Brett Lauderdale On This Year’s The Collective, Teaming With WrestleCon, WWE ID Tournament Show

GCW’s The Collective is back over WrestleMania week, and Brett Lauderdale recently spoke about putting this year’s iteration together. Lauderdale spoke with PWInsider for a new interview promoting the coalition of events, and you can see highlights below:

On this year’s The Collective: “It’s certainly been the busiest and most stressful year. For some reason, we made the silly decision to add an extra day and two more events this year. I don’t know whose idea that was… There’s a formula now. We’ve been doing this for several years. We’re usually prepared to put out fires if they appear,” he explains. “We’ve got great partners. These are professionals running professional operations. That makes all the difference.”

On holding the event in Las Vegas: “Las Vegas 2025 is not the Las Vegas of years past. It’s expensive. There’s taxes on everything—and taxes on the taxes. WWE’s events are all high-priced. Fans just don’t have the same disposable income this year.”

On the events streaming in TrillerTV+: “I’ve told Triller a dozen times they should raise the price. $7.99 is a steal. It’s beyond a good deal at this point. But they’re committed to growing their base, and I respect that.”

On Sabu competing at the events: “It means a lot. Sabu shaped my teenage years. He inspired me. I watched him and Terry Funk and all the ECW guys. To be able to do this—to celebrate him before it’s too late—it’s important… He told me, ‘It’s gonna be better than Born to Be Wired’ [the legendary ECW battle with the late Terry Funk.] That’s what he said. I wasn’t expecting that—but if that’s how he’s going into it, then we’re all in for something special. He’s not an old man, but he’s not a young man either. He takes his legacy seriously. He takes his bloodline seriously. He doesn’t want to go out with anything less than his best.”

On the WrestleCon Supershow being part of The Collective: I’ve always considered me and Michael Bochicchio from Highspots to be friendly competitors. This was years in the making. Now we’re not in different bubbles anymore—we’re on the same page, and the fans win.”

On the potential for WrestleCon and The Collective taking place in the same venue: “We’ve tried. We did walkthroughs together this year in Vegas,” Lauderdale says. “It’ll take the right building with the right footprint. But that’s the end goal.”

On criticism of the WWE ID Tournament GCW show: “This is a 4 PM Wednesday show. There are 12 other shows that have nothing to do with WWE. No funding, no oversight, nothing. Honestly, there’s just as much AEW influence on The Collective as WWE. The name is ‘The Collective’ for a reason. It’s everyone coming together.”

On the importance of The Collective to indie wrestling: “The Collective is our WrestleMania. Not just for GCW—for indie wrestling. Everyone’s in Las Vegas next week. If you’re there, you’ll feel it. If you’re not, tune in. Support what we do. You’ll get your money’s worth, and then some.”