Effy has responded to AEW pulling Ricky Starks from GCW events.
Starks made a surprise appearance at GCW’s show on November 23 and looked to be entering a program with Matt Cardona. However, three days later, GCW announced that Starks had been pulled from all upcoming bookings with the company.
Fightful would later report that AEW pulled Starks from the shows partly due to Effy’s podcast comments regarding AEW booking Hammerstein Ballroom a month before GCW returned to the venue in January.
“Brett (Lauderdale) does not own a football team. Brett doesn’t have a dad who pays him to stay away. I don’t want this to be a personal thing. I don’t, but hey guys, you aren’t the only game in town,” Effy said last month.
Our own Dave Meltzer confirmed the news in last week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter, writing, “While nobody officially said anything, the strong belief, actually confirmed to us, is that it was the comments from Effy of GCW on Tony Khan, particularly a line he said about Khan’s father paying him to stay away, led to Khan feeling he didn’t want to do business with GCW.”
Effy appeared on The Game Changer Weekly podcast last night and responded to the situation.
Effy said:
“I can’t speak for Ricky Starks, right? I want the best for Ricky. That may be at AEW, that may be at WWE, that may be out here on the indies, that may be with GCW, and I don’t think that dream is out the window.”
“To everyone who’s saying ‘oh, it’s Effy’s fault he can’t be here,’ this is how things are done in wrestling and it’s something that he’s going to have to go work out on his own, AEW’s going to have to work out with him. They are correct, he is under contract with them but I haven’t seen him on TV in a ten month period.”
Effy also discussed Starks’ interview with Chris Van Vliet, which was published just days after GCW Dream On. During the interview, Starks referred to his not being used by AEW as “a mind–k.” Shortly after, Fightful reported that AEW extended Starks’ contract in the spring, and his deal now stretched into spring 2025. Effy believes AEW wasn’t happy about the leaked contract details and is using him as a scapegoat.
Effy continued:
“I think he was very honest and direct about his situation and who approved him being at GCW, but, somebody was not excited about his contract being leaked, that they’d added on the additional option, which they legally have a right to do. It’s all the timing of that happening at the exact same time and then using me as a blame. You know, go ahead, buddy. You can blame me. I can handle the blame, I can take the heat.”
“Someone pointed out a way out and they took the way out and that’s fine. I’m not someone who’s going to go back on what I say. I said what I said and I don’t think I said anything crazy. I just think there’s certain triggers that people have that you have to be mindful of, especially if you’re in business with them.”
“I think even the news articles that were confirming with them were a little confused and going, ‘Is this the reason you want us to print? This is the reason you want us to put with this, specifically.’
“I clearly am a person who’s GCW for life. I’m independent for life. I made this very clear. So, someone like me, who’s not looking at any future job opportunities currently, who’s not looking to work for the major companies, who’s not looking to sign any contracts, I understand the downsides of being that kind of independent, but I also see me as an easy person to go, ‘Okay, we can throw the blame on him.’”
The full episode of Game Changer Weekly is available below:
