Drew Gulak Was Raised on a Promise

Drew Gulak vs. Mansoor WWE Main Event 11/25/21 - GREAT 

ER: This was the  6th (!) and final match Gulak and Mansoor had in 2021, and perhaps the final match they will ever have. I liked all six of their matches, but we didn't quite get one that was a head above the rest. All of them were good, none of them were quite enough to make a list (unless you were compiling a list of Gulak/Mansoor matches, to which I would say that all six of their matches belong on that list). This was a cool match, just like most of their matches, with Gulak starting things off with wrist and ankle control, and I've always been impressed by how well Mansoor stays in sequences with Gulak. It never looks like Gulak leading someone through matwork. Mansoor is always doing something like grabbing at Gulak's ankle, and he's really squirmy, constantly moving forward, so just holding onto his wrist always feels difficult. This broke open nicely with a real sick inverted atomic drop from Mansoor. He stopped Gulak running the ropes by grabbing him like he was going for an exploder, and instead just brought the hammer up into Gulak's balls. Gulak always has nice counters to throw out against Mansoor, and the best was when he threw him off mid-tornado DDT and then hit a fantastic running lariat while Mansoor was still getting his footing. 

I liked Gulak working over the ankle and back, love his little leg whip takedown. It's not a dragon screw he just has a hold on Mansoor's ankle and flings it while dropping his body weight down. There was an interesting fight over a vertical suplex, which isn't something that you really see in WWE. Both kept blocking each other's weight and kept backing the other up, until Mansoor wisely dropped back with his weight, rolling backward and came up to his feet powering Gulak into the suplex. Mansoor really looked like he was fighting to get him over, and the crowd responded much more to that fought-for suplex than they would have to either just hitting a snap suplex (source: they actually responded to that deadlift suplex and had been mostly quiet before that). My big complaint with the Gulak/Mansoor series is that they never really adequately build to a finish, and the finishes can be a bit sudden. It happened five times, so there was no reason to believe it would change for the sixth, and it didn't. Still, this was a real good way to cap off a series that a lot of people did not watch, two fun dance partners who would go on to be even more grossly underused in 2022. Unrestricted 5 minute matches on Main Event every month will always be better than random 2 minute Smackdown matches every few months.

#1 Contender Black Friday Battle Royal WWE Smackdown 11/26/21 - FUN

ER: There aren't many 2022 Drew Gulak matches, so one of his last TV matches is going to wind up being him getting eliminated 90 seconds into a battle royal. Somewhat cruelly, they teased two Gulak interactions that we've never got to see in actual matches: Gulak vs. Sheamus and Gulak vs. Sami Zayn. Gulak mixed it up with both and tried to eliminate Zayn before getting booted spectacularly to the floor by him, sprawling out onto his stomach when he hit. He wasn't the first eliminated (sorry Jinder) so he'll always have that at least. The rest of the battle royal, as battle royals go, was fine. It had Shanky without Veer, and Mace without T-Bar. Sami Zayn won, and he was far and away the best battle royal worker in the match, working constant character moments that added to the whole match, never making the match stand still the same way Happy Corbin and Madcap Moss made it stand still for their character work. Zayn knew how to cheapshot and get almost eliminated, and knew how to always be working while not always being the focus. Angel and Humberto should have stayed in the match longer, as they're better at integrating singles match spots into a battle royal setting, but both took great elimination bumps (Garza going fast to the floor, Carrillo getting body slammed into him). A lot of this felt like it was focusing on the wrong guys. Asskickers like Sheamus and Holland and Cesaro felt underutilized, and Sheamus wasn't working this like it was for a title shot. Fast guys like Mansoor were out of there before the ring was cleared out enough to do anything, but it got saved by Zayn running and stumbling through, Ricochet working a hot finishing stretch, and a false finish Jeff Hardy win before Zayn shoved him painfully to the floor. Needed more Gulak, but Zayn's 2021 was so great. 

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2021 Ongoing MOTY List: Gulak vs. T-Bar

50. Drew Gulak vs. T-Bar WWE Main Event 10/14/21

ER: I have a soft spot for guys languishing in gimmick purgatory, still wearing gear that no longer applies, a name that sounded like a bad idea from go, and a haircut from a months past angle and quickly dissolved stable. I feel enough vicarious embarrassment typing the name "T-Bar" several times in a paragraph, so think of how he feels representing it. Drew Gulak going against heavyweights was probably my favorite WWE match type this past year. Gulak never works the same match and I love how he matches physicality with big guys while working up to their size. You know this is going to be good early on when Gulak punches his way out of a facepalming collar and elbow, throwing big fists at T-Bar's eye. Their standing headlocks looked hard, with Gulak throwing right hands to T-Bar's ribs to break one of them and leaping right in with his own. Drew Gulak is out here throwing clotheslines like he's the size of Sheamus, and he blasts T-Bar with a stiff arm that somehow gets fully absorbed, and Gulak gets flattened by a comebacker. Every strike was thrown with intent and none were flashy, it was just cool attacks like Gulak running and kicking T-Bar in the chest on the apron or sneaking in an elbow smash. Gulak throws an Ikeda-level diving clothesline off the top, rearing back his arm to make even more impact and frankly, it kicked a lot of ass. Top rope diving clotheslines are really tough to make look good, as anyone throwing one has to be more concerned with their own landing than with what their arm is doing, but Gulak here cracked the code. The finish is wild, with Gulak shoving T-Bar off the top and the big man flipping backward to land on his feet, then Gulak flies chin first into T-Bar's boot. Gulak's chin gets a second introduction to T-Bar's knee a moment later after a Go 2 Sleep that's called an Eyes Wide Shut for reasons that nobody is ever going to look into. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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I Spent All Those Nights Just Trying to Take Gulak Home

Drew Gulak vs. Lince Dorado WWE Main Event 5/5/17 - GREAT

ER: "It's great to be here in the wonderful capital of California: San Francisco!" Gulak says to the Sacramento crowd, and that's the kind of stupid heel work I can always get behind. It's even better when you flip flop interchangeable Bay Area cities like San Leandro and San Lorenzo, but this is some good base level annoying stuff. This match played out like WWE was giving a tryout to some Chikara regulars, a 5 minute showcase for a contract. Gulak is an excellent base for Dorado, takes all of his armdrags and headscissors effortlessly, including a flawless knucklelock that ended with Dorado kneeling on Gulak's shoulders into a slick sunset flip. It looked as good as the first time I saw Rey do that same sunset flip, and Gulak is a great levelheaded Psicosis. 

One of the best things about Gulak's basing are his facials as he's clearly about to take an armdrag. As he's getting Dorado onto his shoulders, his face is the face of a man 100% confident that he's about to pull off his fireman's carry slam, then a face of utter shock as Dorado spins out of it. You never see the far off look of a man who is preparing to take a spot, and it's a layer that makes Gulak one of the best. Gulak's control is simple, hardly even throwing a strike, mostly just knocking him down and keeping him there with stomps. Dorado goes for a moonsault and Gulak catches him with a perfectly timed pair of boots, and for a spot you've now seen in nearly every Mistico or Volador match it sure looked great here. Gulak timed the thrust on his kick right as Dorado's chin was nearing his boots, and Dorado pinballed diagonally across the ring. But the very best thing in the match was Gulak setting up his match winning dragon sleeper. When Bill Dundee would lock on his sleeper, he'd use a nasty clothesline and just wrap his arm around the neck; Gulak does the inverse, running at Dorado with a back elbow that then hooks his arm snugly around Dorado's neck, then dropping to his back in the sleeper and sinking in the hooks. This might be the best set-up/execution of that dragon sleeper, sick stuff.

Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa WWE Main Event 10/21/21 - FUN

ER: Drew Gulak piles up Ls against nearly every single person on the roster, but every few months he gets to have a fun 5 minute match and beat Akira Tozawa. I've written about at least four Gulak/Tozawa matches, and they haven't had a true banger yet, but they've settled nicely into doing 5 minutes of cool shit and I always like seeing them do cool shit against each other. Gulak always starts these matches off nice and smug, grinning as he locks in a tight headlock and throws a couple stiff elbow smashes, and getting brought back down to earth a bit when he lands a thudding chop and Tozawa hits him back with one just as hard. Gulak is always good at getting knocked down a peg, and I love how he angrily held his mouth and jaw after running into a high kick. Gulak sweeps Tozawa's legs off the top rope and locks in a sick crossface chickenwing (a really underused submission these days, and I'm sure there aren't many who can lock one in as well as Gulak does here). Gulak is good at taking all of Tozawa's offense, and I especially loved how pretzeled he got on Tozawa's extremely sunk in octopus. Tozawa is at his most fun when he's allowed to dig a little deeper into his offense bag, and I dug him hitting a Koshinaka-esque hip attack off the top and a front spin kick, two things he typically doesn't have room to use. Since Gulak is often on the losing end of things, I fully bit on a nearfall when Tozawa rolled through a bodyslam attempt. It would be very Gulak to get angry, try to throw a bodyslam in disgust, and get rolled up. But he obliterates Tozawa with a hard clothesline after Tozawa builds momentum off the ropes, and finishes him off with the old Kanyon Cutter. I'll still hold out hope for them getting a fully gelled classic, but I'll always be entertained by them finding new ways to fill 5 minutes. 

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Got the Feeling Gulak Can't Move Without Sliding

Drew Gulak/Brian Kendrick/Tony Nese vs. Cedric Alexander/Rich Swann/TJ Perkins WWE Raw 10/17/16 - FUN

ER: Fun stuff, a real Gulak/Kendrick showcase. Cedric looked good too, but he had Kendrick and Gulak flopping and flying around for him soooo. Kendrick is a real fun ringleader of goons in this, with Nese as his musclehead goon and Gulak as his snake pit goon, letting them do the dirty work while he makes blind tags to capitalize, and every time he's in just sees him getting bumped in big ways. Gulak's fast sequences with Cedric were good, and I loved him eating that slingshot kick from TJ on the floor. Kendrick was an awesome focused Teddy Hart here, bumping early to the floor and selling a knee, cutting the ring off on Cedric only to take a big backdrop, and vulturing that Nese 450 with his choke. The match was put on in the ultimate dead zone, after a 1 minute tag match but before the big Goldberg appearance, and they somehow manage to get some good crowd reactions. Crowd popped for Swann's nice headscissors and reacted to some characters they really haven't been given tons of reasons to react to. That feels like a win.

Drew Gulak vs. John Morrison WWE Main Event 9/30/21 - FUN

ER: Here's a cool match that's never happened before and I don't think I've ever thought about before. Morrison always gets put into matches with fliers, and not nearly enough against technicians who shut down fliers. Morrison is by definition a heavyweight, but Gulak hits harder, so it's a heavyweight using cruiserweight movements to evade the heavyweight work of a cruiser. I love it. Gulak works snug wrist and armlocks while Morrison cartwheels out of the tight arm work, rolling into pins using leverage without even using his arms. Now, some of Morrison's kicks and headstands and spinning come off too slow and awkward to sustainably work in this match, but I thought Gulak did a great job staying in proper position for all of it. Morrison's slow break dancing offense doesn't always reveal where it is going to wind up, so catching it naturally while looking like you're biting at feints isn't easy, but Gulak spent years training with small fliers with grand ideas and hitchy execution of those ideas so the man has an uncanny knack of being in the right place. 

Gulak is just as great at catching the big stuff, and Morrison's big stuff is more interesting than his array of headstand kicks that barely touch his opponent. Morrison  nails a high speed tornillo tope that annihilates Gulak, and that's the kind of Morrison I love. Morrison should lean into taking freaky Low Ki bumps that most people don't have the body control to pull off, like when Gulak knocks him off the top rope and he rolls and bounces off the ropes to the mat in cool ways, or the way he willingly gets bodyslammed crazily into the ropes. Gulak capitalizing on Morrison's slow rolling is the best, turning a cradle into a nice armbar. This had the bones of a match that should have been better, and part of that is because sometimes Morrison's parkour is on, sometimes the set-up is lacking. You let he and Gulak work this match a couple more times, we'd get a great one. 

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Ain't No Chains to Hold Gulak In, to Hold Gulak To

Drew Gulak vs. Jaxson Ryker WWE Main Event 9/16/21 - GREAT

ER: The last time Gulak showed up in a match before this was also against Ryker, seven weeks earlier on this very program. This match was an improvement over their late July match, which saw Ryker work as a heel while being positioned as the babyface. Not a whole lot changed here, except Ryker seemed to understand that he was the babyface (however bizarre that choice might be) here, and Gulak plays a punishing heel well. The opening match lock-up was great, taken to all sides of the ring, and a nice way of establishing that this was not going to be a heavyweight steamrolling a cruiser. 

Ryker does much of the same offense he did several weeks prior, with a couple important changes that all work to get him face reactions from the crowd: Instead of hard bodyslams, he picks Gulak up for one and then shows him off to the crowd from different angles before slamming him, letting the reaction build before throwing him down and hitting a falling headbutt. Ryker even adds in a surprise rana off the top (not sure I've seen him use that before) to cement his babyface status to the Boston crowd, who has no problem rooting for guys who look like sentient Thin Blue Punisher window decals. 

The best parts of this were Gulak fighting his way back, as he throws some slashing knife edge chops (a stunned Ryker chops him back just as hard), and this great moment where Ryker runs into Gulak's boot and then Gulak wastes him with one of his all time finest lariats. Gulak knows how to make bigger moments (like that huge lariat) read so well, but I also loved little details he added throughout, like when he took a stiff shoulderblock and immediately grabbed for Ryker's leg, tying him up to halt momentum. This was a lightly tweaked version of their previous match, but it was tweaked in all the right ways.   

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Caught Gulak in Our Room Staring' at the Light, I'd Been Up All Night

Drew Gulak/Ariya Daivari/Tony Nese vs. Gran Metalik/Mustafa Ali/Lince Dorado WWE Main Event 3/31/17 - FUN

ER: This had some real highs but also some oddly laid out peaks, giving Lince Dorado a lot of the big triumphant moments. Out of the three tecnicos in 2017, he was the least natural and spectacular - and also the clear smallest - so it was weird that the match built to him getting the hot tag and getting weaker reactions than anyone else in the match. But the peaks were strong and the pace was brisk. It starts with some pretty so-so Nese moments, but at the same time gave Metalik nice moments to shine. Metalik's nice rana off the ropes was an early highlight, but the match doesn't quite round the corner until Daivari held the middle and top ropes open so that Ali flew to the floor while running ropes. Ali is always great for one big bump per match, one real dangerous one, and him basically hitting a tope to nothing moved us along nicely. The Gulak/Ali portions were really special, with Gulak really throwing hard basics at him and Ali hitting the mat hard. Gulak throws such a hard clothesline, and he throws a straight arm clothesline here that knocks Ali into next week! The big flying moves throughout are good, like Daivari's stiff Naniwa elbow, Metalik's plancha to Nese, Ali's match winning inverted 450, even Dorado's shooting star was delivered swiftly and landed clean (Dorado's problem is more with some wait times on his set ups, and not really flowing through spots very well, all things he got much better at a few years later). Weird to me that Gulak is the one eating the pin after looking like the biggest monster during the match, but this was fun stuff.

