WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak def. Humberto Carrillo and Lince Dorado (Triple Threat Match)

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Drew Gulak likes to refer to himself as “the law” on 205 Live, where he holds court as the WWE Cruiserweight Champion. There are, indeed, certain similarities between the law and the manner in which The Philadelphia Stretcher defended his title at WWE Clash of Champions Kickoff: Much like the law, Gulak was persistent, inelegant, largely unforgiving and undeniable, no matter how many adversaries lined up to break him at once.

Given that Gulak was defending his championship against two Superstars — Lince Dorado, the catlike contingent of The Lucha House Party, and Humberto Carrillo, the wrestling prodigy whose in-ring skills are as pretty as his dimples — it seemed the champ would need something between a miracle and a perfect game plan to survive. Luckily for him, Dorado and Carrillo don’t like each other very much, as evidenced by their recent rivalry and tendency in this match to focus on each other more than Gulak.

After an early free-for-all, the Triple Threat quickly progressed into a game of lucha-style one-upsmanship between Carrillo and Dorado; the champion largely kept to himself, making his move when the opportune moment presented itself. When Gulak got involved, the match adopted many of his own brutal characteristics: A late-game sequence involving all three men quickly turned into a parade of textbook roll-ups and blistering chops to the chest.

But Gulak’s greatest interference was his last, in which he threw Carrillo into the turnbuckle seconds after the “Latin Lion” had pancaked Lince with a gorgeous Aztec Press. Gulak quickly rolled Dorado into a back-bridge pinfall to conclude the bout and retain his title. Thwarting his opponents with canny, old-school abilities? Defending what is his? Or enforcing the law? When it comes to Drew Gulak, it’s all one and the same.