Ten days ago, we reported that Drew Gulak’s contract with WWE had expired, and he hadn’t signed a new one. A lot of people (myself included) thought he might make his AEW debut in the Ladder Match at Double or Nothing (a spot that turned out to belong to Brian Cage). But those who were paying attention may also have noticed that unlike most noteworthy ex-WWE Superstars, he didn’t promote his ProWrestlingTees store, didn’t give an interview, and didn’t even tweet about it. In retrospect, it seems clear that negotiations were ongoing the entire time.
Now Fightful tells us that Gulak was part of yesterday’s Smackdown taping, and will appear on Friday’s show. He’s also been moved from the Alumni section of WWE.com back to the Smackdown roster.
PWInsider reports that this is because he has signed a new WWE contract, and will remain part of the Smackdown brand going forward. This might be bad news for anyone who was hoping to see the Gentlemen’s Club reunited, but it’s great for those who were enjoying his work with Daniel Bryan (a category that definitely includes Bryan himself).
The talk has been that the snag in Drew’s contract negotiations was that he asked for more money, so hopefully the fact that WWE lured him back means that he’s finally traded in those 205Live paychecks for a proper Smackdown salary.