EFFY Doesn't Believe He Was The Reason For Ricky Starks Being Pulled From GCW

Ricky Starks was recently pulled from several upcoming GCW appearances by AEW, with comments made by GCW’s EFFY about Tony and Shad Khan believed to have been the reasoning behind the decision.

However, EFFY doesn’t believe his comments were the reason for Starks being pulled, with EFFY saying the following about the situation to BodySlam.net on their Game Changer Weekly podcast:

“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 and you know, 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, you know, 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, you know, I haven’t seen him on TV in a ten month period. I haven’t seen him doing much and the timing is to me, a little laughable and I was surprised as many people were taking it as seriously as they were, seeing okay, here’s a clip from a podcast, over a week old, here’s Ricky Starks releasing an interview with Chris Van Vilet, where I don’t think he was rude at all, I think he was very honest and direct about his situation and you know, you know 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. I’ve been called every name in the book before this and it doesn’t, like, it surprised me this time too because I’m opening twitter and at one point on Tuesday I’m trending #4 in the nation. Not Tony Khan, not Ricky Starks, not AEW, EFFY. EFFY is trending fourth in the United States because there’s a lot of reaction to this and the reaction is kind of split between 'this is very silly, clearly not, this is not the straw that broke the camels back of, we’re taking all our talent away'  because you had guys working Bloodsport, you had Ricky showing up at the Mall. This was, someone pointed out a way out, and they took the way out and that’s fine. And, you know, 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. But, I’m not in business with these people and, you know, sometimes I feel like the little choir, the little village boy, who’s out speaking for the people throwing rocks at the side of the castle and you wouldn’t notice it if you’re in the castle, unless you look out and see them and yell and point me out and, you’re just giving me press. You’re just pointing to me as the direct reason is only going to help EFFY out. I flip this on its head, it’s fine. And I think even the news articles that were confirming with them, were a little confused and going 'is this, this is the reason you want us to print? This is the reason you want us to put with this, specifically.' This wasn’t like a side “oh, maybe it’s this, maybe we saw this” this is a specific reason given for why he was pulled from the show and I clearly am a person who’s GCW for life, man. 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, he’s not someone who’s our employee, who we have to deal with, who knows anybody or is dealing with anything here.' It’s easy to throw it on the indie boy and I can take the heat. But, also, like, I speak for myself. So, when you put this on me, I am going to make my own observations, look at what’s around me on the facts, and say 'I don’t think this was really an EFFY problem,'” said Effy.

H/T: BodySlam.net