WWE News Round-up: Former champion leaves company, Why Sami Zayn dropped the IC Championship (17th May 2020)

Welcome to another edition of the WWE News Round-up. In this week's edition, we take a look at a number of big stories from the week, including former Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak parting ways with WWE. The news of Gulak leaving WWE only broke recently and it is believed that his contract expired and he was not released.

We also have WWE stripping the IC Championship from Sami Zayn and take a look at the possible reason why the title may have been taken off Zayn.

The other stories we take a look at including a possible change in character direction for Seth Rollins as well as The Singh Brothers and Robert Roode not being featured on WWE television recently.

Why Sami Zayn was stripped of the IC title

Sami Zayn is no longer IC Champion after being stripped of the title

Sami Zayn is one of the WWE Superstars who have decided to stay home due to the Coronavirus pandemic and with Zayn unable to compete, WWE have decided to strip him of the Intercontinental Championship.

WrestlingNewsCo's Paul Davis also reported about this, saying that some lower card stars fear losing their spot if they refuse to compete and added that Zayn might have been stripped of the title to send a message:

“According to a couple of WWE sources I spoke with, the feeling among some people at TV this week was that stripping Zayn of the Intercontinental Championship was done to send a message. WWE will always say that wrestlers can take time off and not worry about their spot and that certainly would apply to a top star like Roman Reigns, but for others that is not a guarantee and wrestlers in the mid and lower card certainly took notice”

A new direction for Seth Rollins’ character?

The ‘Monday Night Messiah’ character of Seth Rollins has sometimes felt like it doesn’t really fit the man portraying it. Earlier this week on WWE RAW, we saw Rollins destroy Rey Mysterio, sending the luchador eye-first into the steel steps. Rollins later sounded remorseful backstage.

Sportskeeda’s Tom Colohue commented on this on Dropkick DiSKussions and he felt that there was a chance that this segment was done to help Rollins turn babyface once again. Here’s what Tom had to say:

"When it comes to the Money in the Bank finish, I do think they are still going face despite what happened. The reason I think that is because Seth went to apologize after he injured Rey. I don't know whether this is going to be the whole Bray Wyatt/Fiend thing but he definitely had an out-of-body experience, attacked Rey as he did...but if he was a heel, he would not have apologized. So I'm not entirely sure which way they are going but they are keeping their options open."

Reason The Singh Brothers and Robert Roode are not on WWE television right now

We haven't seen either of The Singh Brothers or Robert Roode on WWE television recently. The reason behind this is the restrictions on travel imposed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Roode and The Singh Brothers cannot leave their native Canada at this point in time, meaning that they will not be able to attend WWE tapings in the near future.

The news regarding Roode and the Singh Bros and why they aren't on WWE television was broken by Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer. Meltzer also added Brock Lesnar, who also resides in Canada, had to "pull strings" to make it to WrestleMania 36.

Drew Gulak is no longer with WWE

This piece of news broke just last night. Former Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak has left WWE after his contract with the company expired. The news was broken by Ryan Satin of PWInsider. Suspicions regarding Gulak's status were first raised after he was moved to the alumni section on WWE's website.

Gulak signed for WWE in 2016 and was recently featured on SmackDown alongside Daniel Bryan.