WWE Reportedly Nixed Plans For Superstar's TV Return On SmackDown

Drew Gulak was reportedly supposed to return to WWE TV this past Friday on "SmackDown" in an angle involving The Viking Raiders and The New Day.

According to Fightful Select, Gulak was going to be in a tag team match against The Raiders. Instead, Eric & Ivar went on to defeat Jim Mulkey & Tommy Gibson in a quick, squash match. The report didn't make a note of Gulak's tag partner for the planned match.

Gulak last wrestled on WWE TV on the May 27 "SmackDown" where he & Ricochet lost to Gunther & Ludwig Kaiser in tag team action. In recent months, he has wrestled at several live events, taking a few losses to Happy Corbin in July. Gulak was also utilized as one of Gunther's earliest opponents after The Ring General joined the main roster in April.

After their victory, The Viking Raiders were blindsided by Kofi Kingston attacking them with a kendo stick. This was followed by an impromptu singles match between Kingston and Erik, which the New Day member won.

Fightful's report also revealed the name of the producers for the various segments and matches airing on the 8/5 "WWE SmackDown" episode, as seen below.

Ricochet vs. Happy Corbin: Abyss
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ludwig Kaiser: Shane Helms
Liv Morgan Interview, Women's Gauntlet Match: Shawn Daivari & Jason Jordan
Viking Raiders tag match, Kofi Kingston vs. Erik: Jamie Noble
Roman Reigns, Drew McIntyre, Karrion Kross, Scarlett segment: Jason Jordan

Madcap Moss vs. Ridge Holland, the pre-SmackDown dark match, was produced by Adam Pearce.

Among other backstage notes, it was revealed that WWE has been misspelling Ludwig Kaiser's name as "Ludvig" on the TV graphics. Furthermore, Io Shirai's name is internally stylized as IYO SKY, a change that has been evident across WWE's social media platforms and official website.