Originally published at Brett Lauderdale comments on 'fake COVID tests' accusation, addresses GCW talent pay scale remarks
GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale reacts to the recent discussions concerning his promotion.
In late May, promoter Mikey Gordon, also known as ‘Dirty’ Ron McDonald, accused GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale of contacting him to obtain fake COVID test results. Gordon added that Lauderdale “got us to make a ton of fake false negative COVID-19 tests”.
At the time, Lauderdale noted that his legal representative advised him not to respond to the allegations. He was asked about it during his appearance on ‘The Business of the Business’ podcast.
Lauderdale reiterated that he did not want to dive too deeply into it because of the legal implications that this situation could have, but said he’s proud of GCW’s record during the pandemic and everything they did is public.
Again, all of these are coming from the same source. Somebody who, again… you know, if you look back and I don’t wanna — again, this is one of those things about engaging and giving any kind of energy to this negativity. This is somebody who’s throwing a lot of sh*t at the wall and again, I wanna be careful how I respond to this because I don’t wanna engage in this and because also, some of the things that were said, borderline on, you know, there could be legal implications to some of this so, I prefer to disengage in this and let’s see what happens and you know, I’ve talked to people from a legal aspect that have advised me to approach it a certain way so, I don’t wanna give too much credence to this other than to say I’m proud of our record during COVID and the pandemic and the proof is in the pudding. Pretty public, everything we did so I’ll leave it at that.
Gordon also made a comment about the amount of money that Lauderdale pays his talent while bringing in the likes of Jeff Jarrett or Kevin Nash. Lauderdale expressed that the comments are silly and is coming from people that do not know how he runs his business.
He went on to mention that GCW’s roster went against those comments and backed him. Lauderdale explained that when a Kevin Nash comes in, it is not a shock that he’ll be paid more than the regulars and that’s just business. He finished by saying he takes great of those who work with GCW.
Well, I mean, again, where this one is — these particular set of comments comes from is silly. It comes from people who would have no idea how I do my business or who gets paid what or how or when or where and again, I mean, it can get annoying but you saw the way — people who were actually really engaged in this particular round of controversy so to speak, you saw a lot of people from the GCW roster itself kind of speak up and just say, ‘Hey, just so you guys know, this is bullsh*t.’ This is wrestling, the same that AEW is gonna pay CM Punk more than they’re gonna pay Sammy Guevara. Of course if Kevin Nash comes in, he’s gonna get paid more than Gringo Loco. It’s just the nature of the business. He has a history behind him, he has a certain fan base that, you know, in the same way that CM Punk brings a different fan base than Sammy Guevara brings. Kevin Nash is gonna bring different fans than Gringo Loco brings. So there is a certain pay scale to this and of course there are times when these legends do get paid more than the guys that are the current roster guys. That’s just how business works, you know? And let’s say CM Punk wasn’t getting paid what he is being paid, he wouldn’t be wrestling on Dynamite every week or even coming so, that’s just business. Business 101. But our guys, I’m… I can confidently say that I take good care of our people and I’ve put so many people on their first airplanes and I put everybody in nice hotels. I can say that with confidence and look myself in the mirror, you know? We don’t — my guys don’t sleep in cars, they don’t get their own rental cars, they don’t sleep in sh*tty hotels. I make sure that I take care of our people and I think most of them will attest to that.
This Saturday, GCW is kicking off Tournament of Survival weekend in Atlantic City, New Jersey and the festivities will conclude on June 5th with ‘Cage of Survival’.
If the quotes in this article are used, please credit The Business of the Business podcast with an H/T to POST Wrestling for the transcriptions.