On “The Masked Man Show” podcast, wrestler EFFY expressed his wish for AEW and GCW to once again cooperate, and mentioned he doesn’t need to be personally involved for the partnership to occur. There is a ongoing controversy revolving around EFFY between the two wrestling promotions, largely due to his remarks on Shahid Khan, Tony Khan’s father. It is suggested that these comments have resulted in Ricky Starks being withdrawn from GCW events by AEW.
EFFY shared, “Yes, I am hopeful and confident it can happen without necessarily involving me. I believe my point has been missed amid other discussions. People may accuse me of being fraudulent or not believing in pro wrestling, but I am genuinely for wrestling and want the players to flourish. In my view, AEW tremendously benefits the wrestling scene, and I genuinely stand by this. Having more opportunities for wrestlers to work and get TV exposure is tremendously beneficial. They offer an entirely different product from WWE which I believe creates more room for growth. Despite my position on the outside, whenever I reflect on the industry as someone wishing for the health of the business and striving to attract audiences to indie shows, it is frustrating to see someone with considerable wealth or significant media coverage not conducting business as I believe it should be. But I remain hopeful. If that means I need to step out of the conversation, I am okay with that. My objective is to foster open communication between both sides. Recently, it has been a rough week for me too, largely due to my own actions. However, I hope it has triggered a much-needed dialogue since frustrations can often culminate in outbursts which are then misconstrued. Earlier, we ran the Hammerstein Ballroom with GCW, which featured many AEW players, including the triumphant return of Jon ‘Mox’ Moxley as well as Jeff Jarrett and Ruby Soho. All these wrestlers I admire and respect. Contrary to what some might think, I am still very much interested in wrestling and its product. I am consistently intrigued by what is happening on Dynamite with the Death Riders. The internet tends to polarize everything and make it seem black or white. Additionally, I was taken aback when my comments were pulled into the controversy causing my feisty response. But it could be seen as a catalyst for AEW and GCW to discuss some unresolved issues and for Ricky and Tony to have a constructive conversation. Irrespective of some people’s notion about us being an indie promotion, there is a large cohort of wrestlers who aspire to work with us whenever they can and have the freedom to do so. I feel GCW’s successful model works because we constantly aim to surpass one another while experimenting with novel ideas. This gives wrestlers a great deal of creative joy and independence in GCW. The promotion has played an instrumental part in revitalising the career of wrestlers like Cardona. Yet as the Hammerstein’s other show approaches, I have no problems with him. I can’t possibly think that they decided to run their event a month before ours intentionally. To assume they were planning this in accordance to GCW’s schedule would be rather narcissistic of me. I doubt that’s what’s happening.”