Jewish Wrestler Drew Gulak Wins WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Drew Gulak celebrates winning the WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Image by Drew Gulak/Instagram
(JTA) — A Jewish wrestler won the World Wrestling Entertainment cruiserweight championship.
Drew Gulak, known as “the Philadelphia Stretcher,” beat Akira Tozawa and the reigning champion, Tony Nesse, in a triple threat match on Sunday, part of the Stomping Grounds pay-per-view in Tacoma, Washington. In a triple threat match, three wrestlers compete rather than the typical two.
Gulak came to Israel on Birthright in 2010, and trained briefly with the Israeli Pro Wrestling Association in Netanya, The Jerusalem Post reported. He joined WWE in 2016 after 11 years on the pro wrestling independent circuit.
Gulak is expected to have his first title defense on July 14 in Philadelphia during WWE’s annual Extreme Rules pay-per-view.
His younger brother, Rory, also is a wrestler on the independent circuit.
The maximum weight for cruiserweights is 205 pounds.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
