Matt Cardona is back in WWE now, but he’ll always be one of the most important figures in Game Changer Wrestling history.
GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale tweeted out a thread yesterday thanking Cardona for the impact he had on the indie company. Looking back on Cardona vs. Nick Gage from 2021, Lauderdale called it a masterpiece that cemented GCW as the “most influential indie of all time.”
Lauderdale also praised Cardona for how willing he was to help other talent. He never hesitated to put anyone over and even bought gear and boots for other wrestlers. Lauderdale wrote:
Let me tell you a little bit about Matt Cardona in GCW… From day 1 he was a team player. He believed in GCW and believed in our locker room and he wanted to be here. He waved the flag and told everyone that GCW was the place to be. (still does)
He was selfless & generous. He bought gear & boots for younger members of the roster, without seeking credit or clout.He worked w everyone and put them all over without hesitation.The memories he created will live forever and ill always be grateful & ill always be a Matt Cardona fan.
Thank you Matt
After being released from WWE in 2020, the former Zack Ryder had a five-year run on the indies that included one GCW World Championship reign. He returned to WWE in the Last Time is Now Tournament in November 2025 and is now back as a full-time member of the SmackDown roster. He has a match against Trick Williams on SmackDown this Friday where the winner qualifies for an upcoming fatal four-way number one contender’s bout, which will determine Drew McIntyre’s WWE Championship challenger for Royal Rumble.
Cardona had to cancel months of indie dates upon his WWE return but has said there’s been no negativity from the promoters he was scheduled to work for.
Nick Gage has had a shocking and remarkable turnaround over the past few months, according to his friend Brett Lauderdale.
The GCW promoter shared an update on Gage on Sunday night, expressing how proud he is of Gage for the work he’s done to better himself. It was announced in October that Gage had been in treatment for several weeks and would be there indefinitely as he worked to overcome his long-standing battle with addiction.
On oct 1st, this guy was face to face with death
in less than 3 months, the turnaround is shocking & remarkable
this is what it looks like when you break free from decades of addiction and *finally* start believing in yourself
“On oct 1st, this guy was face to face with death,” Lauderdale wrote. “In less than 3 months, the turnaround is shocking & remarkable. This is what it looks like when you break free from decades of addiction and finally start believing in yourself. The king is back and i couldn’t be more proud MDK.
“To the haters, grifters, enablers & bad faith ‘brothers’ who cowardly looked the other way or played dumb when you were called out, die slow, your time will come.”
Lauderdale also sent out a tweet thanking Sean “X-Pac” Waltman for helping Gage.
The 45-year-old Gage is a death match legend and was the subject of a 2021 episode of Vice TV’s Dark Side of the Ring. That year, he worked a match on national television when he faced Chris Jericho for AEW.
While there are no firm plans in place, Game Changer Wrestling would like to return to the Hammerstein Ballroom one day.
GCW ran the legendary New York City venue for the second time with The People vs. GCW taking place this past Sunday. After the show, GCW owner Brett Lauderdale appeared on Game Changer Weekly and addressed whether his promotion will be returning to the Hammerstein in the future.
“Are there plans to go back to Hammerstein? I don’t have a contract right now for another date, but there’s no plan not to go back to Hammerstein,” he responded. “I think it’s just going to be a matter of if there’s a right time, right moment scenario that pops up again. You know, I still really love that place. It’s a special place for me. It’s a special place in wrestling, in my mind anyways. And, yeah, I don’t know. I would like to go back there someday, but whatever. We’ll see what the future holds.”
The Hammerstein Ballroom earned its reputation as a historic wrestling venue by hosting events from promotions like ECW and ROH. It was the location for the first two ECW One Night Stand shows in 2005 and 2006. In December 2024, AEW made its Hammerstein debut with three nights of action.
Sunday’s event was GCW’s first time back at the Hammerstein since 2022. The theme was that GCW was looking for redemption after that first show received mixed-to-negative reviews.
