Next month, three TV tapings for America’s All Elite Wrestling (AEW) are set to take place at the iconic Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City. However, this scheduling seems to have rankled Brett Lauderdale, the president of Game Changer Wrestling (GCW), as his organization is due for an event at the same venue just a few weeks later.
During his time on the “Business Podcast,” Lauderdale elaborated his views about the scheduling overlap. He stated,
“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 this just to hurt us. Without that being said, the traditional etiquette would be, there is a window where you don’t go to the same buildings. Should that window exist? You can call it an unwritten rule, or in many cases it’s a written rule. I’m sure 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, both written and unwritten.”
With this comment, Lauderdale is questioning the intent behind AEW’s plan. He continued saying,
“Do I think they literally set out to look for a way to hurt GCW? I’m not ready to go that far with it. Do I think that maybe it wasn’t the most polite thing to do? Maybe. 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. 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 is less than 30 days before we are there. It’s not the greatest of circumstances for us.”
Notably, GCW President is referring to three major events, ROH Final Battle, AEW Collision, and AEW Dynamite, set to unfold at the historic Hammerstein Ballroom, just ahead of GCW’s own show at this venue.
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The full interview with Bret Lauderdale can be viewed [here].