Ricky Starks Pulled from Upcoming GCW Bookings Over Controversial Comments Made by EFFY Towards AEW’s Shad Khan

As noted before, Ricky Starks has been out of action for AEW since this past March due to a head-injury scare incident and AEW officials not currently having any plans for his return. Starks made a surprise appearance for Game Changer Wrestling at their Dream On event this past Saturday in East Rutherford, New Jersey and was announced to be competing at their Highest In The Room 3 event on December 14th in Los Angeles.

GCW provided on Tuesday on Twitter stating that Starks has been pulled from all of his upcoming bookings for their company including an unannounced booking for their The People vs. GCW event on January 19, 2025 at the Hammerstein Ballroom.

We have just been informed that Ricky Starks has been pulled from all upcoming GCW appearances including his announced match on 12/14 in Los Angeles, his unannounced match on 12/28 in Seattle and his unannounced match on 1/19 at The Hammerstein Ballroom. pic.twitter.com/MygHHgmWAI

— GameChangerWrestling (@GCWrestling_) November 27, 2024

Fightful Select’s Sean Ross Sapp reported that his sources stated that the reason for Starks’ pulled bookings with GCW was due to issues between AEW and GCW talent EFFY.

It was reported that AEW CEO Tony Khan became unhappy over recent controversial comments EFFY had made directed towards his father Shad Khan. Among the comments included EFFY claiming that Shad was paying Tony to keep him away from his other businesses. Besides the comments about Khan’s father, EFFY also criticized AEW’s booking of the Hammerstein Ballroom close to GCW’s own event claiming it was done to hurt GCW.

These comments were made by EFFY in a recent episode of his Weekend at Effy’s podcast.

“Y’all have no buzz, no draw and we’ve been riding the lighting on having to actually run a profitable company for the past few years to continue existing. We do not have as much backup. I’ll put it this way, GCW can’t run on a $40 million deficit and continue to run shows but some of us have the privilege of being able to run at a $40 million deficit. Brett (Lauderdale) does not own a football team, Brett doesn’t have a Dad who pays him to stay away. I don’t want this to be a personal thing, but hey guys, you’re not the only game in town.”

AEW officials reportedly made the decision on November 26th to pull all of Starks’ bookings they had approved for GCW in response and informed Starks of this decision on the same day.

Sapp reported that AEW officials spoken to stated that Starks is still able to take bookings with other indies promotions.

Transcript h/t: PostWrestling.com