AEW Management Pulls Ricky Starks From Future GCW Shows

There has been another development in the ongoing saga between All Elite Wrestling and Ricky Starks as the former AEW Tag Team Champion has reportedly been pulled from upcoming appearances he was set to make for Game Changer Wrestling.

Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select has reported that the decision was made by AEW to pull Starks from his upcoming GCW dates earlier today (November 26). While there are a variety of reasons as to why this has happened, one of the main ones was down to recent comments by GCW staple Effy which were directed at AEW President Tony Khan's father Shad. 

Effy recently commented that AEW decided to run the Hammerstein Ballroom during the festive season, less than a month before GCW was set to return to the iconic venue for the first time in three years. The GCW star claimed that GCW can't run shows on "a $40 Million deficit," the owner doesn't own a football team, and GCW isn't run by someone whose money comes from familial wealth. It's currently unclear whether or not these were the comments that caused Starks to be pulled from his dates, which were his announced match on December 14, as well as unannounced appearances on December 28 and January 19, the last date being GCW's show in the Hammerstein Ballroom. 

According to Sapp, Starks is allowed to work for other independent promotions. Ibou of WrestlePurists also said that the ban on performing for GCW was a blanket statement and would apply to all AEW talent.

Fightful also learned that some within AEW thought the company was to potentially turn Starks' GCW dates, and his lengthy AEW absence, into a work to potentially build buzz for a potential return to the company. Starks has yet to return to AEW and is still confused as to why he has been frozen out of the promotion.