WWE has made a series of cuts to NXT talents, and as of now, 10 talents have been released. PWInsider and Fightful have confirmed that Drew Gulak, Valentina Ferro, Ezekiel Balogun, Julian Baldi, Trey Bearhill, Emmamaria Diaz, Keyshawn Leflore, Darrel Mason, and Vlad Pavlenko have all been released. Many of the talents cut were brought in during the 2023 Performance Center classes, but there are also a few talents who appeared on WWE and Roku’s Next Gen reality series. The only person who had been expected was Gulak, who was recently written off WWE TV.
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Outside of Gulak, the longest-tenured star being released is Feroz, who has been with WWE since 2019. Feroz was part of a tag team with Yulisa Leon for much of her time in NXT, and appeared on NXT and Level Up as a singles star as well after Leon was out with an injury.
Saint has been with the company since 2022, but hasn’t had many appearances on TV. Pavlenko and Balogun were signed as part of the Spring 2023 class, while Bearhill and Diaz debuted in 2023. Mason and Leflore both appeared as part of the WWE: Next Gen series, and joined the company after the WrestleMania 39 tryouts.
Gulak was recently mentioned by Ronda Rousey as part of Rousey’s addressing of the casting couch culture backstage in WWE during her time there. On Television Gulak was part of the No Quarter Catch Crew, but was recently written off TV, as in storyline Tony D’Angelo and The Family essentially vanished him. Rousey addressed the situation that occurred with Gulak on NewsNation.
“One time, I was waiting to go to talk to Triple H in the writer’s room or something. I was standing there and this guy I was barely an acquaintance with, grabs the string of my sweatpants as I’m walking by,” Rousey said. “I wasn’t even looking at him, and I look down the hall. Nobody else reacts as if this is abnormal. I’m like, ‘What the f–k is that? Why are you grabbing the string of my sweatpants? If my husband was standing there next to me, would you feel comfortable walking up to me and grabbing the string of my sweatpants?’
“If this guy was coming up to me and doing this kind of stuff to me when there are other people around, what’s happening to these other girls when I’m not in the hallway? That really put me on edge that not only is this behavior prevalent, but it’s so prevalent people don’t even realize it’s a problem any more,” Rousey said.
“Drew Gulak. That’s who it was. I went and confronted him later,” Rousey continued. “I was like, ‘If I ever hear you putting your hands on any other woman like this, or doing anything to me like this ever again, we’re going to have a problem. He was like ‘No, no, no, I’m glad you said something to me,’ and he really just backpedaled and everything like that. It just put like a really sour taste in my mouth about the culture there, and what’s considered acceptable, and how to touch and treat the women in the hallways and anywhere,” Rousey said.
