Surprising news has broken this Saturday evening as Drew Gulak, the former Cruiserweight Champion who most recently competed in an Intercontinental Championship Tournament match against Daniel Bryan on Friday’s edition of Smackdown, is no longer signed to WWE, and has been moved to the alumni section of WWE.com.
Pro Wrestling Sheet reported that they’d confirmed he’d been released, but PWInsider corrected that report to explain he hadn’t been released, and that his contract had simply run out as he and WWE were unable to negotiation his re-signing.
We are told the two sides had been discussing a new deal, but had not yet come to terms on the deal before Gulak’s existing deal expired. This shockingly places Gulak on the open market just hours after one of his best WWE performances to date as he would have no 90-day non-compete as WWE would not be paying him going forward, which means he can appear and wrestle anywhere immediately.
Gulak joined WWE in 2016 as part of the Cruiserweight Classic tournament, and stuck around to be a tent pole of the cruiserweight division for the next several years. He’d recently been an important face on Smackdown, feuding with and then coaching Daniel Bryan.