Willie Mack's GCW Bookings Scrapped Amidst AEW-GCW Issues

Willie Mack was set to wrestle for Game Changer Wrestling this coming weekend, with Mack scheduled to face Joey Janela on December 13 before a match with Sidney Akeem on Saturday, December 14.

Mack won't be in action at those shows, although there are different claims from within GCW and All Elite Wrestling about why Mack - a contracted AEW talent - won't be working the events.

Dave Meltzer reported on Wrestling Observer Radio that GCW's side of the story was Willie Mack called the promotion and said AEW pulled him from the bookings over the situation with Effy. Brett Lauderdale, the owner of GCW, then called AEW Producer Sonjay Dutt who said that was "absolutely not true." Lauderdale called Willie Mack back, who then said: "Well, I wasn't pulled. I was specifically not pulled, but Christopher Daniels made it clear that I shouldn't go."

AEW's side of the story, meanwhile, is that nothing like that happened. Willie Mack instead called them and asked if it would be a problem to go to the shows and the promotion said he could go to the shows. AEW noted they did not pull Mack from the GCW events.

Meltzer said:

"I've got both sides of the story and you can decide which side is the accurate side...This is the GCW side of it, Willie Mack called them up for Saturday - it's a late deal - and said that he was pulled from the show by AEW over the Effy situation. So Brett Lauderdale, really upset, calls up Sonjay Dutt at AEW and goes, 'Is this true?' and Sonjay Dutt says, 'It's absolutely not true.' So he [Brett] calls up Willie Mack and says, 'Well, I wasn't pulled. I was specifically not pulled, but Christopher Daniels made it clear that I shouldn't go.'

"From the AEW standpoint, they are saying that nothing like that happened and Willie Mack called them and asked if it would be a problem to go, and they said you can go. Maybe he took it the wrong way but AEW was very, very clear - and look Sonjay told Brett the same thing - they're not pulling Willie Mack from the show.

"It was funny because nobody even knew Willie Mack was under contract to AEW until today...he is under contract there and he's not wrestling Saturday. There's two different sides of the story and ultimately it was Willie Mack's choice. Was he pressured or did he just do it on his own? I don't know."

Fightful Select also reported that GCW claimed Willie Mack was removed from their upcoming shows due to Effy's comments about AEW. The claim within AEW was Mack that wasn't pulled by the promotion, but another contact claimed talent relations encouraged him not to take the booking. GCW were also reportedly told that AR Fox was told not to appear on camera when he visited GCW this weekend.

Ricky Starks - a talent long absent from AEW TV - was booked for several GCW dates in late 2024 and early 2025. He was pulled from those bookings by AEW over comments made by GCW star Effy about Tony Khan and his father Shad Khan and AEW's upcoming shows at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

If you use any quotes from this article please credit the original source and give an H/T to Cultaholic.com. 

Sign up to the Cultaholic Wrestling Newsletter now.