Drew Gulak vs. Angel Garza WWE Main Event 7/22/21 - FUN

ER: Here are two modern wrestlers that I love, who have now wrestled five singles matches over a seven month span, and somehow haven't managed to have a really good one. Drew Gulak is one of the guys in WWE who you can argue has had the best matches against the widest selection of opponents over the past several years, but for whatever reason there just does not appear to be a connection between these two. Over their previous four matches, three of them never even made it to 150 seconds. Those were matches with fun, well executed ideas that didn't have enough time to build into stories. The other match went 9 minutes - longer than all but one 2021 Gulak match - and it was somehow one of the weakest Gulak matches of the year. This is more of a satisfying porridge 5 minutes, but still doesn't quite click. Their matches always have good moments, but never quite feel cohesive enough to get to that next level. Garza's transitions back to offense always feel a bit too easy, always completely shrugging off whatever Gulak just did, no matter how punishing it looked. Obviously, a lot of Gulak's offense looked punishing. Gulak never works the same offense every match, so you never know what kind of tricks he's going to pull. He throws a few cool body shots, stiff standing clotheslines, and a great bridging German that I thought was actually going to give him a rare win. Garza has great charisma and taunted Gulak in some fun ways, and he actually gets a good reaction for his tearaway pants late in the match (even though Gulak looks more and more like an idiot every time he catches those thrown pants), but it felt like he was sometimes working a totally different match than Gulak. 

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Is Gulak Losing His Faith? He's Gonna Lose it Sometime

Drew Gulak vs. Veer WWE Main Event 7/1/21 - GREAT

ER: Gulak wrestled Bronson Reed the week before this, and it made me want to see more Gulak matches against weird undercard heavyweights. Veer is the perfect kind of guy I want to see Gulak work for 5 minutes: a guy who never works singles matches, has a great look, and a big build. Gulak comes off like a dominant heavyweight, working as Veer's equal and not as a light heavyweight underdog. This is also the most we've seen of Veer outside of graphics announcing that He's Coming, but I like his potential and love his look, and there isn't a better showcase partner than Gulak. Veer has a lot of cool offense running through Gulak, throwing impressive punches for his skill level. Veer famously won an Indian gameshow, then signed as a pitching prospect with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Pitchers should know how to throw a good punch, it's all just learning mechanics and repeating an arm slot. If you can pitch to a 3:1 strikeout to walk ratio in A ball, you're a guy who can repeat an arm slot. Veer's got big worked punch potential and I'm here for it. He also throws a great big boot and a high sideslam with a big landing. 

Gulak makes his way into the match by throwing straight kicks right at Veer's knee. He was great at bumping for all of Veer's big attacks, but he looked like Fujiwara going after Veer's knee. Gulak goes after it some more when Veer misses a boot in the corner, and I loved how Gulak kept throwing those front kicks. Veer sold them well, and I actually thought Gulak was going to tap him when he worked a cool figure 4 with a bridge after hitting a hard dropkick to the knee. I wish we had another beat before the run to the end, but thought Veer looked great hitting hard corner splashes and a big falling clothesline. This was a hard hitting heavyweight match, one of the few times in WWE that Gulak has really been allowed to exist as a big guy's equal, and it worked great.  

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Gulak Was There With the Best Sometimes

 Drew Gulak vs. Baron Corbin WWE Smackdown 7/31/20 - FUN

ER: I really liked how these two matched up in their April match, and it feels like they have enough chemistry to work a satisfying feud. This match felt different than that match, and I like when guys bring different vibes to rematches. This one was shorter, but worked briskly. It had a lousy finish that made Gulak look like a goof, But getting to the bad finish was a fun trip. Gulak was really aggressive and worked a dominant strike game against Corbin, and those parts were great. Gulak punched and elbowed him around the ring, kicking at him, really backing up a larger opponent in convincing fashion. He looked really tough getting Corbin off balance with strike combos in the corner, throwing elbows and a hard shoulder to the ribs. And Gulak's late match crossface was a strong spot that feels like it would be starting to get a reaction from live crowds at this point. Corbin gave Gulak most of the match, but the finish betrayed that generosity. Riddle came out, distracted Corbin, Gulak small packaged him but only for a 2 count, then immediately ate End of Days. So bad. Gulak had looked dominant and on the same level the entire match, and then in the last seconds he looked unnecessarily desperate and immediately lost. Made no sense within the framework of the match. Still worth seeing for the rest of the match, which was enough to make me want to see the pairing again.

Drew Gulak vs. Jaxson Ryker WWE Main Event 7/29/21 - FUN

ER: Now, don't get me wrong, I understand that there probably aren't many other people who have been wanting to see a Drew Gulak/Jaxson Ryker match, but it's one of the few WWE singles match pairings I've been most excited to see. Nobody else is out here getting hyped for Jaxson Ryker matches, but he's long been a favorite of mine who barely showed up on WWE TV. In his first 3+ years in WWE he only had a dozen TV matches, before finally getting some more regular work in 2021. He works snug and aggressively, which is a style that goes well with Gulak. But what makes this match weird is that Ryker works babyface while Gulak works heel. Ryker has been a far more visible onscreen heel presence than Gulak, and he is obviously the larger man, so it's weird to see Gulak take on the role of heel (without doing anything visually heelish). Plus, Ryker projects as a psychopath who failed the police written exam a third time and has thus been relegated to working as a parking lot security guard, where he fills time posting on r/mybitchexwife for 10 hours a day. 

I don't know what agent decided to slot Ryker into the babyface role here, but it's a choice. Most importantly, Ryker's offense and the way he delivers that offense does not read like babyface offense, so here he worked more like Ted DiBiase Jr., which is a thing that literally no person has ever aspired to do. It's all bodyslams, a swinging side slam, and a falling headbutt. Gulak adds the interesting flash, with some great punches to Ryker's body, and a cool cravat that he works from multiple angles while leaning weight down on Ryker. Gulak works Ryker into a nice crossface, but you can see the moment where they decide to go home as Ryker just fights up, hits a couple of double chops, a nice slingshot suplex, and then the spinning slam. The crowd did get behind Ryker's comeback so they did respond positively to face Ryker (I don't think there was any kind of actual turn, as the week before he was the heel in a match that sent Elias packing), but it was not the match I wanted to see from them. They had another a couple months later, so we'll see what they change. 

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Gulak's Silently Waiting, For How the Room Will Be Painted

Drew Gulak vs. Bronson Reed WWE Main Event 6/24/21 - GREAT

ER: I like seeing Gulak in this kind of size mismatch. The bulk of WWE Gulak matches have been against 205 Live types, but he's really fun against big guys. Oney Lorcan always got paired against big guys during his WWE run, and it made sense because he was really great at working a compelling loss. Gulak is great at working big guys and even though we haven't seen it as much, there are a ton of great potential 8 minutes matches sitting out there. I wish we got more of those rather than check what couple things Gulak and Mansoor can switch up in their routine after 5 matches. This is one of those exciting "never before" matches and it's another great look at Gulak's range. This is even more exciting because it happened during Reed's final month hurrah, which was ironically the one month of 2021 where he looked like the next level Reed. The first half of Reed's 2021 was filled with some of his weakest performances I've seen, a guy who seemed to be regressing by the month. But suddenly in June he went on a career-rejuvenating tear, looking like maybe the best guy in an incredibly fun TakeOver trios tag, then having his year-best singles match winning the North American title from Johnny Gargano in a cage, then having this absolute powerhouse monster performance against Gulak. 