The promotion encountered some bad luck with Allie Katch suffering a broken leg in the second match of Sunday’s show, which affected the story for the rest of the night. Effy defeated Katch by referee stoppage and advanced to the main event, defeating Mance Warner to become the new GCW World Champion.
Lauderdale said he thought this was a good show overall but not perfect. He would rate it a 7 or 7.5 out of 10.
Game Changer Wrestling owner Brett Lauderdale feels AEW “maybe” violated some unwritten etiquette by running the Hammerstein Ballroom so close to GCW’s upcoming show there.
Having four wrestling events in such a short period could lead to some ticket buyers choosing the AEW events over GCW. While appearing on the Business of the Business podcast, Lauderdale was asked if he thinks AEW is running these shows because GCW booked the venue.
“Well, I don’t know Tony Khan personally and I don’t know enough of their people well enough to know or to speculate that they would particularly do something like that just to hurt us,” he responded. “Now, with that being said, you know, the traditional etiquette would be: there’s a window where you don’t go to the same buildings. Should that window exist? Often times, you can call it an unwritten rule — or in many cases it’s a written rule. And I’m sure most of the venues, when AEW goes to venues, they probably have a rule written in that no other wrestling show can go there within 30 days or 60 days. It’s a pretty standard practice in the wrestling business — and a lot of entertainment industries there’s rules like that, both written and unwritten.
“Do I think that they literally set out to look for a way to hurt GCW? I’m not ready to go that far with it. But do I think that maybe it wasn’t the most polite thing to do? Maybe. I mean, they are a billionaire company with endless resources and they run multiple television shows every week, so they could run an event there anytime they wanted. They don’t have to do it in December or January or whatever. They can do it in February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September. They could do it every month if they wanted to. But they chose to do it in late December, which happens to be less than 30 days before we’re there. So, I mean, it’s not the greatest of circumstances for us.”
This is GCW’s second time ever running the Hammerstein Ballroom. Named “The People vs. GCW,” the theme of the show is that GCW has unfinished business after their first event at the Hammerstein in January 2022 received negative to mixed reviews from a sizable portion of fans.
With this being GCW’s second time at the Hammerstein — and with the three AEW shows happening there — Lauderdale knows that it’s even more important for him to deliver a card people want to see.
“People going to our show just because it’s a wrestling show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, that’s off the table now,” he told the Business of the Business. “So, yes, we do have to win people over. We do have to sell our card. And, yeah, of course, we have to give a card worthy of the attention and worthy of the prestige of being there. And we have to make people buy tickets. Yeah, that’s the game plan. We’re working on it. We’ve got ideas. I think we’ll start to see some of the picture start to come clear this weekend, and we’re working on it and trying to make the rest of it come together.”
Lauderdale said the goal is to sell out the Hammerstein Ballroom or sell as many tickets as possible. He’s going to take advantage of every opportunity to get people’s attention, put flyers in their hands, and make them want to come to the show.
The AEW events will be the promotion’s Hammerstein debut, though ROH held shows there in the pre-Tony Khan era. The ballroom is located in the Manhattan Center and played host to ECW events in the past, along with WWE’s first two ECW One Night Stand PPVs.
Khan told SportsGrid this summer that he thought AEW/ROH running the Hammerstein Ballroom was a “great idea,” but it wasn’t something he had thought about much before that point.
The situation with Sabu no-showing his Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame induction has now been fully resolved.
Sabu had been announced as a member of the Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame class of 2024. But even though he was physically in the same building where it was taking place, Sabu did not appear at the ceremony this past Sunday. He was at WrestleCon while the HOF ceremony was happening.
The ECW legend explained that he didn’t appear at the ceremony because he “changed [his] mind.” GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale responded that there were no hard feelings and he still respected Sabu both as a person and a performer.
In an update on Thursday night, Lauderdale revealed that Sabu has returned the $300 deposit he received for the Hall of Fame event. Lauderdale has donated the deposit to the William Way LGBT Community Center in Philadelphia.
