"Drake Evans has been with IYFW in the very beginning," says Maxx Burton, the current Minister of Operations. "He has been a solid performer since day one, he has stepped up to the position of being a the number one fan favorite in the organization." Indeed Drake Evans has been in the heat of combat ever since the first show, "Let the Madness Begin" in 2007. Almost every show Drake Evans has had an impact. Does being a fan favorite have some disadvantages?

"Every federation has someone who has been designated as the man who is called upon to clean up the federation," says Alistar Barneys, Executive Director of IYFW Public Relations. "Look, throughout every federation in history, the NWA had Dusty Rhodes, ECW had Tommy Dreamer, WWF had Hulk Hogan, WCW it was Sting. These wrestlers have been asked to step up and right injustices in their federations, to take on unbeatable foes and to promote the federation. These duties go beyond the requirements for the other wrestlers. In IYFW this man was Drake Evans."

Barneys continues, "Evans has been asked to do a lot of duties in IYFW. When we needed a head trainer for the IYFW Academy, we did an extensive worldwide search, Evans's name kept coming up as the number one candidate for the job."

So with so many other responsibilities piled upon his shoulders, does this affect Drake Evans performance in the ring? "There is no doubt," states Jim Hoffman, one of the IYFW Title Committee. "There is definitely an impact. I am not saying that it affects his win-loss record, but it does affect his ability to concentrate on winning a title."

Hoffman's statement is very apparent when you examine Evans's wrestling schedule over the last 20 months.

Evans lost the IYFW Championship at Amsterdamage in a 4 way championship match which also saw Vigo, Guillaume deSade and Etanna. It was this event on April 17, 2011 when Guillaume deSade pinned another member of the Nubian Lynch Mob, Etanna, in the match, winning the title.

"Losing the title was hard for Drake," says Evans's long time friend and sometimes tag partner Vigo. "Evans was lost the title, but was never defeated for it."

The rematch was even a triple threat match, with Bobby Ocean now joining Evans against the champ deSade. Again deSade retained the title.

Evans was again designated to be the IYFW hero during the next event. At "Night of the New Breed", Evans was a last minute replacement and tagged with Liam McFerrin. At "Deception is Reality," it was Evans heading up a tag team against "Team Burton".

It was not until "Defy the Odds" that Drake Evans had another title shot. In this match, Guillaume deSade intentionally disqualified himself in order to retain the title. DeSade was then stripped of the title by then Management Representative Harold Toush'ole; but this still meant that Evans did not win the title.

"Wrestling is all about preparing for your opponent," said Maxx Burton. "Any wrestler in IYFW can defeat any other wrestler on any given night, the key is having time to prepare for your opponent. Evans may have strung himself thin, competing in other matches, and was unable to contend with deSade's ability to try to keep the title by any means necessary."’ When Pierre Vachon came rolling through the IYFW competition, again the fans turned to Evans. At "Summertime Bruise," Evans tagged with Bobby Ocean to face Vachon and "The Pillar" Roman Dominguez. Evans was pinned in that match via the mandible claw from Vachon.

"Evans had this hard fought tag match," said Shepherd Finch, of the IYFW Board of Directors. "I think that took a lot out of him later in the battle royal to determine the number one contender. Evans was eliminated in the battle royal; that was a missed opportunity he could have used to get a title shot."

At the IYFW anniversary show "Cauldron of Hate" last October, Evans participated in a match against Superbeast, in which Evans won. Evans had to watch and see the "Grudge Match of the Year" as Vigo faced Pierre Vachon.

"Evans became frustrated sitting on the sidelines when there were title matches," says Shepherd Finch. "But Evans also knows when opportunity knocks, you better answer."

The opportunity that Shepherd Finch referred to was at "The Brass Ring" event held on November 12th.

"You could see that Evans wanted to win that match," stated Finch. "His opponents were Vachon and Roman Dominguez, but Evans wanted it more, even more than the champion that night."

It was indeed Evans who pulled out all the stops and performed a Tiger Driver on Dominguez to win and be named the IYFW number one contender.

Drake Evans will face the champion Pierre Vachon at "Seize The Moment" on January 14, 2012. Evans, who has been asked to carry more on his shoulders in one year then most wrestlers do in a life time, will be given the opportunity he wanted to regain the belt he felt he was never defeated for.

And for the champion Pierre Vachon, Evans represents the final obstacle that Vachon needs to destroy. If Vachon defeats Evans at "Seize The Moment," Vachon has bragging rights that he defeated the so called "Heart and soul of In Your Face Wrestling."