So of course he gets released a few weeks later. Anyway, I was hoping for this to be worked like a Tarzan Goto vs. Yuki Ishikawa match, and it kind of started to look like I'd get my wish when they had some tough guy grappling, Reed muscled Gulak into a kind of flapjack out of a piledriver, and then cranked Gulak's ear in a side headlock. It doesn't stay muga for very long, but I like the way they pivot. Reed is at his wrecking ball best in this match, a role he can do well and needs to do exclusively. Less agility spots, more big man. Reed looks great here, really savage. He just knocks Gulak out of the air a couple times, throws him with a press slam, goes in quick with the senton. Gulak's only way out is by hacking at Reed's arm, and Reed is good at working big man while Gulak gets aggressive. Gulak misses a dropkick painfully into the ringpost, but pushes through it to work an awesome hyperextending Fujiwara. Gulak is cool at readjusting the hold to not give up the attack as Reed powered to his feet, and they had a perfect transition out of the Fujiwara when Gulak abandoned it for a schoolboy that instead becomes Reed dropping ass first onto Gulak exactly like Super Porky, one month before Porky's passing. Reed's violent run to the finish really looked like a guy piecing everything together. His death valley driver looked insane, and the top rope splash looked like a fucking finisher. This was a great match to cap a month that could easily be used as a strong example of Bronson Reed's talent, and I hope we get to see Gulak tackle more mountains while he stays impossibly employed. 

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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. 

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Gulak's Been Holding On Too Long, That He Hardly Knows the Score

Drew Gulak/Tony Nese vs. Gran Metalik/Lince Dorado WWE Main Event 9/29/17 - GREAT

ER: This was mostly a showcase for the luchadors, but it was a really good showcase for them. Nese and Gulak had enough cut off spots to keep it fresh, and they were both great at making the lucha spots shine. Gulak really doesn't get involved at all until halfway through, but it doesn't actually matter because the Nese performance is strong. When you go back and watch them 3-4 years ago, it's pretty startling how much better some of Metalik and Dorado's offense looked. It's a lot tighter and the flow is much smoother. 2021 Metalik feels a step slower than 2017 Metalik, but they're on fire here. Dorado hits a great moonsault press and flies off the apron later to cut off Gulak with a Thesz press. Nese catches Dorado on a big springboard crossbody, and eats it when Metalik hits a springboard kick to send the crossbody through. Nese really nails Metalik with a back elbow to cut off a dive, and Metalik's flipping bump felt really natural. 

Gulak and Nese are good at setting the luchadors up, and Gulak/Dorado pull off a Dorado Lethal Injection that actually looks good! Gulak is great at naturally getting into position for a stupid springboard cutter, and Dorado's cutter was so quick that I actually didn't see it coming. When Jay Lethal does it it takes an eternity and his opponent is frozen there waiting for a Fatality. The finish looks crazy, perhaps by complete accident. Dorado goes for a shooting star press but doesn't rotate, luckily doesn't land on his head, and instead crushes Nese with a kamikaze senton. Since he looked like he was flinging himself hard backward to complete the flip, that just means he flung himself out over Nese. Happy accident, Dorado pulling off a better senton than Dick Togo. 

Drew Gulak vs. Ricochet WWE Main Event 6/17/21 - GREAT

ER: This didn't have the same organic build and offbeat timing that their awesome match earlier this year had, and the shifts in momentum didn't come off as smoothly as they did in that first match, but this was still a really cool match between two of the current best. Gulak might be the best in WWE at working control segments right now, as he always comes up with new things to use against specific opponents. With no Kassius Ohno on the roster, Gulak is the main person here who can craft a match around his specific opponent without running the same act each time. He dominated and slowed down Ricochet in completely different ways than he did six months ago. There's a cool long double knucklelock to open that ends with Ricochet trying to break off the ropes but Gulak twisting him into a straitjacket. Ricochet hits a crazy high dropkick that shotguns Gulak off his feet, and we get a killer run of Gulak taking that dropkick out on Ricochet's hide. Gulak hits a 1.2 level Finlay bodyslam that sends Ricochet's achilles off the top rope and the back of his head bouncing off the mat. He punches a hole in his chest with an axe handle, aims a back elbow at Ricochet's orbital bone, throws him across the ring with a Steiner level gutwrench suplex, and debuts these sick IZU falling shoulderblocks to jam Ricochet's shoulder. 

Ricochet's comeback felt like much more of a WWE Superstar Moment than something that really fit into the match they had been having. It felt way more theatrical than the snug back and forth they had started with and had built into a punishing heel beatdown from Gulak. Ricochet's comeback flips and kick combos looked tighter than most indy versions of that style, but I like Ricochet so much more when he surprises with less rehearsed looking stuff. But, again, Ricochet's combos look sharp and Gulak is aces at keeping pace for all of it. The concept of the finish was cool, with Ricochet going after one of Gulak's limbs and playing the ass kicker's game, and winds up tapping Gulak with a top wristlock. I really dug the cranked in top wristlock finish, but also would have liked it hinted at or established a bit more. The match got nearly 10 minutes, but it didn't feel like Gulak should have been at the disadvantage he was at when they got to the finish. A couple more minutes could have lead to a couple cool twists before getting that surprise tap. No matter, I love watching these two move inside a wrestling ring, and my complaints are only because of the high standards both have set. 

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But a Dream Like Gulak Gets Wasted, Without You

Drew Gulak/Jack Gallagher/Brian Kendrick vs. Gran Metalik/Kalisto/Lince Dorado 205 Live 6/12/18 - GREAT

ER: WWE was just giving these guys 15 minutes with no kind of feud, to just go out there and fill that time. It's incredible. We get the most Segunda Caida rudo trios team possible, and they are a great group of rudo bases for our Lucha House trio. Sending six cruiserweights out to work an unannounced 15 minute match in front of a WWE crowd feels like a bit of a prank, but they build nicely with their time and the biggest reactions come from the finishing stretch. The match is cool, with them working this as a lucha trios that veered into the rudos cutting off Kalisto from the rest of his Party, before Kalisto finally gets a fun hot tag to Metalik. It's fun seeing all of the rudos act as bases for flying, and it's a natural fit as Gulak and Dorado go way back. Dorado gets a long run of offense peaking in an assisted rope walk flip dive, but my favorite parts of the match was watching all the rudos finally halt Kalisto and make quick tags, knocking Dorado and Metalik off the apron with hard elbows, just working their "non flyer" beatdown. Kendrick comes in with a big kick, Gulak works a kneeling torture rack and shifts that into a half crab/arm lock, all cool stuff. But Kalisto hits a great jawbreaker on Gulak, Kendrick takes a tornado DDT right on his face, all building to Metalik's big missile dropkick heavy tag in. Kalisto gets a nice rana roll up on Gulak, and Gulak pays him back for almost beating him by blasting him with a lariat, the kind that gets a crowd into a match regardless of the particpants' size. Kendrick almost murders Kalisto getting him into the Captain's Hook, not sure who twisted too early, but it only makes his headlock takeover look even more dangerous. This match did not need 15 minutes, but if you're going to give some guys 15 minutes of time to fill during an already long TV taping, I can't think of three better guys than Gulak/Kendrick/Gallagher. 

Drew Gulak vs. Mansoor WWE Main Event 6/3/21 - GREAT

ER: Before I watched this, I had already seen four Gulak/Mansoor matches this year, and it's kind of crazy to look at the people who were cut or allowed to leave and then still see Gulak working as essentially the man who is working as Mansoor's personal in-ring trainer just doing his thing. The proof is in the pudding as the results have been great. Mansoor has improved as much or more than anyone on the roster in 2021. It's a testament to Gulak's powers that they can keep having matches against each other that feel completely different from their other matches, all worked around some unsaid obstacle. This was mostly grounded and over the year you can really see how good Mansoor is getting at selling holds and moving honestly into and out of holds. Working with Gulak has already elevated him above the level of performative mat guys who roll through a quick sequence that ends in a tandem kip-up. This is more about Gulak constantly catching Mansoor in a headlock and Mansoor trying to find his way out of it to a win. When Mansoor is in control you can see Gulak doing little things to direct traffic, things that Mansoor responds naturally to. 