“Tonight, Sabu reached out to GCW & returned the deposit ($300) he received for the Indie Hall of Fame. I appreciate the gesture & want to thank/reiterate my respect for Sabu,” Lauderdale tweeted. “I’ve decided to redirect the money in the form of a donation to The William Way LGBT Community Center.”
The William Way LGBT Community Center seeks to “engage and support the diverse LGBTQIA+ communities in the greater Philadelphia area through arts & culture, empowerment, and community connections.”
The Sheraton hotel in downtown Philadelphia was the host of the 2024 Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame ceremony. Since 2022, the event has taken place annually during WrestleMania weekend. The Hall of Fame is presented by Game Changer Wrestling and Orange Crush magazine.
The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe), Trent Acid, Steve Corino, Mercedes Martinez, “Hot Stuff” Eddie Gilbert, and indie superfan Kevin “Whack Packer” Hogan were the other members of the 2024 Indie Hall of Fame class.
Sabu had a simple explanation for why he no-showed the 2024 Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame ceremony: he changed his mind about going.
The ECW icon was supposed to be inducted into the Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame on Sunday. But despite being in the hotel where the ceremony was taking place, Sabu did not attend. GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale tweeted that, “in the true spirit of independent wrestling,” Sabu decided to keep his deposit and no-show the booking.
Sabu was at WrestleCon while the induction ceremony was taking place. Both events were held at the Sheraton hotel in downtown Philadelphia.
“Just for the record, I have no hard feelings towards Sabu and still have nothing but respect for him as a person and especially as a performer,” Lauderdale wrote. “The sacrifices he made changed the game (pardon the pun) and many of my favorite memories as a fan are centered around his work.”
The Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame is presented by GCW and Orange Crush magazine. The ceremony takes place annually during WrestleMania weekend.
The 2024 class also included The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe), Trent Acid, Steve Corino, Mercedes Martinez, Eddie Gilbert, and indie superfan Kevin “Whack Packer” Hogan.
When the 2024 Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame ceremony took place on Sunday afternoon, one of the scheduled inductees did not appear.
Sabu was supposed to be inducted into the Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame as part of its 2024 class, but he wasn’t at the ceremony. Game Changer Wrestling promoter Brett Lauderdale tweeted that Sabu no-showed the Hall of Fame despite being downstairs in the hotel where the event was taking place.
Lauderdale wrote:
In the true spirit of independent wrestling, sabu has decided to keep his deposit and no show the indie hall of fame ceremony today. He accepted the booking and took the money, but doesnt wanna get in the elevator and come upstairs
What a legend
Sabu was present at WrestleCon while the induction ceremony was taking place. Both events were held at the Sheraton hotel in downtown Philadelphia.
The Briscoes (Jay & Mark Briscoe), Trent Acid, Steve Corino, Mercedes Martinez, Eddie Gilbert, and indie superfan Kevin “Whack Packer” Hogan were the other members of the 2024 Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame class. Jay Briscoe, Acid, Gilbert, and Hogan were inducted posthumously.
The Indie Wrestling Hall of Fame is presented by GCW and Orange Crush Magazine. It was first established in 2022.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back with tons to talk about including Smackdown ratings, Rampage, NXT line-up for tonight, who got cut from WWE this week, your RAW report, plus Brett Lauderdale appears to talk the new GCW streaming deal. A fun show as always so check it out~!
If there is a ban on AEW talent appearing in GCW, no one has relayed that information to Brett Lauderdale.
While appearing on Fightful Tuesday to promote his company moving to FITE+, the GCW owner said if AEW isn’t allowed to appear on his shows anymore, that is news to him.
“If there is such a thing, that has never been communicated to me. If that is a new rule, nobody told me that. I still have good relationships with AEW talent and I still discuss opportunities with them,” he said.
Lauderdale said he understands how the online community can jump to conclusions based on news like former GCW Champion Jon Moxley signing a new deal with AEW where he will take more of a formalized leadership role backstage as that he is done with GCW.
“Even that (Moxley done with GCW) may be taking a leap. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Moxley turn up at a GCW event two months from now,” he said.
