Grizzled Young Veterans announce ‘global takeover’ following WWE departure
The Grizzled Young Veterans are officially back.
With their WWE contracts expiring, The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson & James Drake) uploaded a promo on Saturday declaring that they are back. Gibson & Drake also announced that they’re now available for bookings. They called it a “global takeover” and noted that they will be based out of the United States.
โ No production crew.
โ No spooky lighting.
โ No contact lenses.Me @ZackGibsonGYV are proud ๐ฃ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ณ๐ฒ๐๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ฎ๐น๐ ๐ช๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐๐น๐ฒ๐ฟ๐.
We are the
๐๐ฟ๐ถ๐๐๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ. ๐ฌ๐ผ๐๐ป๐ด. ๐ฉ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป๐. pic.twitter.com/D9VeJo4WJw— ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ซ๐๐ค๐ (@JamesDrakePro) October 14, 2023
In their promo, Gibson & Drake said they don’t need spooky lights, special effects, or overproduction.
“We took a long look around and we said to ourselves, ‘If this is the big life, then we’re not looking to live it.’ We are sick of taking the safe option. We are sick of reading the same old boring scripts that go absolutely nowhere,” Drake said.
“A very famous British wrestler told us when we arrived in the States that it was time for us to put our head down and start listening to orders if we wanted to succeed,” Gibson said. “He said that he wanted us to have all the fun out of our system because there’s no pirates here. Well I am sorry for anyone that had different expectations for us. I am sorry that we can’t be who you wanted us to be. Simply put: we are not politicians. It’s a pirate’s life for us.”
In NXT recently, Gibson & Drake used the names Rip Fowler & Jagger Reid. They were part of the Schism with Joe Gacy and Ava.
Gibson & Drake requested their release from WWE this April, but the request was not granted. They had their final match for NXT this August.
Gibson & Drake became the inaugural NXT UK Tag Team Champions in 2019. They were stars on the UK indie scene prior to signing with WWE.
Joseph Currier is the lead editor of F4WOnline.com, directing daily news coverage and writing articles on professional wrestling. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, obtaining a journalism degree in 2016. Joseph joined F4W during his time at UMass and has now been writing about the industry for nearly a decade.
In addition to his work with F4W, Joseph has previously contributed to Sports Illustrated's wrestling coverage. He lives in Massachusetts and is a diehard fan of the Boston sports teams and Liverpool Football Club.