Steph De Lander Recalls Being At GCW Show Where PCO Smashed TNA Digital Media Title

Steph De Lander was in attendance at the People vs. GCW where PCO ended his relationship with TNA in title-smashing fashion, and she recently spoke about the matter. De Lander was PCO’s wife in TNA storyline at the time and she spoke with Fightful for a new interview in which she shared her perspective on what went down. You can check out some highlights below:

On being at the show: “I’ve never really spoken about it, but I was at GCW when it happened. I was at a Hammerstein, obviously, and I was actually in the crowd. I was there, and I was in the crowd, and I was like, ‘P-C-O, P-C-O, that’s my husband. Woo!’ Then when that happened, when I got backstage and I looked at Brett and I go, ‘What have you done?’ I was like, ‘What is going on? What is happening right now?’ My brain was like a million thoughts racing. I didn’t know if it was an angle. I didn’t know if it was real people. No one else knew. So I was not thrilled. Brett knows that.”

On speaking to PCO at the event: “My next thought was, I don’t know if I’m going to see PCO again, as far as like, I don’t know where he stands with TNA now. I don’t know if I’m going to be back at GCW. Like, I don’t know if we’re going to cross paths again soon, but I want this man to know that I really enjoyed working with him. I really respect him, and if this is the last time that we’re going to be in the same place, then I need to have this conversation with him right now,” she said. “So I ran from where I was to Gorilla, where he came back through to meet him. I just spoke to him for a few minutes, and I was just basically what I just said to you. was like, ‘Look, I absolutely loved working with you. I’m so glad we got to have the storyline that we had at TNA. I don’t really know what’s going on right now, but I want you to know that I love and respect you as a performer. I’m very happy with how everything went. There’s no ill will here. I want the best for you, and I’m glad we got to work together.’ I don’t know where this goes from here, but I need him to know that I really loved working with him, and whatever weirdness is going on between anyone or any companies or whatever, I’m just sitting here saying, ‘I love working with you.’ So I’m glad that I at least got to have that moment. But yeah, at the time I was like, ‘What?’ Even straight after, I was like, ‘I don’t know what I’m about to walk into. I don’t know what mood he’s gonna be [in]. I don’t know what’s going on.’ I walk around the corner, he’s got the biggest smile on his face, and I was like, ‘Oh, okay.’ I was like, ‘As long as you feel okay, then I just want the best for you.’”

On speaking with TNA about the matter: “I had no idea what was going on. I rang Tommy Dreamer, and I was like, ‘I don’t know what belt is where, don’t know who has what, what are we doing now?’ Like, cause obviously there’s a plan for storylines and whatever else and I was just like, ‘I—what the fuck are we doing?’ He was like, ‘We’re figuring it out, don’t worry.’

“It’s such crazy poetic justice that my onscreen husband having his moment is what led to my real-life boyfriend coming into the mix in TNA,” she said. “It was just such an awesome, random passing-the-torch kind of moment of like, I thought this situation was going to be really, really bad for me, but it actually worked out really good. I got a title, and my boyfriend’s now at TNA.’ So yeah, it worked out great for me. was like, I kept joking to everyone. I was like, ‘I’m just tagging boyfriends in and out my whole career.’ I’m like, I Duke Hudson in the mix. I mean, Matt was never my boyfriend, but I got another male tag partner. Then, I got PCO. Now I got Mance. I’m like, I don’t know why this keeps happening, but like, it’s a good story, I guess.”