Wuertz won his first title at the IPW in 2003 , when he won the IPW Junior Heavyweight Champion title there and was allowed to hold it for 731 days.

In July 2004 Wuertz undertook a change of gimmick : On July 27th of the same year he entered the promotion Xtreme Intense Championship Wrestling for the first time under the ring name Drake Younger . There he now specialized in the popular "Hardcore" and " Death Match Style ".

On May 6, 2006, Wuertz won his first major title by defeating “DieHard” Dustin Lee for the IPW World Champion title. Already on June 2nd and 3rd, 2006 Wuertz took part in the IWA Mid-South in the King Of The Death Matches tournament, where he was able to reach the final.

Already on 27 July 2006 Wuertz took them by the CZW in the event CZW Ultraviolent Tournament Of Death V part. On October 15, 2006, he was able to win the CZW Ultraviolent Underground Champion title for the first time and hold it until May 12, 2007.

On November 7th, 2006 "DieHard" Dustin Lee and Wuertz took part in a tournament of the Full Throttle Wrestling promotion where they were allowed to win the Tag Team Champion title and on February 9th, 2007 Wuertz was the first to wear the IWA Mid-South newly created IWA Mid-South Death Match Champion title, which he was allowed to hold until June 23, 2007.

On June 9, 2007, the CZW Wuertz won the CZW Ultraviolent Tournament of Death VI .

On January 5, 2008, Wuertz won the IPW World Champion title at IPW , which he was allowed to hold until January 3, 2009. In addition, on July 12, 2008, he was able to win the CZW World Champion title, which he was allowed to hold for over 560 days. There Wuertz was allowed to win the CZW Ultraviolent Underground Champion title for the second time on February 9, 2009 and was allowed to keep it for 245 days. At the IWA Mid-South he won the Ted Petty Invitational tournament held in September 2008 .

On February 26, 2009, Wuertz was able to achieve the AWI Absolute Champion title at the AWI and held it until June 12, 2009.

On July 31, 2009, the Promotion Heartland Wrestling Association Wuertz held the Drake Younger Invitational Tournament in honor , in which Wuertz himself reached the finals. In the same year Wuertz also took part in various tournaments in Germany , which were organized by the wXw , among others .

On January 30, 2010, Wuertz had to cede his CZW title to B-Boy after 567 days .

Drake Wuertz won the CZW Tag Team title on April 10, 2010 with his tag team partner Eddie Kingston . Both were allowed to hold this title until July 10th. After that, the title was declared vacant.

On September 9, 2010, Wuertz performed a so-called heel turn when he sided with the unloved “wrestling villains”. He bleached his dark hair and competed for a while under the ring name The Golden Boy . On June 2, 2013, he played his last death match against Masashi Takeda in Germany and ended his career as a hardcore wrestler. This is a direct result of his private role as husband and father, as he has shifted his wrestling style more and more to regular technical wrestling since the birth of his first child.

WWE

On March 4, 2014 it was announced that the market leaders WWE and Wuertz had agreed on his commitment. Previously, Wuertz had successfully passed a tryout there and so he should be trained in the WWE style in the WWE Performance Center. After graduation, he made his debut shortly thereafter on the WWE show NXT , where he has since been used as a referee (referee).

successes

  • 1 × IPW World Champion
  • 1 × IPW Junior Heavyweight Champion
  • 1 × IWA Mid-South Death Match Champion
  • 1 × tournament winner of the Ted Petty Invitational (2008)
  • 1 × FTW Tag Team Champion (with Dustin Lee as "The Naprown Dragons")
  • 1 × CZW World Heavyweight Champion
  • 2 × Ultraviolent Underground Champion
  • 1 × CZW Tag Team Champion (with Eddie Kingston )
  • 1 × tournament winner of the Tournament of Death VI (2007)
  • 1 × AIW Absolute Champion

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Cagematch: Drake Wuertz , profile on the wrestling database Cagematche.de, accessed January 13, 2020.
  2. ↑ Drake Wuertz: Christmas tweet of December 24, 2019 , accessed on January 13, 2020.
  3. ↑ K5 Smart Mark Video: Psycho Shooter. The Drake Younger Story , 2008.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h i title wins Wuertz ' , overview on Cagematch.de, accessed on January 13, 2020.
  5. ↑ CZW World Heavyweight Championship title history on wrestling-titles.com, accessed on January 13, 2020.
  6. ↑ Cageboard , news and messages on the wrestling cage match database, accessed April 27, 2014.

Web links

Commons : Drake Younger  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Wuertz, Drake
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Younger, Drake (ring name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American wrestling referee, retired wrestler
DATE OF BIRTH September 10, 1984
PLACE OF BIRTH Indianapolis , Indiana