Eric Draven (wrestler)

Eric Draven
Birth name Shawn Sands
Born (1977-08-29) August 29, 1977
Residence Hanover, Indiana
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Custom Made Eric Draven, Shawn Sands, Kid Kaos, Blood Dagger, The Shadow, El Customo Made-o
Billed height 6'1"
Billed weight

238 lb (108 kg).

billed=Sweetwater, Texas; Madison, Indiana; Seattle, Washington
Trained by Nightmare Danny Davis Ohio Valley Wrestling, USWA Wrestling Academy
Debut June 18, 1992

Eric Draven (born August 29, 1977) is a Professional wrestler and trainer currently wrestling for the National Wrestling Alliance. His home promotion is NWA Supreme. He has wrestled for several wrestling promotions throughout the United States, including wrestling in 48 states. He is also a former boxer and Indiana Golden Gloves winner in 1999 and 2001 winning his second Gold Gloves Championship with a three punch knock out.[1]

Professional Wrestling Career

1992-2003

Eric Draven got his start in professional wrestling by getting trained by Nightmare Danny Davis in Ohio Valley Wrestling, known worldwide for producing such wrestling stars such as John Cena, Brock Lesnar, and Randy Orton.[2] He was also trained by the United States Wrestling Association Wrestling Academy.[3] In his debut match, he defeated Mad Man Pondo by disqualification on June 18, 1992.[2] In one of his first high-profile feuds, Eric Draven teamed with Brandon Hunter to feud with legendary tag team The Rock 'n' Roll Express. In 1999, Eric Draven was crowned "King of Arkansas" in AWA Arkansas.[4] It was during this time that he began one of his most heated feuds against Billy Maverick. These two would feud for the next several years. On September 12 of 2003, Eric Draven would defeat Billy Maverick for the Appalachian Wrestling Championship for the Appalachian Wrestling Federation in Vanceburg, Kentucky.[5] Eric Draven would also begin a feud during this time with WWE Hall of Famer Koko B. Ware.[6] Also during this time, Eric Draven was wrestling for Supreme Championship Wrestling, located in Madison, Indiana.

2004-2014

Eric Draven's feud with Koko B. Ware would continue throughout 2004, culminating at the end of 2004 with him teaming with Nic Noble to defeat Koko and Livewire in Madison, Indiana. It was during the end of 2004 that Eric Draven's home promotion became known as American Wrestling All-Stars Supreme, or AWA Supreme. National attention came to Eric Draven when he was able to secure a spot in the Pro Wrestling Illustrated's PWI 500, which ranked the top wrestlers in the world, ranking #459.[7] In 2007, Eric Draven teamed with Nic Noble to feud with wrestling legend Ricky Morton and his partner Ricky Ruckus for the Supreme Championship Wrestling Tag Team Championships. Eric Draven went on to win multiple championships both as a singles competitor as well as a tag team wrestler. In 2010, Eric Draven competed on MWA's Night of Champions in Winchester, Kentucky on November 13. He defeated powerlifter "Superbeast" Rob Royale to win the NWA Supreme Heavyweight Championship.[8] In 2011, Eric Draven began a feud with former WWE Tag Team Champion as well as National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion "The Ironman" Rob Conway.[9] In one of Eric Draven's biggest matches to date, he finally defeated Rob Conway on May 9, 2014 to win the NWA Supreme Heavyweight Championship using an inside cradle.

Custom Made Eric Draven vs Rob Conway
Custom Made Eric Draven as NWA Supreme Heavyweight Champion

2015-Present

In early 2015, AWA Supreme became sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance and became known as NWA Supreme. This allowed Eric Draven to fulfill a lifelong dream of working for the NWA, the world's oldest sanctioning body of professional wrestling. In one of the final shows under the AWA Supreme banner, Eric Draven won the annual George White Memorial King of Madison tournament (now referred to as the King of Supreme tournament). His feud with "Ironman" Rob Conway would intensify when the two would face off in one of the first matches under the NWA Supreme banner on May 19, 2015. This match would determine Indiana's #1 Contender to the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship. Eric Draven would get the win, but would do so in controversy when he pinned Rob Conway when Conway's foot was on the bottom rope.[10] The two would have a rematch on July 1 at NWA Supreme Supershine Showdown. This time, Rob Conway would get the win when Eric Draven's foot was on the ropes. This led to one final match where Rob Conway came out on top and earned the title match in the future. On September 19, 2015, Eric Draven went on to win NWA Supreme's Surviving the Steel. This steel cage match featured 8 wrestlers who entered the ring at 5 minute intervals and after all wrestlers were in the ring, eliminations would begin by pinfall or submission with one wrestler emerging victorious. Both Eric Draven and Spazz, his longtime rival/partner were the final two with Draven securing the pinfall after a Seattle Sidekick.

