GCW has issued a statement regarding the recent controversy involving Arik Cannon and Avery Styles.
The situation began over the weekend when Cannon took to social media to dispute comments from Natalya about Styles, the son of WWE Hall of Famer AJ Styles, wanting to “pay his dues” on the independent wrestling scene.
Cannon claimed that Avery declined to help with setup at a GCW event earlier this month, which eventually led to a public exchange between Cannon and AJ Styles. The back-and-forth quickly gained attention across wrestling social media.
GCW has since distanced itself from Cannon’s comments, making it clear that he was speaking on his own behalf.
“Regarding the AJ Styles and Avery Styles comments, GCW has contacted us to say that while they respect and like Arik Cannon, he does not speak for GCW, he speaks for himself,” the promotion stated.
Cannon is not a GCW employee. He owns Minnesota-based F1RST Wrestling, which co-promoted events with GCW during WWE SummerSlam week in Minneapolis.
Cannon was present at the GCW event where Avery Styles faced Marcus Mathers, which is where the alleged incident involving Styles declining to help set up chairs reportedly took place.
Following his exchange with AJ Styles, Cannon also went back and forth with WWE NXT star Lexis King on social media. Cannon later shared photos of Cody Rhodes and Jimmy Hart helping out at independent wrestling events while continuing to respond to criticism surrounding his comments.
