Drew Gulak Can Die on the Floor

Submission Match: Drew Gulak vs. Dustin Lee CZW 4/5/08 - GREAT

ER: A submission match with a lot of tough stuff and a real strong example of the stiff strike indy style that happened during this era. I don't think I've ever seen Lee before, and he came off like a peak era IWA Mid-South guy. He came off like American Kickboxer, and I SWEAR that I only found out after that he was actually trained by Ian and Kickboxer. Lee definitely comes off like the product of his trainers, in the best way. He hits really hard, scrapes his boot on Gulak's face, throws stiff punches off the top and side of Gulak's head, and throws kicks the way someone would if they had been kicked a lot. This guy must have taken some beatings during training, because he passes that on to Gulak like an abusive stepfather. Gulak was the underdog, and Lee treated him like one. Gulak starts the match with a crazy tope con hilo, the kind crazy enough that I can see why he worked a "No Highflying" gimmick for awhile. He nearly handsprings off the shoulders of Lee, crashing mostly into the guardrail and landing on the back of his head. He shakes it off, and Lee makes sure it won't be the last shot he takes to the head. Lee really aims hard elbows right at Gulak's neck, and I love how Gulak didn't allow himself to be bullied, firing back with nice punches of his own. I also loved the time they spent with Lee trying to shake off a Gulak rear naked choke. They spent a solid 2 minutes with Gulak not easing up, and Lee trying to fall on him, hit Gulak's body into hard surfaces, anything to shake him. Lee purposely leaps to the floor and smashes Gulak into the apron on his way down, tries to smack him into the guardrail, and finally loosens him by whipping Gulak's head into the ringpost.

I almost wish this match was KO or Submission, as while the submissions were good (Gulak had a cool trailer hitch, Lee really knows how to lock on a smothering chinlock), they also interrupted a mean asskicking. I dug how Lee spends almost all his time on offense softening up Gulak with thudding strikes, but maybe the biggest strike of the match is Gulak finally snapping and hitting a beast of a lariat in the corner, the kind of lariat you can here anywhere in the building. He follows it up with one to the back of the head that also felt more violent than any of Lee's shots. In 2008 I hadn't heard of either of these guys, which means the wrestling community as a whole failed us, because this would have been nestled safely inside our wheelhouse. Can't wait to see more of this era Gulak, and will definitely be diving into DieHard Dustin Lee.

PAS: Gulak was a super skinny kid at this point of his career, but still willing and able to swing for the fences. I loved the rear naked choke section with Lee hurling him all around the ring and the floor and Gulak hanging on like a mutt on a pork chop. I agree with Eric about this having an IWA-MS feel to the raggedness and violence of the moves, although it never went the full Ian. I though it fell apart a bit in the middle with Scotty Vortekz coming out and them doing a big distract the ref section, felt like neither guy really knew where to go from there. Still I really liked the nastyness of Gulak's figure four finish, really felt like he pushed Lee's shinbone right into his kneecap.


COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK