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GCW Owner Defends Sabu’s Final Match

By Lyle Kilbane • Published May 13, 2025 11:30 EDT
Sabu WWE

GCW owner Brett Lauderdale has fired back at criticism levelled at his promotion following the death of ECW icon Sabu.

The shocking news of Sabu’s death on May 11 comes less than four weeks removed from Sabu’s retirement match in Las Vegas, Nevada, on April 18. The two-time ECW World Heavyweight Champion defeated Joey Janela on that night in a brutal No Rope Barbed Wire match at GCW Spring Break 9.

Since news of Sabu’s death broke, many have been concerned by comments from Joey Janela about that final match. Janela claimed in an interview that Sabu had been given kratom, a drug often used for those quitting opioids. Janela also noted that Sabu’s team had claimed that the ECW icon could barely walk and might not make the show at all.

Brett Lauderdale Hits Back At Sabu Criticism

Taking to social media, GCW owner Brett Lauderdale had his say on the situation and claimed neither GCW nor Joey Janela forced Sabu into his final match or supplied him with any substances:

Any suggestion that I or “GCW” or Joey Janela “forced” him to do this match, supplied him with substances or somehow caused his death is irresponsible, disingenuous, hurtful, and false. It’s upsetting and discouraging to see people so eager to cast judgment without knowledge of the facts.

I would never knowingly put someone who I believed was a danger to themselves or others in the ring and my track record shows this to be true. I have pulled people – in a public and painful manner – from big matches before, sometimes literal moments before a match was to begin and would do it again if I had to.

I spoke to Sabu moments before the match and he was Sabu. He was the same Sabu I had encountered in years past when I participated in his matches as a referee and later as a promoter. He was the same Sabu I met with the following day at WrestleCon, and the same Sabu that made multiple appearances on podcasts and at conventions in the weeks that followed.