Triple H on Drew Gulak was Not Released But His Contract was Just Not Renewed, Backstage Update on Gulak’s Actual WWE Status & Bullying Allegations

As noted before, Drew Gulak was among a new batch of twelve talents released by WWE this past Friday that primarily targeted their NXT developmental brand.

Following Saturday’s WWE Backlash 2024 event in Lyon-Decines, France, WWE CCO Paul “Triple H” Levesque held a post-show media press conference. One of the topics discussed included Levesque clarifying Gulak’s departure from WWE stating that he was not released but instead his contract was just not renewed.

“We release talent all the time. NFL releases 400 or 500 players a year. We release talent all the time, it’s a part of what we do. You cannot just hire people, bring them in, keep hiring more people, and just keep bringing them in. So an unfortunate part of the job is talent get released. Can I say that he was released? He was not released. His contract was just not renewed.”

Levesque did not mention if the recent allegations made by Ronda Rousey claiming that Gulak had inappropriate touched her backstage during her time in the company contributed to WWE’s decision to not renew Gulak’s contract.

In regards to the snarky response by Levesque where he first stated that the person who asked him the question should be citing credible outlets that was viewed as a potential dig at PWInsder and Fightful Select who first broke the news of Gulak’s departure, PWInsider’s Mike Johnson reported that those spoken to within WWE stated that Levesque’s comments were not meant to be taken as him “knocking either site.” Those spoken to reportedly also stated that this was meant to be more of Levesque taking issue with issue with the person asking a question based on reports of “a talent was released when in fact the talent’s contract deal was simply expiring.” Johnson reported that those spoken to stated that no offense was “intended” by Levesque for his remarks.

Fightful Select’s Corey Brennan reported that his sources stated that Gulak has not actually left WWE yet and is still with the company. Those spoken to reportedly confirmed that Gulak had been informed that his current contract would not be renewed once it expires.

Brennan reported that several NXT talents spoken to claimed that Gulak was a “bully” who would often target injuries during matches with talent who were recovering from minor injuries at the time. One NXT talent spoken to reportedly stated that during a match with Gulak, he had purposely re-dislocated a previously dislocated finger injury. Another NXT talent spoken to reportedly stated that Gulak would intimidate talent into not reporting these type of incidents to WWE officials.

Brennan reported that there was at least one incident during a NXT taping last year where Gulak was verbally reprimanded by NXT head official Shawn Michaels and NXT coaches for intentionally spiking an opponent during a match.

One NXT talent who worked with Gulak spoken to reportedly stated that Gulak was “odd” in the sense he would often test talent to see if they would react to his bullying.

Brennan reported that despite Gulak being informed that his contract would not be renewed, Gulak had expressed to WWE officials that he had wished to remain in the company.

Transcript h/t: F4WOnline.com