I loved how Gulak worked like an old sensei, reversing everything Mansoor threw (grabbing a headlock off a single leg, gaining arm and wrist control after a Mansoor slap) while also keeping Mansoor's work snug (loved how when Mansoor had arm control Gulak went to cover up his face which was a sly reminder for Mansoor to plant his knee on Gulak's face). Gulak has a couple of cool takedowns off an armdrag reversal and later one where he just takes Mansoor down, traps his legs, and ties him up in a dragon sleeper. I'm going to love a match where guys refuse to break headlocks off the ropes or get tied up in messy holds that don't look as "clean" as other WWE holds. The spot of the match is Gulak blocking an armdrag and turning it into a kind of Gory special as Mansoor fights it, only for Gulak to just drop straight down into a side headlock. The pinfall trading at the end is just about as interesting as you can make that spot now, worked very seamlessly but with Gulak actually looking like someone who is trying to pin Mansoor, not just positioning himself for the next reversal. I'm not sure how long Gulak is going to be able to get away with weird subversive matwork matches on these undercards, but I am going to be in love with it as long as it happens. 

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Wading in the Water, Gulak's Trying Not to Crack

Drew Gulak vs. Lince Dorado WWE Main Event 4/22/21 - GREAT

ER: The week before this Gulak had maybe my least favorite match of his this year, and definitely the only match of his this year where it seemed like he wasn't as sure how to fill time. And then this, a week later, is one of his absolute strongest showings of the year. Maybe you can give credit to his long history with Dorado, but whatever the reason, I love what they did here. Gulak was excellent at being into position for every Lince strike or piece of offense, and in between all that he went after Dorado's joints. I love how Gulak doesn't treat any small piece of offense as merely a transition. Sometimes his nastiest stuff comes off a move that many other wrestlers treat as a means to get to something more flashy. Here Gulak hits a drop toehold early in the match that looked like Inoki unprofessionally hacking at a fake Russian judoka's knee. They work some cool knucklelocks, Gulak has some nice bridge work, Dorado gets Gulak down by pushing his knee into Gulak's arm, all cool stuff. Gulak always seems to bring different offense to each match, things you won't see him do for the rest of the year. He hits a great spinning side slam (looked like he was corkscrewing Lince into the mat) and a nice sitout powerbomb, and I like how he slowed things down with a nice joint-stretching Gory special. 

It's difficult for a masked guy to sell a Gory special well, since all their limbs are tied up and most of their face is obscured, so Gulak knows he has to pick up the slack to keep it engaging. The shot of Gulak hunched down in a squat - aiming to tear Dorado's quads and wreck his shoulders - was completely badass, and Dorado's arm drag to break the Gory special was excellent. My favorite Gulak moment (in a match filled with them) saw him duck a Dorado superkick and seamlessly get him into an electric chair faceslam that moves immediately into the Gulock, and no part of it looked like Dorado was intentionally missing the superkick *just* to get into position for the electric chair. It was a very complicated spot that they made look as natural as a bodyslam. I really dislike the trend of guys being able to survive the Gulock, as the prior week saw Garza spend 90 seconds working to the ropes, and here Dorado lasts 25 seconds before forcing Gulak to break with a roll up. They went to the Dorado win way too easily for how the match had been going, essentially letting Dorado survive Gulak's finisher and tons of punishing and then go right to the superkick/shooting star for the win, but I'm not going to let that ruin an otherwise great match. 

Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa WWE Main Event 4/29/21 - GREAT 

ER: Great work from both in a match that got a few more minutes than either usually get. Gulak is great at  slowing down sequences you might recognize, make his opponent work for something that can be more perfunctory. Here he controls Tozawa with a nice top wristlock, holds on to headlocks, breaks Tozawa's reversals with a snug headscissors, drops to a knee to neutralize a Tozawa headlock, uses his leverage to block a Tozawa armdrag, it's all a cool way to do some flashy aggressive grappling with a bunch of twists on familiar exchanges. Gulak gets kicked to the floor and Tozawa hits a fantastic tope, just a flawless headbutt torpedo that nails Gulak in the chest. But it's an interesting note about the match story, as Gulak shows he is prepared for Tozawa and has counters for a lot of Tozawa's offense. Tozawa may be able to surprise him with a perfect headbutt, but anything short of perfection Gulak will be there with something mean. 

He elbows his way out of a fireman's carry and blasts him with a clothesline, chokes him over the bottom rope with his boot and then wedges Tozawa's face between steel rope cable and boot, just standing on Tozawa's head over that rope. Gulak drapes him over his back and holds onto only Tozawa's jaw, like a Gory special if you want to rip a guy's head off, then makes things even more painful by twisting Tozawa like Volk Han would. Gulak locks in that dope Volk Han special inverted STF, and the immediacy that Tozawa went rolling for the ropes made an already devastating sub look even more dangerous. Tozawa's flying seems to be his only in, as he's landed a few nice punches but every time he tosses a limb at Gulak that limb seems to get eventually caught, so he nails a cannonball off the top (to a standing Gulak, love how it looked) and appears to be rolling, until Gulak shifts perfectly to catch Tozawa's senton in a match finishing Gulock. Excellent stuff throughout, a dominant Gulak performance that ends with him looking still dominant, and a very fun Tozawa performance. A lesser wrestler would have looked like they got steamrolled by Gulak, but Tozawa knew how to get his while also getting beat. 

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How Can Gulak Surround Himself in Time and Time Again?

Drew Gulak vs. Mansoor WWE Main Event 4/8/21 - GREAT

ER: Another great 5 minutes with these two, a feud I've been really enjoying. They have worked several TV matches already this year (the closest we'll get to an A-Train/Funaki or Kanyon/Orlando Jordan syndicated feud in 2021) and they've managed to work a different match every single time while doing not too obvious things to play off prior match experiences. Gulak is the guy always coming VERY close to stopping Mansoor's 40+ match winning streak and yet always finds his own shoulders on the mat for a split second longer than Mansoor's. Gulak doesn't so much find ways to lose, as Mansoor finds ways to win, and that's important to their dynamic. They know how to work a lot of interesting moments around quick armdrags, blocked armdrags (Gulak blocking an armdrag by dropping his weight or holding the ropes will always be a match highlight), shoulder holds and single leg takedowns. 

Gulak breaking a wristlock by doing a tumbling routine was a great way to keep a Regal/Danielson vibe on our syndicated programming, and I love how they essentially worked 5 minutes of just grabbing at body parts. Gulak stands on Mansoor's face, Mansoor gets a nice sunset flip with Gulak later catching Mansoor in one of his own after timing a Mansoor leapfrog, and the final exchanges were hot. They managed to work through the match with no actual striking taking place, going straight into a series of holds reversed into snug pinfalls, ending with Mansoor rolling a hiptoss through into a kind of backslide. Gulak's frustration is palpable, as they've done a good job having Mansoor go lossless in their series while making it seem like Gulak is always one step away from figuring out the puzzle, each time.  

Drew Gulak vs. Angel Garza WWE Main Event 4/15/21 - FUN

ER: Here's one for the Unexpected Miss category. Gulak and Garza had a series of short Raw matches around this time, all of which hinted at the potential of a great longer match. I didn't actually realize they HAD that longer match until I started catching up on Main Event, and...well the match completely fell apart in the second half and wasn't actually very good, it turns out. Couldn't have seen that one coming. And a major part of the problem WAS the length, as this felt like a match with several extra minutes. The first half was the best half, showing off Gulak's ability to base for fliers while neutralizing with his own monkey flip and forearm offense. He grinds into Garza and hits a huge running corner dropkick, then misses one later that hangs him by the knees in the corner (one leg over the top, one over the middle) until Garza drops him with a cool backcracker. I was into all of this. 

