Brett Lauderdale talks GCW's return to the Hammerstein Ballroom.
On January 23, 2022, GCW made history by hosting a show at the legendary Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. The reception of the show was mixed, as some fans praised the variety of matches while others criticized the event for being lackluster in general.
GCW will get another crack at things on January 19, 2025, as they will return to the venue for 'The People vs. GCW'.
While speaking to Fightful for a new interview, Lauderdale talked about the reception to the promotion's first show at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
"I learned that the bigger the show, the more people that are in attendance and the more people that are watching equals more opinions and everybody has an opinion on how it should be done and how it should have been done and that's all cool. That was obviously a bigger scope than anything we'd ever done before. So in some ways it was overwhelming. You have so many people saying, ‘Wow, that was the greatest show I'd ever seen,’ and then there's also a lot of people who said, ‘That was the worst show I've ever seen.’ So, you have to try to find and keep that balance and remember ultimately who you are at the end of the day. But of course I learned some things along the way, I learned the value of being GCW in the first place and that we need to remember that GCW is who people want to see and that's what we have to give them, if that makes sense."
Lauderdale went on to talk about the New York State Athletic Commission and how they can provide an extra headache during these events.
"Of course. The New York State Athletic Commission is very strict and relentless and unforgiving. So, even while a show is going on, they have a representative at the event at all times and he's not just sitting somewhere up in the balcony. He's following us around telling us every little thing that he thinks is going wrong. If it was anybody else, you could tell them to back up, but you can't really tell that to the New York State Athletic Commission. So, that's always a little extra headache for lack of a better term. But so there are those challenges. You can't do all the things in New York that you might do in other places. But also the Hammerstein Ballroom is not Harpo's in Detroit, it's not Headliner's in Louisville, it's not the Showboat in Atlantic City, it's a little different. Aside from being insanely expensive they run their ship a certain way and you kind of have to fall within the parameters and operate a certain way. It's a real world-class facility where you can't just go and do whatever you want, if that makes sense. So, those are among the challenges."
Lauderdale went on to speak about State Athletic Commisions in general and if the sport could benefit from more regulation.
"Well, it's hard to say. I think some regulation could be beneficial, but I think at this point, we're probably too far gone. Once you unregulate, it's hard to go back. Are you gonna go back and start regulating in all the states that are now unregulated? It's so hard. Indie wrestling, at the end of the day, is not on the radar for most states, including the ones that do have a commission. We're spending all this time for what? A couple hundred dollars at the end of the day. A lot of this exists just because it always existed and it hasn't been abolished yet. So I don't know. Could wrestling or indie wrestling benefit maybe if there was an actual intelligent way to regulate it. Probably, there's probably people doing this that shouldn't be doing it. Probably people promoting events that shouldn't be promoting events, but I guess it's hard to figure out. Even if you had regulation, there'd still be people doing it that shouldn't be doing it and there's still be promoting events that shouldn't be promoting events. So I don't know, I guess you'd have to figure that out. But I think at this point, we're so far past that. I don't know how you would go back."
Elsewhere in the interview, Lauderdale talked about his working relationship with WWE. Check out his full comments on the matter by clicking here.
Fans can check out Fightful's full interview with Lauderdale in the video linked at the top of this article.
All GCW events can be streamed live on Triller TV. Click here to learn more.
