Various: GCW Streaming Announcement Set for Nov. 1st, Karl Anderson NJPW Update, Trademarks

Oct 23, 2022

GCW to Make Announcement This November About GCW’s Streaming Future

A recent episode of The Business of the Business podcast had Game Changer Wrestling owner Brett Lauderdale as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Lauderdale revealing that GCW will be making an official announcement on November 1st regarding the future of GCW events on streaming services.

“So first and foremost, there’s gonna be an announcement coming between now and November 1st, the future of GCW’s streaming and where you can watch and how you can watch GCW events. It’s gonna be an announcement that fans are going to be very happy about, it’s gonna be something that people have basically been asking for and it’s gonna be something that’s gonna make it a lot easier for GCW fans not to just watch GCW but to watch every show. So, I’m happy and excited to be able to make that announcement and to make GCW more accessible. I’m not gonna tell you what it is because I’m not allowed to until the announcement is made but I will tell you a little bit about the process because this has been an ongoing process for over a year now, and we’ve had so many options on the table. We’ve explored everything from following models that are already in place for individual streaming networks to creating our own from scratch and this includes I did have meetings with literal developers, multiple, in different places. Talking to people who have helped build networks for other companies outside of wrestling. Just hearing how they build these and put these togethers and hearing how much work and how much it actually costs to build these things which I learned they’re actually very expensive. It’s not as simple as, you know, just creating a website and uploading a file of a wrestling show. Actually, there’s a lot more that goes into it… we’ve looked at every option, we’ve weighed every option, we’ve looked at the numbers of everything on all those options and what those numbers would mean and what they could mean before coming to our conclusion and ultimately, I think the route we’re taking is the one that makes the most sense for us and will be the easiest transition for our fans. So, I am, again, I’m very excited for this and I think it’s great for the fans and I also think it’s great for GCW and if I was not sure this was gonna be great for GCW, I would not doing be doing it because this is a game changer in how people will view GCW and how it will be streamed and it’s a big difference in going from a literal every show is a pay-per-view model to what we’re gonna be doing so, without the circumstances in place, I wouldn’t be doing this and we’re very fortunate. This is a great opportunity for GCW and we’ll see. I’ll be able to talk more about it very soon and I’ll be happy to come talk about it once the announcement is made.
There was people that approached me about putting our stuff on there [Pluto TV] and I remember them saying to me, ‘Well yeah, you’ll get money based on the ads’ and yeah, I just remember it not sounding like it made sense, at all, because I’m not about to start putting — we protected the integrity of our library this whole time with the intent of, you know, really making it worth something at some point. So yeah, just putting it out on something like Pluto or whatever where we’re gonna get paid, maybe or maybe if they sell some ad time just didn’t seem like a good idea for us.

GCW is currently rumored to potentially be signing a new streaming deal with the WWE Network and NBC’s Peacock and a potential partnership deal with WWE, according to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Dave Meltzer reported that the basis for the rumor revolves around recent tweets from Joey Janela that was promoting WWE’s television shows this past week and Monday’s upcoming RAW show. Meltzer reported that Janela had told other GCW talents to do the same on their social media accounts.

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com

Karl Anderson NJPW Status Update

As noted before, The Good Brothers’ Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson made their surprise returns to WWE earlier this month. Following their return, the Good Brothers’ future in New Japan Pro Wrestling was believed to be in doubt despite the Good Brothers’ past claims of having an agreement with the company until next year’s Wrestle Kingdom 17 event and Anderson being the current NEVER Openweight Champion.

Following NJPW’s Battle Autumn 2022 event this past Friday in Iwate, Japan, Hikuleo gave his thoughts about the current situation of his upcoming match against Anderson at NJPW’s Battle Autumn 2022 event on November 5th.

“You think you forgot about me? I’ve got alot on my plate right now, but I can make time for you. What are you scared of, Karl Anderson? The second non Japanese person to make the finals of the G1, scared of someone who’s just coming back from a learning excursion? The former multi time IWGP Tag Team Champion, scared of someone who’s only had two title matches? Listen, you want to call yourself ‘bright lights’? Don’t forget who turned on those lights for you- New Japan did. And now you want to say those lights are brighter? You want to say your lights are brighter. Well don’t turn your back on us. Don’t forget where you came from. Karl, you want to hide from me? I’ll find you, and when I do- I’ll knock all your lights out.”

NJPW announced that Anderson is still currently scheduled to defend his NEVER Openweight Championship against Hikuleo at their Battle Autumn 2022 on November 5th in Osaka, Japan.