On today’s media call to promote Sunday night’s WWE NXT: Heatwave pay-per-view event, Shawn Michaels fielded questions about some of the recent releases from WWE. When it came to addressing two from the NXT side of things, Drew Gulak and Gable Steveson, The Heartbreak Kid mostly emphasized that there weren’t plans for either of them on the main roster, and that that is a priority going forward with continuing to work with talent and re-signing them.
You can check out some highlights from the media scrum below:
On Drew Gulak: “From my understanding, nothing on anyone’s part other than contracts being up. Certainly, in the place of Drew Gulak. From a company standpoint, there not being anything from a main roster standpoint that they were going to be using him in. In NXT, over the last year and a half to two years, we’ve been trying to get into the process of keeping it fluid. It’s all about getting to the main roster when everything is said and done. In two or three years, if that doesn’t happen, we bring other people in or see if we’re ready to move on.”
On Gable Steveson: “As far as Gable is concerned, he’s an incredibly talented guy. It’s amazing some of the things he can do. He’s a dude who lands on his feet. I wish him luck (in the NFL), and excited to see how that works out. At NXT, we use people to the best of their ability, but from a main roster standpoint, if they feel there is not a place for them, and their contracts are up, from a business standpoint, they choose to move on.”
Obviously, both Gulak and Steveson had their issues beyond this “business decision” explanation. Gulak had been accused of being a bully backstage and his incident with Ronda Rousey certainly didn’t help his position in the company. Steveson, who has signed recently with the Buffalo Bills, had been in developmental for years without gaining any traction and had been under fire for sexual assault allegations over the years in his own right.
Whether this is just a PR answer or if there is truth to the matter of WWE simply looking at Gulak and Steveson as talent not worth investing in is something we likely won’t ever fully know, but considering releases like Kiyah Saint and Dijak being met with little to no explanation, it may truly be just the way TKO is doing business these days.
