Wrestlers You Should Know #2—The WorkHorsemen
In this new feature, we spotlight Independent and/or lesser known wrestlers that deserve a larger spotlight.
JD Drake and Anthony Henry (courtesy of Mikey Nolan Photography)
If you listen to our podcast every week, you often hear me mention how I was a late bloomer when it came to enjoying tag team wrestling. I thought tag teams were either a couple of jobbers put together (hey there, Basham Brothers!) or two misfits put together for the sole purpose of an eventual break-up and feud (oh which I’m still salty about the divorce of Paul London and Billy Kidman). It wasn’t until Gabe Sapolsky started bringing his EVOLVE Wrestling shows to Livonia, MI that I learned how fucking cool the art of tag team wrestling really is.
In the time that I spent watching EVOLVE, I was able to see a ton of international stars, including: WALTER, Zack Sabre Jr., (Matt) Riddle, Keith Lee and more. But there were two men that stood out for me the most from my time at the Knights of Columbus in Livonia, both of whom I had never seen until experiencing them live.
(Photo courtesy of @edwinc1017)
The WorkHorsemen. JD Drake and Anthony Henry.
The Blue Collar Badass JD Drake, or as I was first introduced to him, James Drake, is one of those talents that you look at and have no idea how truly athletic he is and how versatile his moveset can truly be until you see him in action. JD is a bigger guy and I liken his ability to move around to a Keith Lee who also can shock you with his size and speed combination. JD moves with force and intention and his strikes always connect. His cannonball move to seated opponents in the turnbuckle always gets a pop out of me. I love a good forearm strike and JD has some of my favorite that I’ve seen as well.
The other half of The WorkHorsemen, Anthony Henry, brings an incredible mix of MMA, power and speed that you don’t see from most wrestlers. On the indies, it seems that oftentimes someone who has MMA influence leans too far into it or the hardest strikers are only strikers. One of my favorite parts about watching Anthony wrestle is his style is flexible and it helps keep his matches fresh and entertaining.
Henry and Drake are responsible for a couple of my favorite tag matches I’ve ever seen live, specifically EVOLVE 105 vs. Catch Point (Chris Dickinson & Jaka) and EVOLVE 115 vs. The Street Profits. As the rumors of EVOLVE being purchased by WWE started to get louder, I got excited at the opportunity of seeing Henry and Drake in NXT, especially after seeing their match with The Street Profits, who at the time were rising in the ranks of NXT themselves. We ended up seeing Henry sign with WWE (and change his name to Asher Hale), while JD stayed on the indies, debuting in PWG as well as starting to appear in AEW and eventually signing with AEW, while joining Ryan Nemeth’s stable, the Wingmen.
Unfortunately, Henry was eventually released from WWE but he has made the most of his time since leaving. We’ve seen him in AEW both on Dark and Dynamite (including matches where he’s reformed The WorkHorsemen against Blackpool Combat Club). The more I’m on Twitter, the more I see comments pop-up about how fans are ready to see the The WorkHorsemen in more of a showcase and I couldn’t agree more.
One of my favorite things about AEW is the focus on GOOD tag team wrestling and I’m very excited about seeing what the next year brings for these two. I believe this next year will be the best yet for Henry and Drake. With the purchase of ROH by Tony Khan and the working relationships that AEW has with so many other wrestling companies, I fully expect to see these two hold meaningful, prestigious titles in tag team wrestling by this time next year. I look forward to pointing to the TV and bragging about how I used to see these two put on great shows at the Livonia, MI Knights of Columbus when their time comes.
(Photo courtesy of allelitewrestling.com)
