James Curtin

is an English professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the cruiserweight-exclusive 205 Live brand under the ring name Drake Maverick, where he is a two-time and the current 24/7 Champion. In WWE, he is both the on-screen General Manager of 205 Live and the manager of the tag team AOP on Monday Night Raw. He is known for his work with Impact Wrestling and various British and American indies under the ring name Rockstar Spud, a gimmick based on obnoxious 1980s rock stars. He has also wrestled matches as Spud, often as the underdog who defeats much larger wrestlers. He has worked for SAS Wrestling, Frontier Wrestling Alliance, and International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom. James Michael Curtin was born in Birmingham on 30 January 1983. He was originally trained by Jack Storm and Chris Gilbert at the K-Star Wrestling promotion in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham, before eventually coming under the tutelage of "Charming" Don Charles at the SAS Wrestling Academy. Under the ring name Spud, he went on to perform in many independent promotions within the United Kingdom, the United States, and Europe. While on the independent circuit, Spud's first major appearances came with the Revolution British Wrestling promotion in 2003. On 30 August 2003, Spud defeated Jack Hazard to become RBW's first British Welterweight Champion, a title he held for several months before losing it to "The Gift" Ross Jordan in an Iron Man match in December 2003. Spud began working for Frontier Wrestling Alliance in 2004, and was brought up into the main roster to be used as a jobber for a short time, competing against many larger opponents. During the start of 2005, however, FWA began showcasing their flyweight division; later that year, Spud entered into a tournament to crown a Flyweight Champion. He made it to the tournament final, where he was defeated by Ross Jordan, who became the first FWA Flyweight Champion. However, Jordan was only awarded the match after the referee stopped the contest due to a kayfabe injury to Spud's leg.The pair continued to feud for over 14 months, with Jordan repeatedly attacking Spud in attempts to re-injure his leg. The feud ended when Spud defeated Jordan in a Last Man Standing match at FWA Last Fight at the Prom on 30 September 2006. urtin signed with WWE in October 2017, but had to postpone his debut until his U.S. work visa was renewed. On 30 January 2018, Curtin debuted under the name Drake Maverick and was announced as the new General Manager of 205 Live. In his first appearance, he scheduled a 16-man WWE Cruiserweight Championship tournament that would culminate at WrestleMania 34. On the 3 September 2018 episode of Raw, Maverick turned heel when he accompanied the tag team AOP (Akam and Rezar) to the ring and announced himself as their new manager.On the 5 November episode of Raw, Maverick led AOP to their first reign as Raw Tag Team Champions. At the Survivor Series pay-per-view, Maverick was once again in the corner of AOP, this time helping to lead them to victory over The Bar, as Maverick distracted the opposing team after relieving himself out of fear from The Bar's manager, Big Show. On 10 December episode of Raw, AOP lost their tag titles to Bobby Roode and Chad Gable in a three-on-two handicap match, that also involved Maverick. While acting as a heel on the main roster, Maverick remained acting as a face General Manager on 205 Live. In a dark match before the April 9 episode of SmackDown, Maverick managed EC3 for the first time in WWE. However, the owner of WWE Vince McMahon was reported to have disliked the match and manager spots, so the partnership was not brought to television.