Lauderdale said it’s possible it was a rule for a day, a week or even a month, but that in today’s wrestling scene, circumstances change all the time.
“I don’t think the relationship is dead. I don’t think there’s a ban. There’s always different guidelines and certain people that are or aren’t available. The rules on how, when and why change all the time,” he said. “I hear about new changes for everybody all the time. That’s the thing with wrestling: things change every day.”
He said that he hopes there isn’t a ban as “AEW has been good to us over the years” and they have been blessed to use talent like Moxley, Joey Janela and others.
“Whether it’s over now or continues for five years, I’m thankful with what we were able to do with AEW and hope to do more,” he said.
When asked by Sean Ross Sapp about GCW’s relationship with WWE, Lauderdale laughed and said it was more fun to keep the stories secret and the legend alive including how he scored box seats to WrestleMania.
GCW founder Brett Lauderdale commented on allegations made Wednesday that he and his company purchased fake COVID-19 tests for talent.
The comment? No comment.
In a brief statement to Fightful, Lauderdale said, “I’ve referred this matter to my lawyer and as much as I’d like to comment, I’ve been advised not to.”
FIST Wrestling owner Mikey Gordon (aka “Dirty” Ron McDonald) took to a Facebook group Wednesday to make the claims against Lauderdale which can be seen below in a Twitter image complication:
Dirty Ron McDonald saying Brett Lauderdale hired him to make fake covid tests kicks so much ass pic.twitter.com/Bl0FyIbCUN
— help me scrape the mucus off my brain (@DoxxxyStocksy) May 25, 2022
Gordon took umbrage with how much Lauderdale is paying GCW talent, his friendship and management of promotional star Nick Gage, and took credit for several shows GCW ran in California that he allegedly covered costs for.
He also asked why Atticus Cogar and Mike Gevorgian no longer work with GCW as proof of his claims. Cogar split with GCW earlier this year.
“Who did Brett ever make famous? Joey “I’m a (expletive)” Janela? Joey got famous for being tossed off a building and got a contract. Once AEW realized he had no talent, they benched and eventually didn’t resign him. Why? Because he’s a (expletive) unsafe (expletive) who can’t light a limb on (fire).”
Janela didn’t take the comments lightly.
My wrestlemania weekend money has gone to a new rack of teeth Lmfao
In which will be placed on my mouth on 6/8
If you believe any of that you’re believing a legit crack head, and a well documented steroid abusing headcase.. https://t.co/B7wwAzcKjK
— “The Bad Boy” Joey Janela (@JANELABABY) May 25, 2022
It’s unclear why or what sparked Gordon’s comments.
GCW regular Tony Deppen took to Twitter to defend Lauderdale and the company’s practices.
Before every show we had a group chat where we’d talk about her recautions and the deadlines for our covid tests. I also had to sit out two shows cause my tests didn’t come back in time – and that was at the request of Brett.
GCW made me send my test results to head referees.Brett made it clear to me many times if you test positive or dont get a test you cant compete,I believe he took it very serious.On top of that GCW pays ME very good.And that has been since DAY1.Ofcourse these are MY experiences. https://t.co/8h76J2xan1
— Jordan Oliver | THE BRAIN 🧠 (@TheJordanOIiver) May 25, 2022
GCW returns this Saturday on pay-per-view in Las Vegas.
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WEDNESDAY NEWS UPDATE
WWE
Edge talked to Sports Illustrated about his recent storyline, teaming with wife Beth Phoenix in a feud with The Miz and Maryse. We never thought this would be a possibility,” Edge said. “I was forced to retire [in 2011]. A year later, Beth retired. Then we started having kids. Coming back to wrestling was never on the docket for me, let alone come back and be asked, ‘What do you think about teaming together for a month? We’re having so much fun. Riding together, flying together. That’s the only part of the job that can be unenjoyable at times, but when you have your best friend next to you, it’s a lot more fun.”
