GCW promoter Brett Lauderdale is unsure of what to make of the PCO incident.
The 57-year-old wrestling veteran made headlines over the weekend with his appearance at the People vs. GCW event. PCO who was the reigning TNA Digital Media champion brought the belt with him at the show and destroyed it in front of the public using a sledgehammer. At first, people thought that it was part of a storyline but multiple reports since then have claimed that TNA officials had no knowledge of it beforehand.
Lauderdale talked about the incident on the Game Changer Weekly podcast and mentioned that PCO is a longtime friend of his who he has a lot of respect for. Discussing his knowledge of the incident in question, he claimed that he was under the impression of the whole thing being a work:
“What happened and what I thought was gonna happen were slightly two different things, and I thought we were kind of doing him a favor by letting him advance a storyline and returning to GCW at the same time, so I only kind of realized that it was more than that after the fact when I started reading reports that he may or may not have done that on his own.”
I Think There Is A Storyline Going On: Brett Lauderdale
PCO was one of the many names who had his TNA deal expire at the end of last year and per reports, he was supposed to finish up with the company at their next taping. After the incident, however, TNA has removed both PCO and the Digital media title from their website, and the former WCW star is not expected to be brought back for any more shows.
Though despite these claims, Brett Lauderdale is not entirely sure of the legitimacy of the whole thing and he still believes that it could be a work:
“No. I know a lot of the people at TNA, so I feel like I would have been contacted if there was any major issue that would have been on us or if they had questions about it.
That’s why I think maybe there is still a storyline going on with it because I feel like maybe if there wasn’t, after the fact, they would have said, ‘Hey, what happened?’
TNA is set to follow up the January 19 Genesis PPV with a live Impact taping from San Antonio, TX this Thursday, January 23. Whether or not the whole thing is really a work should become clearer after this show.