WWE: Can Drew Gulak Change 205 Live into a No-Fly Zone?

For weeks, Drew Gulak has been selling his goals of the WWE Cruiserweight Division. Is it finally time for us to buy in?

Drew Gulak was just a random competitor in a WWE special last summer with no story to tell. Same could be said for the rest of the Cruiserweight Classic competitors.

Since 205 Live debuted at the end of November in 2016, close to half of the participants that were involved in the Cruiserweight Classic made their mark either on the main roster or on NXT. Only 3 men from the summer competition rose through the ranks and held the brass ring by the end of 2016: TJP, Brian Kendrick and Rich Swann.

None of them had a goal to distinguish themselves from their fellow competitors from either RAW, Smackdown Live or NXT. Yeah, the show was action packed but it always felt hollow and there wasn’t any meat for the viewers to chew one.

205 Live every week consisted of three matches with the same 8 competitors duking it out for no goal in sight. There were the apparent No. 1 Contenders matches that popped out once a month but it’s been so predictable in its timing that the viewers know who’s going to win the match anyways.

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Corey Graves can scream at the top of his lungs that 205 Live is the best action packed hour on television and he’s partly right. His commentary with Mauro Ranallo and Tom Phillips do a fantastic job on putting over the cruiserweights in the ring, but these competitors shouldn’t need commentators to sell us their personas.

On the Mar. 14 episode of 205 Live, the main event was a Fatal-5 Way match to determine who was facing Neville at WrestleMania 33. Since all eyes were anticipating on that huge match: the rest of the card featured a tag team match pitting Ariya Daivari and Noam Dar versus Rich Swann and Jack Gallagher. But that match wasn’t the opener for the show: the honor went to Mustafa Ali and Gulak.

According to CageMatch.net, Gulak was sporting a 2-4 win/loss record for the year. Ali had a 5-6 record before the opening match.

Mustafa Ali was groomed to be the next high-flyer to put 205 Live on the map with his aerial magic and death-defying move-set. Gulak was nearly the polar opposite of who Ali was trying to strive for. He didn’t care for the fans, had a rugged personality and his wrestling style was technical and smash-mouth. The contrast between both men would narrate a perfect story that the fans could have gravitated to.

But the fans at Pittsburgh — nearly 300 miles away from Gulak’s birthplace of Abington, PA — were only interested in the flips and dives Ali was dishing out in the match.

Not one fan gave any concern to their home-state brethren. That’s where the potential shift for 205 Live and the message Gulak has been preaching finally got some footing.

Since Mar. 15, Gulak has accumulated 4 wins and 5 losses.

The WWE has a gold-mine opportunity to give Gulak the chance to spread his message throughout the WWE. Convincing cruiserweights like Mustafa Ali to stop taking unnecessary risks is fine. But it won’t change anything in the long run. If Gulak is serious in transforming 205 Live, he should take his message directly to the WWE Board of Directors.

Gulak Should Campaign to Become the General Manager of 205 Live

That should be his end goal, he can run the show as GM but also be competing as well. He could use his authoritative power to convince his fellow cruiserweights to embrace his vision or else face the consequences. That they won’t get an opportunity to compete on 205 Live.

Not only that but he should spread his message to the respective brands in the WWE. Since the cruiserweights compete on RAW, Gulak can inform Kurt Angle that his 205 Live stipulation should be upheld. He could also convince fellow male and female superstars to heed his message and not appease the fans.

Smackdown Live should add a little continuity since both their show and 205 Live air every Tuesday Night. Gulak can continue to post social media pictures with superstars on the blue brand to show the world his message has momentum.

Even crashing the set on Talking Smack with Renee Young and Shane McMahon should also be a priority for Gulak. This will give the urgency that high-flying shouldn’t be the primary form of entertainment in the WWE.

Traditional Wrestling Should Be Respected in the WWE

The main event of Smackdown Live featured two superstars who entangled themselves in a classic and traditional style of wrestling — a match that was accustomed to nearly 5 years ago. Now most fans are calling it boring. They don’t care for the intricacies of building a story within the match.