But there was always going to be an odd heel/heel thorn to get around, and since neither man attempted to get around that the match outright fell apart. I'm not sure who the technical "babyface" would have been here, but I suppose it would have been Gulak. Except Gulak approached this as a heel waiting to catch Garza's flash and turn it into a grounded submission, while Garza approached this as the cocky heel who was going to out flash Gulak, and neither man budged. The whole thing built into Garza going on a chain ending with a big nearfall superkick, and it all felt laid out like tecnico Gran Metalik outquicking the mat worker, and it felt like they were finally settling into sides. But the moment things fell apart was the moment Gulak caught a second Garza superkick and dropped into a brutal heel lock. Angel Garza took SO LONG to get to the ropes, and the spot just went on for a silent eternity. We had this never-ending moment of Gulak trapping a rudo in a very sick looking Gulock, right in the middle of the ring, and Garza inching his way for the ropes. Inch by inch by inch. It was brutally paced, and by the time it was broken everyone's timing was out the window. The quick nearfalls after were sloppy, Gulak missed a clothesline (that was supposed to miss) by 4 feet as Garza was somewhere else entirely, and we had two guys winding up on different pages after a terribly laid out submission. I didn't realize how much I liked their 2-3 minute matches until I saw what they did with 9 minutes. 

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Far Away, Gulak, There's a Black Sun Risin' Overhead

Drew Gulak vs. Akira Tozawa WWE Main Event 3/25/21 - FUN

ER: It's cool seeing one of these matches that start with Gulak torturing somebody, actually end in Gulak defeating somebody. This match starts a bit slow and then suddenly explodes when Tozawa hits a crazy cannonball off the apron that could have sent him into the second row. We always get some Gulak body punishment, and here he drops a nice elbowdrop on Tozawa's chest, hits a hard backbreaker, hard bodyslam, and generally ties up Tozawa's neck and arm on the mat. This is around the time in Gulak's matches where the flier makes his comeback and Gulak loses, and when Tozawa snaps off a smooth rana and plasters Gulak with a shining wizard, it certainly appears to be heading that way. Tozawa hits a great cannonball off the top into a standing Gulak and gets him in the octopus...and then Gulak breaks the octopus hold by just powering up out of it and smashing Tozawa with a torture rack neckbreaker for the win! What a kick ass way to reverse an octopus hold and win a match. And when Gulak won this match his face actually looked like the face of a man who hasn't tasted victory in awhile. It's those little touches that matter, and Gulak looked like a guy treating this win as the start of a snowball. Even if it's not (it isn't) those smaller character moments elevate things. 

Drew Gulak vs. Humberto Carrillo WWE Main Event 4/1/21 - FUN

ER: I remember this match got talked up a bit when it happened, but despite getting more time than a typical Gulak Main Event match, this felt like pretty ground floor stuff for a Gulak match. There was a bit of a story with Carrillo finding openings both times Gulak went to the top rope (catching him in a Spanish Fly the first time, reversing a back suplex into a crossbody the next time), but the Spanish Fly was one of the things I thought didn't quite work within the match. I'm not really a fan of guys having moves that require their opponent to do something out of character (unless it involves every single person trying to sunset flip Super Porky), and since I have no clue what offense Gulak was thinking of flying off the top to do (considering for most of his time in WWE it was a trademark thing he Does Not Do) it comes off a bit silly. Sillier, however, is Carrillo giving the ref a shocked "ONLY A 2 COUNT!?" face while holding up his fingers, as if that Spanish Fly didn't happen barely 2 minutes into the match. Gulak is a great base for Carrillo, but this match didn't have enough basing, and it didn't have enough Gulak torture. It's not a bad match at all, but I'm used to seeing Gulak craft unique 2-5 minute matches. Seeing him have a Very Normal 8 minute match that somehow contains less cool stuff than his 3 minute matches just sits strangely with me. I really liked Gulak catching Carrillo's whipping kick off the ropes and turning it into a nice ankle lock, then an even better STF, and Carrillo blocking the majistral into his own cradle was a neat finish, but I think they have a much more interesting match in them. This was fine, but most of the time it felt like it should be better. 

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Drew Gulak is Lost on His Sea Again

 Drew Gulak vs. Mansoor WWE Main Event 2/25/21 - GREAT

ER: It hit me during this match that Gulak is probably the closest thing we have to a Barry Houston in WWF, and it's cool to see a mature Barry Houston style worker on WWE TV in 2021. He is great with any kind of opponent, hits honestly on shoulderblocks and elbows, throws his whole arm into lariats and clotheslines, and locks in convincing headlocks and holds. It's the kind of style that does work with any other style, but Gulak is also smart about changing little things and integrating any kind of size or opponent. Mansoor is coming along well, quietly improving faster than others in WWE working his same kind of style. It's perhaps notable that I think Mansoor has been better at his kind of matches this year than guys like Humberto Carrillo or Gran Metalik have been at their similar matches. Gulak really takes some stiff strikes to Mansoor, you get that Finlay sense of "I have 5 minutes on this Thunder episode, I'm going to grab someone by their jaw, and hit the hardest safe lariat I possibly can." Mansoor's sequences looked smooth, he's maybe the only guy in the fed who actually lands atomic drops, and I thought while Gulak bumped well for Mansoor's flash and set it up nicely, that Mansoor delivered his end. He was where he needed to be, and outside of maybe the slingshot neckbreaker at the finish, I don't think Gulak ever looked like he was waiting on him. Gulak has a great way of getting from one thing to the next, someone who knows how to fill time well. He can expertly turn an O'Connor roll into a match finish worthy rear naked choke, or convincingly sock you across the ring. He doesn't really win much, but I like him in his current role. I just like that him, and his role, are on TV. 

PAS: Gulak is buried as deep as you get in the WWE (is this deeper than NXT UK?) and it really doesn't matter as he is having these very cool "if a tree falls in the forest" matches. Gulak is a perfect person to pair with a green guy who is basically learning to wrestle on TV. He trained guys for so long, that he is a master of not only making all of his stuff look really good, but making sure his opponent looks great too. Not sure if Mansoor has a great atomic drop, or Gulak is amazing at taking atomic drops, but that might have been the best atomic drop in decades. Gulak gets a moment or two to shine on his own, the corner lariat was teeth rattling, but he was there to put over Mansoor and make him look good and he did both excellently.

Drew Gulak vs. Mansoor WWE Main Event 3/4/21 - FUN

ER: I love how Main Event gives these guys the opportunity to have minor feuds that carry over week to week. They don't necessarily get storylines (in the way that there are actual storylines and promos on 205 Live), but they get a chance to build off results and actions from prior Main Event matches and that gives it more of a Worldwide or WCW Pro feel. In other words, they freely acknowledge a wrestler's history with their opponent, without adding any additional story to why they are wrestling. Gulak is going to be someone who is good at having in-ring feuds with, and Mansoor is benefitting heavily from working with him, showing a lot of improvement over the past year. This was evenly paced and had a few moments where it looked like Gulak could get his win back. 

I'm really getting into watching Gulak lose, as - unlike every time they've ever done a losing streak gimmick - I am actually really getting excited to see a Gulak win these days. They're always way too obvious about their losing streak gimmicks, there's never any nuance and it's always screamed at you that the guy is losing a lot. I don't think they're working that angle with Gulak, he just happens to be a guy who loses a lot. He's 5-40 over the last two years, which would make him the worst baseball team in history. But wins do happen, and I love watching for them. I like how he takes Mansoor's offense, like a neat upside down springboard armdrag that took a twist I wasn't expecting, and he makes Mansoor's already painful atomic drop/spinebuster even more painful. Gulak really crunches Mansoor with a German suplex, and they have a cool battle over a Gulak O'Connor roll that turns into a Mansoor rear naked choke. All of it is great, and I still think Gulak might get him if they pair up 7 or 8 more times. 

