GCW Owner Brett Lauderdale on AEW Pulling Ricky Starks’ GCW Bookings & Not Having Contact with AEW Over Starks’ Situation

As noted before, Game Changer Wrestling announced on Tuesday that all of Ricky Starks’ upcoming bookings with their company had been pulled including an unannounced booking for their return event to the Hammerstein Ballroom in January of 2025. Starks pulled bookings is currently believed to be due to recent controversial comments made by GCW talent EFFY directed towards AEW CEO Tony Khan, Khan’s father Shad, and AEW’s booking of the Hammerstein Ballroom for this December.

A recent episode of the Game Changer Weekly podcast featured GCW owner Brett Lauderdale as the guest. One of the topics discussed included Lauderdale giving his side of the situation involving Starks’ pulled bookings.

“It’s a weird situation because Ricky Starks is an independent contractor. This is a whole wrestling conversation that, one of these days, this is going to be tested and something is going to happen because theoretically an independent contractor is independent and they can go and work wherever they want. In wrestling, these independent contractors don’t seem to be very independent. They are at the whim of an employer, which makes it seem like they are an employee. It’s above our pay grade. I’m just an indie wrestling company and I don’t have people under contract. These guys reach out to me. I like working with talented people and I don’t really get into their contract situation. If they make it to the point where they can appear on my show, I am to assume that everything is cleared. People don’t traditionally breach contracts on this level of wrestling.”

Lauderdale also gave his thoughts about when he first found out about AEW pulling Starks’ bookings with his company.

“I found out about this the same time as everybody else did, for the most part. I’ve stated this many times before and it’s no secret. I don’t really have a line of communication with AEW. I’ve never talked to Tony Khan on the phone or via text in my entire life. They don’t talk to me. I’m not trying to say that in a negative context, but I guess we’ve never really had to talk. Anybody from AEW who has worked with us, that’s been between me and the talent to arrange it. If they need to get permission or something, they handle that on their own. In terms of this with Ricky Starks or anybody else from AEW, I don’t really know a lot. I haven’t heard about anybody else. I’m just hearing Ricky has been pulled. Period. I haven’t been on the phone with AEW where they’ve given me an explanation or asked me any questions or anything. I have no communication with AEW over this. I don’t know where it goes beyond Ricky Starks.

I don’t know what the deal is. Of course I’ve heard things. I’ve heard things in many different directions. Without me hearing it directly from AEW, it’s hard to tell what’s real, what’s not, and what people speculated or making shit up in many cases. If we were to go by internet reports about AEW-GCW relationship over the last few years, every report that’s come out has been wrong. It seems like the rules or guidelines don’t necessarily exist. It’s a kind of show-by-show, person-by-person deal or arrangement.

I’ve always considered GCW and AEW to be on the same team. Is this meant to punish Ricky Starks? Is this meant to punish GCW? Is it somewhere in between? I just don’t know because I don’t have that line of communication. It doesn’t feel great. I would love to know if there’s something to be done or something we can be doing. We got to the point where this stuff was agreed upon, announced, and fans were looking forward to this. To promote something and have to pull it back is not ideal. At the same time, and I’ve said this many times, when you do book television or contracted talent, you do it with the understanding this could happen at any time for any reason. It sucks, but it’s part of the deal.”

Lauderdale also gave his thoughts about EFFY’s recent controversial comments towards AEW and Shad Khan and the reports of it being the reason for Starks’ pulled bookings.

“What Effy says is Effy’s opinion. He is an independent wrestler, an independent contractor. He says this stuff on his own personal podcast, which is not endorsed, amplified, or promoted by GCW. He is his own guy. He doesn’t come to me and say, ‘On this podcast, I’m going to talk about this and this. Is that okay with you?’ I don’t review what he does. I have no control over Effy. He is absolutely independent, 100% through and through. He doesn’t ask me and he doesn’t have to ask me. He’s a passionate person with opinions and he feels very strongly about GCW. He is a GCW soldier and sometimes he lets his emotions get the better of him. I don’t think Effy wishes….he’s just a passionate guy. I don’t have too much of an opinion about what he said. I guess, if you take it out of context, people can have different opinions on what he’s saying. He’s just one guy. There are lots of people out there who have stronger opinions than that on the wrestling business. Everyone has their opinion on everything.”

Transcript h/t: Fightful.com