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GCW’s Brett Lauderdale isn’t sure where AEW stands right now.
Ricky Starks appeared at GCW’s Dream On event over the weekend. It was later announced that he would have a match with Matt Cardona at a future event. On Tuesday, GCW announced that Ricky Starks had been pulled from all of his upcoming GCW appearances, which included two announced matches in 2025.
Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful (via Fightful Select) reported that AEW pulled Starks in response to some comments Effy made about AEW’s Tony Khan and Tony’s father, Shad Khan. Specifically, Effy said that the timing of AEW running the Hammerstein Ballroom was suspect, and he implied Shad effectively paid Tony to stay away.
GCW owner Brett Lauderdale was on the Game Changer Weekly podcast on Bodyslam.net hours after Starks was pulled from his GCW bookings. Lauderdale said talent is normally clear to work on their shows, calling out the hypocrisy of being an “independent contractor.”
“It’s a weird situation. Ricky Starks is an independent contractor. But this is a whole wrestling conversation that, one of these days, is going to be tested and something’s going to happen. Because theoretically, an independent contractor is independent and they can go work wherever they want. But in wrestling, these ‘independent contractors’ don’t seem to be very independent, they’re at the whim of an employer. [That] sure makes it sound like they’re an employee.
“So, 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 and I like working with talented people. I don’t really get into their contract situation. If they make it to the point where they can appear on my show, then I’m to assume that everything is cleared. People don’t traditionally breach contracts on this level of wrestling. I don’t know what else to say about that.”
Lauderdale was asked if there’s any word on other AEW talent being pulled from GCW events.
“Just to be clear, I found out about this the same time everybody else did, for the most part. Again — I think I’ve stated this many times and it’s no secret, I don’t really have a line of communication with AEW. I don’t. I’ve never talked to Tony Khan on the phone or via text in my entire life. They don’t talk to me, and I’m not saying that in a negative context, but I guess we’ve never really had to talk. Anybody that’s from AEW that has worked with us, that’s just been between me and the talent to arrange it. If they need to get permission, they handle that on their own.
“So, in terms of this with Ricky Starks or with anybody else from AEW, I don’t really know a lot. I haven’t heard about anybody else and I don’t — again, I’m just hearing that Ricky has been pulled, end period. I haven’t been on the phone with AEW where they’ve given me an explanation or [they haven’t] asked me any questions or anything. There’s been — I have no communication with AEW over this. So yeah, I don’t know what applies to Ricky Starks, I don’t know if it goes beyond Ricky Starks.”
Lauderdale pointed out that the latest Bloodsport event featured Jon Moxley, Marina Shafir and “many others” both on and off camera. He said he’s not sure what the situation is and he’s heard speculation, but can’t confirm because there’s no direct contact.
Lauderdale closed by saying he’s not sure if this is meant to punish Ricky Starks, once again noting the lack of communication between GCW and AEW, but it doesn’t feel good. He also said that Effy, who made the initial comments about AEW and Khan, has his own opinion. Lauderdale said Effy spoke on his own podcast which is not endorsed or promoted by GCW. He added that he doesn’t have much of an opinion about what Effy said, but understands how the remarks can skew a certain way when heard in a certain context.
Ricky Starks commented on his current status with AEW, telling Chris Van Vliet that he’s not sure why he’s off of television.
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