In 2016, Eric Draven had the biggest match of his career when he took on National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Champion Jax Dane at NWA Supreme's Clash of the Champions 2016 at Southwestern High School in Hanover, Indiana.[11] Longtime partner/rival Nic Noble, now known as King Nicolas Noble cost Eric Draven the match by interfering. It was the night after this on April 23 that Eric Draven would win one of the most prestigious championships in wrestling, the NWA Mid-America Heavyweight Championship by defeating Johnny Justice. This would start off a rivalry between the two friends that would turn into full blown feud by the middle of summer. It was during this time that Eric Draven would go on to win the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship with Josh Lewis (professional wrestler) by defeating The Cross Brothers at NWA Supreme Spring Stampede at Shawe Memorial High School on May 20, 2016. They would go on to lose these titles to The King's Court. Eric Draven's feud would continue with Johnny Justice with their mutual manager Mortimer Blankenship III choosing to side with Johnny Justice. This led to a tag team match at NWA Supreme Fan Appreciation Night 2016 featuring Eric Draven teaming up with Josh Lewis (professional wrestler) as "Power Trip" to take on Johnny Justice and Rob Conway with Conway and Justice getting the win. On August 20, Eric Draven was suspended by co-commissioner Tony Mullins for using a Piledriver (professional wrestling) which is illegal in NWA Supreme, on Johnathan Owens. He also used several other weapons such as a cinder block on his ankle, as well as a microwave on Mortimer Blankenship III. On September 10th Eric Draven lost The NWA Mid-America Championship to Johnny Justice, but would regain the championship 6 days later at NWA Supreme's Surviving The Steel when he defeated Johnny Justice in a steel cage match.


Eric Draven reformed his team of Custom Made with Roger Malcolm in October of 2016, in November Draven and Malcolm won a 16 team, tag team tournament where the winners would be granted a future shot at The NWA World Tag Team Championship. The date on the World championship match is to be determined later. On December 4th, 2016 Eric Draven teaming with Roger Malcolm (collectively known as Custom Made) defeated The Love Connection to win the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship.

Wrestling Trainer

Besides being a professional wrestling veteran for almost 25 years, Eric Draven is the head trainer at NWA Supreme and has trained many well known wrestlers such as Nic Noble, Tello Ozeata, Ricky Ruckus, Joey Moore, Billy Maverick, Johnny Justice, Rob Royale, and Sweet William Valentine.

In Wrestling

Championships and Accomplishment

BCCW (Mississippi)[6]

EHW (Southeastern New York)[6]

IPW (Seymour, Indiana)[6]

NWW (Illinois)[6]

OVCW (Indiana)[6]

PCWA (Northern Indiana)[6]

PWA (North Pennsylvania)[6]

SEI Pro Wrestling (Indiana)

References

  1. ↑ "Official Golden Gloves of America Website". goldengloves.com. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  2. 1 2 Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Eric Draven « Wrestlers Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  3. ↑ "Wrestling Profile Eric Draven".
  4. ↑ "AWA WRESTLING". members.tripod.com. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  5. ↑ "Kentucky Independent Wrestling". kyindywrestling.tripod.com. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 "Eric Draven – Online World of Wrestling". www.onlineworldofwrestling.com. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  7. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "PWI 500 « Awards Database". www.cagematch.net. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  8. ↑ Saalbach, Axel. "Wrestlingdata.com - The World's Largest Wrestling Database". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  9. ↑ "prowrestlingmadison". prowrestlingmadison. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
  10. ↑ "Around the Alliance. Featuring NWA Supreme. | Alliance-Wrestling.com". alliance-wrestling.com. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  11. ↑ "National Wrestling Match in Hanover Tomorrow to Benefit Family". 2016-04-21. Retrieved 2016-09-06.
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