WWE: Update on Bullying NXT Talent Allegations Against Drew Gulak, WWE’s Chris Legentil Receives New Executive Promotion, More News

WWE

May 7, 2024

Update on Bullying & Purposely Injuring NXT Talent Allegations Against Drew Gulak

As noted before, WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque stated during this past Saturday’s Backlash 2024 post-show press conference that despite reports, Drew Gulak was not released from the company but instead his contract was just not renewed. Gulak was later revealed to have not actually left WWE yet despite Triple H’s comments implying the opposite and was recently accused of bullying and purposely injuring NXT talent.

The Wrestling Observer’s Dave Meltzer reported in Sunday’s Daily Update that semantics aside over Gulak’s actual job status in WWE, those spoken to confirmed Fightful Select’s report about the stories regarding Gulak’s bullying accusations to be accurate.

Those spoken to reportedly stated that the reason why Gulak’s bullying accusations only recently surfaced publicly was due to “less experienced talent had not been comfortable talking about a veteran on the roster.”

WWE Executive Chris Legentil Reportedly Given Promotion as New EVP of Talent Relations

WWE Senior Vice President, Head of Global Communications Chris Legentil reportedly recently received a new promotion within the company, according to PWInsider.

Mike Johnson reported that his sources stated that Legentil was recently given a new executive promotion as WWE’s new Executive Vice President, Talent Relations and Head of Communications going forward.

Johnson reported that Legentil had joined WWE in April of 2021 at WWE President Nick Khan’s behest and had been in charge of WWE’s Communications department.

Prior to joining WWE, Legentil had previously worked for DAZN as their Senior Vice President of Global Communications and had helped launched their sports streaming service in both the United States and internationally.

WWE News & Notes

WWE recently released the official poster for their upcoming King & Queen of the Ring 2024 event on May 25th at the Jeddah Super Dome in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. This poster features Logan Paul. Cody Rhodes, Sami Zayn. Becky Lynch, Bianca Belair, and Jade Cargill as the cover stars.

As noted before, WWE currently has plans for Bo Dallas and the Uncle Howdy character’s return to the company. Monday’s WWE RAW show in Hartford, Connecticut featured a new video teaser for Dallas and Uncle Howdy’s upcoming return. During the backstage segment involving Drew McIntyre and RAW General Manager Adam Pearce, the screen briefly glitched and flashed a new QR code. When scanned, this new code leads to a new video with the message of “Drink from his suffering. Even now you doubt us. But soon you will understand. That all we ever wanted was a chance” and a new puzzle. When solved, the puzzle features the message of “YOU KNOW NOTHING. HELL IS ONLY A WORD. REALITY IS MUCH. MUCH WORSE.”

TKO Group recently announced that they will be holding an investor’s call on Wednesday, May 8th to discuss the results from their 2024 fiscal first quarter report.

As noted before, a plagiarism lawsuit against WWE and AEW was dismissed without prejudice this past November and an amended lawsuit was filed this past February by a man named Anthony Wilson. PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that WWE filed an official response on May 3rd before The United States District Court, Northern District of Ohio, Youngstown based on recent court records. In the filing, WWE reportedly stated that every single one of Wilson’s claims should be dismissed due to him having no legitimate claim to cite under Ohio State law and also deny any allegations brought against them. Johnson reported that WWE’s filing did not address Wilson’s current incarceration situation.

WWE’s Backlash 2024 event this past Saturday in Lyon-Decines, France reportedly generated around 100,000 searches on Google for that day, according to the Wrestling Observer. Dave Meltzer reported that Backlash 2024 generated the lowest amount of searches for a WWE pay-per-view/PLE event that he is aware of in WWE history.

Prior to this Monday’s WWE RAW show, Natayla announced on Twitter that she was dedicationg her Queen of the Ring tournament match in honor of her late uncle Owen Hart. Natayla stated “Tonight on Raw, I get the chance to compete against the one and only @Iyo_SkyWWE. Wrestling Iyo has been a dream match of mine since she came to WWE. And tonight is a first ever for us to face off. I’m dedicating this match to my favorite King of the Ring winner, the King of Harts, Owen Hart. On the eve of Owen’s birthday, he’ll be in my heart tonight more than ever.“

In a recent episode of The Hall of Fame with Booker T & Brad Gilmore podcast, WWE Hall of Famer and co-host Booker T gave his thoughts about Ilja Dragunov’s recent call up to WWE’s main roster for their RAW brand. Booker T stated “I want to give a shout-out to one of my favorite young guys that has made his way to the main roster, somebody I’ve gotten a chance to work with down in NXT. I’m so proud of him, Ilja Dragunov. I’m so proud of that kid. I got a chance to see him on Tuesday. I gave him a big hug and said, ‘Man, congrats, man. All your hard work, all the time put in, all of the nights studying the game, working and developing that playbook.’ The passion that this kid brings to the table. A kid who made me a believer from day one in NXT because I didn’t know what he brought to the table. I was like, ‘Wow, this guy’s so good.’ To see Ilja Dragunov make it to the main roster, I’m so proud of that kid, and congratulations on getting ready to make this big run and do it all over again.” (Transcript h/t: Fightful.com)

WWE recently announced two new matches for the card of Tuesday’s NXT show:

Karmen Petrovic vs. Shayna Baszler
Michin vs. Arianna Grace

WWE also announced four matches for the card of next week’s WWE RAW show on May 13th in Greenville, South Carolina:

King of the Ring 2024 Tournament Quarterfinal Round match – Jey Uso vs. Ilja Dragunov
King of the Ring 2024 Tournament Quarterfinal Round match – Gunther vs. Winner of Kofi Kingston/Rey Mysterio
Queen of the Ring 2024 Tournament Quarterfinal Round match – Lyra Valkyria vs. Zoey Stark
Queen of the Ring 2024 Tournament Quarterfinal Round match – IYO SKY vs. Winner of Shayna Baszler/Zelina Vega