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. 

COMPLETE AND ACCURATE DREW GULAK