PAS: I liked how Gulak came out more aggressive in this match, two really nasty German suplexes and then going for a top rope reverse suplex, he seemed like a guy who wanted his win back. I didn't think Mansoor looked as good in this match, there was a performative aspect to his offense which I didn't notice as much the previous week, and he made some really silly faces. The reversal of the O'Connor roll into a choke is a cool spot, but both Mansoor's choke and his body scissors were pretty loose. Gulak was great though, loved how he ate the top rope body press, leaping into and taking it as a big bump on the back, but still I thought this showed the seams a bit more.

Drew Gulak/Akira Tozawa vs. Ricochet/Mansoor WWE Main Event 3/11/21 - GREAT

ER: This Gulak/Mansoor feud has been one of the low key best things going in TV wrestling this year. This is just another awesome example of Gulak working as a WCW Saturday Night Finlay, and brother that's my favorite wrestling to watch. Gulak kicks the door in when he tags in, laying Mansoor out with full arm clothesline, then picks him up and bodyslams him legs first into the ropes. It's clear he's been watching his Finlay Orlando Studios tapes. Mansoor has a good moveset, filled with smooth spots he pulls off well (like his ropes feint armdrag) plus strong nearfall stuff like his excellent atomic drop/spinebuster combo. Gulak is always the best at taking offense, so I love when he chooses to shine by doing "small" things like work a half crab or stomp Ricochet's back. Gulak is a pro wrestler like Chris Hero, someone who understands the nuances and can deliver joy with elite execution on "simple" moves. Seeing him work a cutoff spot with a timed headbutt to the chest is a cool thing to still see in wrestling. 

It's good for Tozawa to work with someone like Gulak. He's been mired in the comedy ninja gimmick for quite awhile now and it's easy to forget what a great worker he was during some of those 205 Live years everyone has memory-holed. Working with Gulak allows him to up his game and show why he's remained employed for an improbable near 5 years. He's been a unique presence on Main Event for 2 years now, weirdly existing in this vacuum. He's a guy who will really benefit from the return of crowds, and it will be fascinating to see which guys blossom when that happens. The finish tricked me into thinking Gulak was going to get the win again, with his nice pinning powerbomb followed up with Tozawa's big senton. But Mansoor is unbeatable. Loved this tag, some inspired work on a C-show. 

PAS: This was a nifty little TV bout, showing some real chemistry between old Chikara guys Gulak and Ricochet (I wonder if there is a Helios vs. Solider Ant match out there worth watching). Ricochet puts some pop in his moves, and Gulak works pretty stiff. Best thing in this match was probably his back elbow to break out of a fireman's carry. I still feel like Mansoor is the odd man out. Gulak, Ricochet and Tozawa are such polished pros that Mansoor almost feels like a celebrity wrestler, like this is how Bad Bunny would work if he decided to go wrestle on Main Event. Still these are guys who can work around a celebrity wrestler in a tag match, and it was good stuff.

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Drew Gulak is Like a Ghost in the Distance, Out of Reach

Drew Gulak vs. Humberto Carrillo WWE Main Event 2/4/21 - FUN

ER: This felt like the layout of a WCWSN Dean Malenko vs. Hector Garza match, where Dean might've eaten up most of the match working holds only to lose to a quick moonsault. There is a lot of formula wrestling going on in WWE these days, and it's always nice when someone does something to break through those formulas. Gulak breaks formula more than most, and here he completely grounds Carrillo until the final 30 seconds of the match. A match like this allows you to see different aspects of a wrestler's game, and it was cool to see Carrillo work through matwork, and that's not really something he's done in WWE. Due to the lucha feds he worked before WWE, we never got to see him work through maestro lucha exchanges, so I thought it was cool seeing him do just that. Gulak had some great holds, loved his kind of inside out deathlock where he pinned Carrillo's legs in a figure 4 and then put all his weight on them, or his different crossfaces that Carrillo fought out of by loosening Gulak's grip, throwing blind chops behind him hoping one lands, and finally a couple back elbows. Carrillo had a slick rolling single leg takedown, Gulak locked in a cool inverted armbar, and I loved the Rings of Saturn variation Gulak used while digging his elbow into Carrillo's side. The finish was abrupt, which is what reminded me of a WCW match, where someone might dominate but then lose tidily when told to go home. Carrillo finally makes it to his feet without getting taken right back down, fakes Gulak out on a kick to set up a spin kick to Gulak's forehead, giving him time to hit the moonsault. I would have loved to see this all mat based, to see Carrillo work a couple of counters, but what we got was cool. 

Drew Gulak vs. T-BAR WWE Main Event 2/18/21 - GREAT

ER: This was maybe a step below the Gulak/Titus O'Neil Main Event match, but it's not far off and has that same layout as that match. Gulak is going to only get 20% of the match, but he takes his 20% in 2% snipes the entire match. It's only 4 minutes, and even though the match is made almost entirely up of T-BAR throwing Gulak and Gulak landing in painful ways, Gulak felt like a guy who could always craftily work his way to a win. This was not a pre-ordained T-BAR victory, no matter how decisively he was smashing Gulak into the mat. Gulak hit hard to make up the size difference, and there was a great spot where Gulak hit a hard forearm to T-BAR's chest, and T-BAR was supposed to just walk through it and feel nothing, but we got a bit of a Benoit/Ice Train situation instead. T-BAR had some great downward elbows while trapping Gulak in the corner, hit a great rolling pump kick that Gulak leaned deeply into, had a clumsy but impactful middle rope splash that felt like the glory days of 2000 where WWF heavyweights sometimes tried shit mid-match that they hadn't done before. Gulak makes slams look really painful, doesn't pinball around the ring making things look bouncy, he makes these landings look rough. It was a match long performance of a guy fighting a losing battle, that somehow didn't feel that way. 

Drew Gulak vs. Angel Garza WWE Raw 5/3/21 - FUN

ER: Gulak never seems to get much more than two minutes in ring on Raw, and it's even weirder that he already had a two minute match against Angel Garza on Raw a few months ago, but he's someone who will always have some cool things in that two minutes. He tries to jump Garza during the pants removal, but Garza whips those things off and dropkicks Drew on his way in. Gulak was good at staying off balance and stumbling into Garza's offense, and when he took over he had some really nasty chokes. Drew has a sick bully choke takeover and a snug headlock takeover, then really jams his forearm into Garza's Adam's apple. Garza matches that energy back and violently grabs at Gulak's face while screaming at him in the corner. There's no reason we couldn't have been given 2 more minutes of this, as there's only so much you can do in 2, but a full match can be had in 4 so come on man. They get 10 minutes on Main Event, give them a couple extra on Raw. Oh well, Gulak takes the wing clipper with a nice snap and then gets a rose shoved into his crack and punted in by Garza. That's a finish. 

