Brett Lauderdale Explains Why GCW Is Sticking With Triller, Details MyAEW Talks

GCW has stuck with Triller TV amid the latter company’s reported difficulties as of late, something Brett Lauderdale explained in a new interview. Triller TV has had a number of significant financial issues since late last year; the company was delisted from NASDAQ in January and AEW sued in May over $5 million in claimed unpaid revenue.

Triller TV has shed a number of independent promotions including House of Glory recently, and Lauderdale spoke with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp where he discussed GCW’s relationship with Triller TV. He noted that they have maintained a good relationship and have had no issues as of yet, so it makes financial sense to stay there for now. He also discussed MyAEW and his belief that the “streaming boom” in wrestling has leveled out a bit.

Fightful Select also noted that Lauderdale said during the interview that GCW has a contracted minimum amount of events with Triller, but that they can go over that amount. You can see the highlights below:

On GCW’s Relationship With Triller:

“We’re fortunate that we’ve been with Triller and prior to that Fite, since almost the beginning of this whole indie streaming boom, we’ve always had a pretty good relationship with both entities. Our relationship now is that it still exists and we’re still broadcasting pretty much seamlessly on Triller. We still have a lot of viewers. There’s still a strong fan base and outside of the obvious struggles and issues that they’re facing, it’s mostly all business as usual.

“Of course that can mean a lot of things. But in terms of the literal function, we’re still moving along. I know things haven’t gone as smooth for other companies and I understand why people like House of Glory and others have chosen to move on, because not everybody has the ability to sort of hang in there like we do. So I get it and I understand people’s frustrations, but I also think that at some point here, there is a light at the other end of the tunnel. I think it behooves GCW to hang in there and see what happens.”

On His Discussions With AEW About MyAEW:

“I’ve talked to AEW about MyAEW. I think it’s a nice option to have and obviously every company is different. We’re different than most other independent companies. So for a lot of people, it’s a no brainer and they should join today or yesterday or tomorrow. It’s a great affiliation to have. It’s a company with a lot of resources. Obviously, it’s an opportunity to have some stability.

“Now there are other companies who depend on a certain amount of revenue and who have depended on a certain amount of revenue and generated a certain amount of revenue from their streaming and pay-per-views and whatnot for years or many years and they need to make decisions based on business that allow them to continue either as they’ve continued or to a level that their fans expect. So don’t know where that puts House of Glory. I don’t know where that puts GCW now or in the future, but right now the best business decision for GCW is to stay with Triller. But like I said, that’s a great option for so many companies to finally have a new platform, some new hope, and again, a great affiliation. I think it’s great for indie wrestling.”

On the Streaming Boom In Wrestling Leveling Out:

“I like to think, without bragging, that GCW really set off the streaming boom and the indie boom. We had incredible success with Spring Break 1, which was a Floslam production and then Spring Break 2 was on Fite and that was also a game changer, pardon the pun. Our numbers to this day, in those early years, I don’t think anybody in the indies has ever come close to those numbers. I think that it opened the door for all these other platforms to emerge and for all these other companies to say, ‘Hey, maybe it does make sense for us to, again, start streaming our shows live.’ We saw what at the time, this was before AEW, there was so much talent out there. This is before WWE was signing everybody and there was a super strong indie talent base. Finally, there was a way to see all of them and all these companies started popping up and streaming and it was real strong. It was great. It was great for the growth.

“I think probably at some point, we probably ended up in the last few years in a situation where there’s probably too many people streaming and there’s too many choices and too many options and a diminished talent pool when now there’s both AEW and WWE not just signing talent, but signing everybody. So I think it’s hard for new fans or casual fans to decide and figure out what’s the major players here? Which are the ones I need to dedicate my time to and resources? It probably diluted the streaming pool. If you have five shows streaming on a Saturday night that’s five shows competing with each other and that’s less revenue for each of those five shows. It’s great to see it explode and have options for everybody, but there can also be such a thing as too much probably. So I think we’re just going through the natural progression right now where it was nothing, then huge, and now it’s kind of leveling out again. Yes, with all the uncertainty with Triller and the other companies we’re basically in a reset right now. It’ll be interesting to see how it shakes out.”