Roman Reigns also spoke to Sports Illustrated on his recent battle with COVID-19 that kept him off the Day 1 pay-per-view earlier this month. “For me, obviously in comparison to some of the worst scenarios that are out there and that we’ve seen through the pandemic, it wasn’t bad. For me, it was mainly a pretty good sinus infection, a bronchitis cough, a lot of chest tightness. I still feel that actually. When I’m doing my conditioning because we don’t wrestle quite as much and we’re doing a lot of six-man [tag team matches], I don’t have singles matches as much as I used to, so I have to continue to really push the conditioning on my own and I’ve noticed in the past couple of weeks that when I really blow myself up on the bike or running, or whatever I’m doing, I can feel that tightness and a little bit of wheezing. So it’s definitely something serious. As someone who is vaccinated and boosted, it still got to me and I still felt the effects. While they weren’t as severe as they can be for some, it did hang around and linger for a while.”
The new date for the WWE/Cathrine Alexander trial is set for 9/26. Alexander is a tattoo artist suing WWE over Randy Orton’s appearance in the WWE 2K video game series, saying that she never gave permission for her work to be used in the game.
Saurav Gurjar made his return to NXT last night, aligning himself with Grayson Waller and going under the name Sanga.
Seth Rollins spoke to talkSPORT about his recent Mox namedrop during a promo between himself and Roman Reigns. “I’m not going to sit here and ignore that history, I’m going to bring that up because I think that’s important. And I think people who care about that appreciate it. It’s one of those things where it was on the tip of my tongue, it made sense, so it came.”
WWE’s latest trademarks include the terms “The Queen” and “Sudu Sudah”.
WWE Music Group has released a soundtrack for NXT 2.0 called “As Close As It Gets”, which is out now on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube.
Booker T on his Hall of Fame podcast talked about Mustafa Ali requesting his release from WWE. “This is entertainment, this is not reality TV,” he said. “The embellishment is to be between the actors and the writers, and if you come in with an idea, it might not be something they want to do with you. The company is going to be run the way they want to be run. They aren’t going to run the way you want it. Therefore, if that happens, boom, move on and get out.” Ali reportedly had his request to be released denied by WWE.
This week’s Road to AEW show, focusing on the Adam Cole vs. Orange Cassidy lights out match, the TNT title unification ladder match, and the six man tag with 2point0 and Daniel Garcia vs. Chris Jericho and the team of Santana & Ortiz.
Malakai Black was a guest on this week’s Wrasslin podcast.
Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly are the guests on this week’s Talk is Jericho podcast.
GCW owner Brett Lauderdale on Twitter: “Sunday was a smash hit business wise for gcw. All records shattered and its not even close. But im not happy at all. Feel like I let a lot of people down. Got played and I shoulda known better. Big time learning experience. Gonna work harder than ever to get a 2nd chance.”
Biff Busick has been added to C4’s Fantastic Voyage event on March 25.
A new 10/31 date has been set for the lawsuit Jerry Lawler filed against Hardeman County, Tennessee over the death of his son, Brian Lawler aka Grandmaster Sexay.
MLW has uploaded their first chapter of All Access featuring Jacob Fatu.
Trish Stratus is a guest on this week’s The Bellas Podcast.
Game Changer Wrestling has announced they have purchased the rights to Jersey Championship Wrestling, including the name and video library.
According to the press release, GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale will be reviving the JCW name with a relaunch event set for May 1 at the Showboat in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It will join GCW’s Ashes to Ashes event that will take place on the same day. Talent announcements will be made in the weeks prior to the event.
“GCW has developed a reputation for finding the ‘next’ big independent wrestling stars and introducing them to a national audience. This is something I am passionate about, and take a lot of pride in,” Lauderdale said in the press release. “Before GCW was GCW, it was JCW, and through its landmark event The Jersey J-Cup, numerous careers were made, changing the game for so many talented performers. As indie wrestling gears up for its return in 2021, I am proud to lead a team of motivated and passionate people that will bring JCW back and provide a platform for a generation of hungry young talents.”
Adam Abdalla, President of marketing agency Cultural Counsel and publisher of Orange Crush: The Journal of Art & Wrestling, will be partnering with Lauderdale on the revival.
