10 WWE Stars Who Have Gone AWOL

Vince McMahon's pre-Christmas line on Raw about how much he "loves firing people" caught a lot of flak on social media.

Granted, it doesn't take much to flare up Twitter these days, but the timing of that quip was awful - WWE had recently terminated countless wrestler contracts, so a lot of fans weren't exactly happy with McMahon's insensitive promo.

The official reason given for most firings was "budget cuts", and it's fair to say that WWE fancied drastically lowering the count of wrestlers on their books. A quick scan of the roster shows that they've done (however cruel or cold it was) what they set out to achieve.

What about wrestlers who are still on deals but not really doing much though? When will they be brought back into the fold, and why are so many talented men and women sitting on the sidelines in the first place?

To qualify, workers either had to be posted missing for a substantial period of time or have barely shown up on television lately. You might be surprised by some of the names who are currently AWOL...

Poor Drew Gulak must've been gawking at King Woods' new crown there and wishing he had the royal gimmick. That, as frankly sh*te as it has been for years now, would be better than appearing as an extra body in skits designed to spotlight literally anybody but him.

Things do not look great for Bryan Danielson's old training partner.

Gulak hasn't wrestled a match since the Christmas Eve episode of SmackDown, and he was only in that Intercontinental Title contender's Gauntlet bout for a few short minutes. Sheamus pinned him, but Drew should be used to that - he hasn't won a match since beating Akira Tozawa way back on the 21 October edition of Main Event.

WWE's last "big" storyline idea for Gulak was to have Angel stick roses up his arse on Raw. That embarrassing booking went nowhere in a hurry, and a jump to Fridays in the Draft hasn't changed Drew's fortunes. He's yet to work even one singles showing on the brand.