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Drew Gulak Will Stare Straight Into Nothing

Drew Gulak vs. Angel Garza WWE Raw 12/22/20 - FUN

ER: Having a match like this go 2 minutes is never not going to be Total Bullshit. If you watch the Gulak/Cesaro match from WrestleMania, you can see what kind of genuinely special match Gulak is capable of putting together with just 4 minutes, but 2 minutes? When a match doesn't go as long as the ring intros, several different people running a multi million dollar TV show fucked up several segment time allocations. What's even more cruel, is that this was the first time these two have ever been matched up, and it's very clear from these 2 minutes that their chemistry is real. We get a great gag to start, with Garza throwing his just removed pants into Gulak's face while attacking him, setting an aggressive pace that I'm glad they worked for the 2 measly minutes they were allowed. I liked the struggle they showed during the 2 minutes, nothing ever looked like part of a sequence, everything they did looked like some kind of fight was behind it. Gulak muscling up Garza with a backbreaker, all the forearms and punches and shots to ribs, and Gulak jamming his elbow into Garza's thigh to reverse an abdominal stretch (only Gulak can make an abdominal stretch look like a finisher worthy sub in 2020, even digging his fist into that soft portion of Garza's side underneath the ribs). This was an awesome scrap, and the way they tangled and threw off balance could have turned into something really special with just a couple more minutes, but the finish we got was way too premature. 

Drew Gulak vs. AJ Styles WWE Raw 1/11/21 - FUN

ER: Disappointing 3 minute match that could have been much more worthwhile with another minute or two and some better time management. There was a frustrating amount of time dedicated to a set up shot of Gulak starting at the size of Styles' bodyguard's foot, and an unsatisfying battle up top over a superplex that didn't really go anywhere but ate up significant match time. When they stuck to grounded interactions it was great, loved how Styles started things with his nice dropkick and kicked Gulak right in the chest upon landing. Gulak falls really well for Styles, and gets to hit a cool unexpected tiger driver and this awesome bridging fallaway slam, also takes a big bump over the top to the floor. But this was about as low end as you can get for a match between Gulak and Styles, mostly due to time. 

Drew Gulak vs. Humberto Carrillo WWE Main Event 1/18 (Aired 1/21/21) - GREAT

ER: Now here's a cool match, and one of the strongest Carrillo performances I've seen in at least a couple months. Gulak is obviously going to be a great opponent for a flyer, but Carrillo's flash landed a lot better here than it can. They start with some fun matwork, with Gulak working an American lucha maestro style that Carrillo can roll with nicely. But I loved how the matwork and bridging wasn't really getting Gulak anywhere, so at some point he just says Fuck It and starts bending at Carrillo's arm. Gulak is great at taking Carrillo's armdrags and leaning face first into his spinning kicks, and the whole match is him getting sick of taking that flippy trickery and just slugging Carrillo in the stomach or throat, or planting him with a kneeling bodyslam or driving a knee into his torso. We get an Actually Good strike exchange that built nicely. There was no trading, nothing that looked like a prepped combo, just Gulak getting in a shot before being thrown off balance by a kick, giving Carrillo a chance to throw another kick while Gulak tried to fire back off balance. It looked great. Carrillo hits one of the smoothest version of his handspring armdrag, Gulak goes purple trying to snap Carrillo's arm and making it look like Carrillo is fighting for his damn limb. It's a lovely yin/yang. Carrillo's springboard spinning kick saw Gulak leap to take it in the face as if he was heading a soccer ball, looked fantastic, and the moonsault finish was academic. Give me 8 minute Gulak matches on a C show against weird Main Event opponents (Tucker? Slapjack? Riddick Moss?) and let's see how much cool shit he can pull off. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK

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2021 Ongoing MOTY List: Ricochet vs. Gulak

Drew Gulak vs. Ricochet WWE Main Event 1/4 (Aired 1/7/21)

PAS: Gulak keeps going to more and more obscure shows, yet continues to have great performances. This match had Gulak flashing back to his Ant days, serving as a heck of a base for all of Ricochet's fancy armdrags, before grounding him with a nasty side headlock. Gulak is so good at pacing a match, he knows exactly when to slow down and allow Ricochet to speed up. I liked how he keeps countering Ricochet's stuff with a nasty single leg crab.  Ricochet hits a crazy flip dive and a backflip german suplex (which wasn't completely clean unfortunately), but I didn't completely love the finish. Ricochet has a bunch of fancy shit and would have rather seen something bigger end it. Still always great to see Gulak get a chance to flex.

ER: Gulak and Ricochet have been on the same roster for several years now, and this is the first time they've had a match in WWE. Their couple indy matches all happened another lifetime ago, when Ricochet had hair and Gulak had real hair. They are such a natural fit, and because of Gulak's base upbringing we get to see Ricochet break out some of his coolest tricks (probably since he worked Cesaro a couple years ago). Ricochet has a couple of really cool upside down armdrags that Gulak does neat last second snares on, and they're better arm drags than the actual luchadors on the roster have been throwing lately. He hits an awesome rope flip swanton vaulting off the middle rope and flattening Gulak and he had some cool atypical form that, with Gulak's catches, had more of a World of Sport or French Catch vibe than American Junior. Gulak bounces him hard off the ropes on a bodyslam, and had some killer moments of catching Ricochet in a single leg when nobody was expecting it. Gulak grabbing a single leg off the meteora was really cool, and catching his kick back Pele kick into a half crab was even cooler. I actually liked the finish a lot, with Gulak getting more and more focused on catching Ricochet in a leg submission (and cranking in an awesome STF turned bow and arrow). When Ricochet gets out of the STF and Gulak goes low for the leg, Ricochet catches him with the recoil knee. I thought it was a great way to get a flash pin, Gulak's tunnel vision looking at the leg and missing the knee coming at his face. 

2021 MOTY MASTER LIST

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2020 Ongoing MOTY List: Gulak vs. Titus

37. Drew Gulak vs. Titus O'Neil WWE Main Event 10/12 (Aired 10/15/20)

ER: Leave it to Gulak to get a Main Event match on our MOTY List. This fed can try to keep the man down, put him on the commentary bench after showing himself to be the best worker of the pandemic, and he comes roaring back with a blistering 5 minute match. Gulak has had his greatest matches and in ring performances this year, one of the weirdest years to have a career peak, but he's done them in several forms. His under 5 minute WrestleMania match against Cesaro is my favorite under 5 minute match of the year, and while this match gives him an extra minute to work with it still did what the best sprints do, which is make.a short match feel like a complete story. Some guys excel at TV matches, and Gulak at his best reminds me of a Finlay or Dundee. You knew from go they were out there trying to make it into a memorable fight, and this felt like the best possible version of Yuki Ishikawa vs. Bob Sapp. Gulak and Titus were big boy swinging here, and every minute this match went gave Gulak at least one freshly visible welt. Both guys landed with full arm strikes and knocked each other around the ring. 

This was filled with big body shots, with Gulak swinging for the back and neck, and Titus bruising up Drew's entire torso and murdering him with uppercuts. Gulak lands big stomps when he can and gets in close throwing hard chops, even when he knows he'll be taking one to land one. Gulak traps Titus in an octopus that really did feel like an octopus snaring a man, with Gulak working through each step of the hold, believably advancing through. Gulak's submission work really shines and stands out in pandemic wrestling, the completeness of the moves looks better and they play as a thing that really could end a match. They have been at the core of his two excellent matches with Bryan and the Cesaro match, and it elevates this slugfest. I dug the quick finish, with Gulak coming close but running into a boot and a big choke bomb, and it felt like they could do a 3 match series and give us a different match each time. 

PAS: This was great, I have no idea what got into these guys but they decided to work this like a FUTEN undercard match instead of a mailed in Main Event match. Pretty early on Gulak unloads this uncalled for elbow smash to the back of O'Neil's head and they just light each other up for the remainder of the math. Gulak climbing O'Neil like a boa constrictor grabbing limbs and his neck to twist and adjusting consistently to keep his advantage. Gulak has even gotten better at grappling since coming to the WWE which is weird, and he maybe the best in the world at this style now. I really wish we were still getting long PPV match Gulak, but fun syndie Gulak is a nice consolation prize.

2020 MOTY MASTER LIST

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