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Report: Drew Gulak No Longer Under WWE Contract, Moved to Alumni Section on WWE Website, Contract Expired

By John Canton • Published 17th May 2020
TJR Wrestling

There was a great match on last night’s edition of WWE Smackdown, which was taped earlier this week. Daniel Bryan faced his good friend Drew Gulak in an excellent technical wrestling match as part of the first round of the Intercontinental Title tournament. Bryan worked over Gulak’s leg for most of the match, Gulak kept on fighting back and then Bryan ended up getting the win with a heel hook submission. Bryan and Gulak hugged after the match since they are good friends on screen and off screen. What we didn’t know at the time was that might be the end of Gulak in WWE…at least for now.

It was reported this evening by PWInsider’s Mike Johnson that Gulak is no longer under WWE contract after his deal expired. Gulak is now a part of the Alumni section of WWE.com rather than the active roster, so that got people speculating why that is and then the reports of Gulak’s deal being up were reported. The story has also been reported by Wrestling Observer and Pro Wrestling Sheet, who initially reported that Gulak was released by WWE, but then they corrected it to note that Gulak let his contract expire. I’m not saying that to take a shot at PWS. It’s just one of those things where there were a few different reports about Gulak this evening.

It was noted by Johnson that Gulak was talking to WWE about signing a new deal, but they did not agree to terms of a new deal before Drew’s contract expired. Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio last night that Gulak wanted a raise and WWE turned it down.

Another key point to remember is that while Gulak is a free agent as of right now, he could always sign a new WWE deal without going to work anywhere else. Since he didn’t sign a new deal, he might want to have options and now he has that.

As for Gulak being a part of the WWE Alumni section of WWE.com now, here’s a screenshot of what it looks like while noting that they put the names there in alphabetical order.

Gulak is 33 years old and has been with WWE since the Cruiserweight Classic tournament in 2016. Gulak spent most of his WWE run as a heel on the 205 Live brand, which led to him winning the Cruiserweight Title. Gulak has finally got a bit of a push this year after a great match against Daniel Bryan at Elimination Chamber back in March and then he became a tag team partner with Bryan. While Gulak isn’t necessarily a big name overall, he’s a talented wrestler that can put on good matches with anybody if he’s given the chance, so that’s a guy you should want to keep on the roster.

Gulak has not commented on his WWE status, but he did a post earlier today on Twitter where he was offering training tips for his buddy Daniel Bryan. They often do these together and they’re funny to watch.

TJR Thoughts: It’s a weird situation because Drew did an outstanding job on Smackdown in his match with Bryan. If he wants to be free, he has that opportunity now and it could lead to a better deal to return to WWE or maybe he’ll end up elsewhere. Good luck to Drew wherever he goes. He’s a likable guy, a hard worker and has a lot of untapped potential.