When speaking about former Impact Wrestling World Champion Eli Drake possibly returning to WWE after his contract with Impact expires, Dave Meltzer of The Wrestling Observer Newsletter said that he hasn't heard anything about WWE being interested in Drake:

“I don’t know. I haven’t heard. He was there before and he’s a good talker. I don’t know where he fits in though. They have so many guys. I think Ethan Carter III had exposure for years there, when they were actually getting viewers when he first got there , I think that when he first arrived there was interest in him and he’s a really good talker. Drake is a good talker but he hasn’t been viewed by as many people and for the most part NXT is more about being able to have good matches. So, I don’t know that.. If I am running NXT, I don’t know about Eli Drake. I don’t know that he fits in. I really love his promos, so there is something there. Again, I don’t know what they think on it. I haven’t heard his name mentioned at all. They are stockpiling on a lot of guys. If it was me, it wouldn’t be a high priority compared to other guys.”

As fans may be aware, Eli Drake had previously worked in WWE developmental under the name of Slate Randall. He was released from his WWE developmental contract in August of 2014.