There's a Tone That Rises Gently with Drew Gulak

Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa WWE Main Event 4/7/17 - GREAT

ER: I'm not sure if Tozawa or Alexander is Gulak's most frequent opponent in WWE, but I like how he and Tozawa work together. This was early in their time on the roster, in the middle of Gulak's No Fly Zone gimmick. A cruiserweight heel who intentionally grounds things feels like it would have played much better in early 2000s east coast indies, but it's still fun to watch Gulak work tight headlocks during standing exchanges and yank on Tozawa's jaw on the ground. This was a good balance of Gulak's snug work and fun personality, not as over the top with the gimmick as it would get. I liked when he saw a Tozawa dive coming, ran halfway down the ramp, and egged him on from 30 feet away. "I'll catch you, come on!" I also like that Gulak did a running elbow smash, and it was treated like something that could lay a man out. It's so weird to me how unavoidable standing elbow exchanges are in modern wrestler, and yet hardly anyone uses a simple running Misawa-style elbow smash. Gulak plays into Tozawa's offense well, including his comedy spots, and that lead to the crowd reacting louder than they typically reacted for cruiser matches during this era. I really appreciate how much Gulak adds to fast cruiser exchanges, because his missed strikes always look like a missed strike, never like a planned part of the sequence. His missed clothesline to set up Tozawa's nice finishing bridging German looked like something that would have decapitated Tozawa, thrown fast and low and believably spinning him into the German. When you can make a sequence look like something that an opponent just capitalized on, and this quickly, you've done really well. 

Drew Gulak vs. Mustafa Ali 205 Live 6/27/17 - GREAT

ER: I loved the first 2/3 of this because it had a real vicious Gulak performance. Gulak came off like WCW Finlay, confidently punishing Ali. After getting caught early by armdrags and winding up in a couple Ali headscissors he just punches Ali in the face. I mean, the kind of punch that could have plausibly finished the match 30 seconds in. If they wanted to give a wrestler a KO punch gimmick, and this was the first punch to show that KO punch, people would buy it. Gulak kicks Ali in the stomach to block a crossbody, hits some heavy stomps to the chest, then really starts laying it in. He bodyslams Ali legs first into the ropes and then hits a planted leg clothesline that Ali bumps by literally looking like he caught his chin on a clothesline. A tight cravat and snug side headlock, followed with a suplex into the buckles, and I swear during a couple of those stretches it genuinely looked like Gulak was "doing" Finlay. I don't think Ali's comeback is strong enough considering how punishing Gulak looked, and he had this habit of looking around grinning too much in between every move he hit, including a floaty cutter that Gulak had to stand around for. Match ends with a comedy payoff of Gulak's "No Fly Zone" gimmick, as he winds up seated on the top rope and then gets it in his brain that maybe flying would be okay, this once. He does a long build of missing a splash, legs shaking on the ropes the entire time, and predictably loses. I really didn't want his front half vicious performance to wind up in comedy, but his work before Ali's eventual comeback was among the best I've seen from him and that says a lot. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK