Report: Why WWE And Drew Gulak Parted Ways Revealed

On May 16, Drew Gulak was suddenly moved to the alumni section on WWE.com and it was later confirmed that the former NXT Cruiserweight Champion's WWE contract had expired. This came as a surprise to many as Gulak faced off against his student Daniel Bryan on last week's episode of Friday Night SmackDown and the two Superstars had been tweeting each other as normal over the weekend.

Bryan Alvarez revealed on Wrestling Observer Live that Gulak and WWE had parted ways over money. The Master Of PowerPoint wanted a pay rise but the wrestling behemoth was unwilling to meet Gulak's demands and later withdrew the contract offer that was already on the table. 

Alvarez said: "What happened was he was negotiating a new contract and the contract expired after SmackDown and he had wanted a raise… So Drew Gulak wanted a raise, and they said, 'No' and then they pulled the contract offer."

Dave Meltzer previously noted in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that WWE isn't offering pay rises to anyone at the moment because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.