GCW owner Brett Lauderdale says he doesn't think the company's relationship with AEW is dead.
The relationship between the two companies has been surrounded with uncertainty since Jon Moxley signed a contract extension with AEW. Moxley was the reigning GCW World Champion at the time, and he was about to defend the title at GCW Fight Club. The terms of the extension noted that Moxley would only compete for AEW and its international partners. Moxley then lost the title to Nick Gage at GCW Fight Club due to some interference from AEW's Stokely Hathaway and W. Morrissey. Since then, rumors have suggested that AEW doesn't want their talent to compete on GCW shows anymore.
In a new interview with Sean Ross Sapp, Lauderdale was asked about this speculation. In response, Lauderdale stated that if this edict does exist, it has never been expressed to him. He made it clear that he's still in touch with AEW wrestlers and discusses opportunities with them. As for Moxley, he shared his belief that it'd be a leap to say that the former GCW World Champion would never appear for the company again.
"I think, and I’ll be totally honest with you, if that is such a thing, it’s never been communicated to me. So if that is a new rule, nobody told me that. I still have good relationships with a lot of AEW talent, and I still discuss opportunities with them. Obviously with Mox, he’s a lead story, no matter where he is or what he does, or who he’s working with. So I think it’s easy, and I can understand how people can see Mox’s new arrangement with AEW and assume that he’s never going to appear in GCW again. I would say even that may be taking a leap. I wouldn’t be surprised if Moxley turned up at a GCW event two months from now. It wouldn’t surprise me," Lauderdale said.
Ross Sapp joked that Moxley could face WWE star Omos at a GCW show, and Lauderdale jokingly agreed. He then made it clear that he doesn't think the relationship between AEW and GCW is dead. He also pointed out that circumstances surrounding companies working together are always changing.
“Yeah, to face Omos. That’s a dream match for me. I get it, I know how the wrestling world works and the online wrestling community, and the way general discussion works, that people sometimes take one piece of a story and it turns into something completely different. So I don’t think that this relationship is dead. I don’t think that there’s a ban. There’s always different guidelines in place. There are certain people that are available and certain people that aren’t, and the rules on how, when, and why, those things change all the time. They’ve changed since day one, from the first time we had AEW talent on our shows. Again I hear about new changes for everybody all the time. That’s one thing about wrestling is things change every day. So it’s very possible that maybe that even was a rule for a day, or a week or a month, or whatever. But these things change all the time. Circumstances always change. So I mean certainly, I would hope not," Lauderdale said.
The GCW promoter then noted that AEW has been good to the company; he used Moxley and Joey Janela as examples, as Janela often competed for GCW when he was under AEW contract. Lauderdale stated that, no matter what, he's grateful for the collaboration they've had up to this point.
"AEW has been very good to us over the years, and we’ve been blessed to have access to people like Moxley and Janela, when Janela was under AEW contract, he was always available to us. We’re lucky, we’re lucky to have been able to work with the people we have. Whether it’s over now or whether it continues for another five years, either way, I’m thankful for what we were able to do with AEW, and hopefully we’ll be able to do more," he said.
In the same interview, Lauderdale discussed GCW's move to FITE+. Check out his comments here.
Lauderdale recently explained that GCW probably won't return to the Hammerstein Ballroom in January 2023. Check out his comments here.
Catch up on past GCW shows using Fightful's results section.
