GCW Wrestlers Respond To Fake Covid Test Allegations
John Castro GCW boss Brett Lauderdale was recently accused of providing forged Covid-19 test results for talent. Lauderdale claims he has been advised by lawyers to not comment on the situation (h/t Fightful's Sean Ross Sapp), but some of his promotion's most prominent wrestlers are sticking up for him.
The allegations came from a disgruntled ex-associate of Lauderdale's, an indie wrestler named Mikey Gordon (aka "Dirty" Ron McDonald), who took to a Facebook group on May 25 to level a bunch of allegations at the GameChanger Wrestling promoter. Among other things, Gordon alleges that Lauderdale hired him to “make a ton of fake false negative COVID-19 tests" so that certain wrestlers could receive the green light to appear at GCW events.
In the aforementioned Facebook post, Dirty Ron shared screenshots of a Facebook Messenger conversation with someone he claims is Lauderdale. In the conversation, Ron asks the other person to provide names of wrestle who require forged positive Covid test results. Of course, by sharing these images, Dirty Ron is himself confessing to fraud.
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“I’ve referred this matter to my lawyer and as much as I’d like to comment, I’ve been advised not to," Lauderdale told Fightful on Wednesday.
GCW regulars Tony Deppen, Joey Janela, and Jordan Oliver took to Twitter to express support for Lauderdale in the wake of Gordon's allegations.
"Before every show we had a group chat where we’d talk about her [precautions] and the deadlines for our covid tests," Deppen tweeted, insinuating that Lauderdae took Covid very seriously. "I also had to sit out two shows cause my tests didn’t come back in time - and that was at the request of Brett."
Deppen also shared a screenshot of several group chats in which GCW talent discussed Covid precautions, which supported an earlier claim made by Joey Janela.
"GCW made me send my test results to head referees," Jordan Oliver wrote. "Brett made it clear to me many times if you test positive or dont get a test you cant compete, I believe he took it very serious. On top of that GCW pays ME very good," he continued. "And that has been since DAY1."