Effy Discusses "The Second Gear Crew" And Eddie Kingston's AEW Success
Indie wrestling star Effy sat down with Wrestling Inc. Managing Editor Nick Hausman on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast. Hausman asked Effy how involved in the booking of the show he is and how much Game Changer Wrestling owner Brett Lauderdale has input.
"I'll give you an example, I've booked everything on here, but it does have to get through Brett," Effy revealed. "There are times when I have to kind of put, 'hey, here's why this will work and here's why this makes sense in this context.' He said, 'I don't think we should do the SGC match,' which is One Called Manders, AJ Gray, Mance Warner and Matt Justice. I mean, four of the biggest outlaw, independent guys in the world, my crew that I roll with that are tough as hell, don't have to get into stories.
"I said, 'why not put them up against these LGBTQ guys and girls and them's and they's who haven't gotten the chance on this public stage to show how tough they are,' but I know it because I've seen it at these smaller indies, and he was like, 'it's just an eight-man. Nobody gets excited for that.' And we announced that match, and he goes, 'man, that had way more juice on it than I thought. People really do get behind these people that I've maybe never heard of.' I was like, 'you're exactly right,' and when you can do something weird and outlandish like that that a promoter goes, I don't know 100% think this will work, and I wouldn't do it, but they trust you to go forward with it. And then can see oh, you really were reading the room. Man, that feels good."
Effy went on to discuss The Second Gear Crew more and the members that make up the group. He also spoke on the group's philosophy and their goals in wanting to change the landscape of wrestling.
"The Second Gear Crew, as it is official, is Eddie Kingston who's with AEW, so he's handling all that busy stuff, Matt Justice, Mance Warner, Manders and AJ Gray," Effy explained. "And we sort of came together as guys who were looking at the landscape of wrestling and going, 'too many people are taking directions from people who don't know what they're doing, too many people are staying really safe within the lines and not trying to paint big pictures and too many people are missing the point of what we're trying to get across in wrestling.'
"It's hey, 'we should do a 30-move back-and-forth combo, that will really get them running,' when really they want to see some big moves and some excitement, and we can bring them that technical, we can bring them all that but sometimes you just got to go to the second gear."
Effy also discussed a fan going up to him saying that SGC was his favorite faction. Effy noted that SGC is not just a faction but something real and constructive that they are bringing to wrestling, especially Eddie Kingston who has made his impact in AEW.
"You got to go all the way to the top, and this man came to me," Effy recalled. "He goes, 'I love your faction, SGC.' I go, 'SGC is real.' I was like, they can market it. They can put it on a shirt, and they can put it wherever they want. It's Second Gear Crew all the way, and when we roll into town, we know it. We're going to push you to the limit. I'm going to look at you if I think you're doing something lame. I'm going to look at you if I think you're being lazy.
"It's all about giving it 100-120% not just for the people but for our own sake to know that we're putting the craziest thing out there that we can put out there. You want to talk about going to second gear, look how much Eddie Kingston has done in AEW, in what, two months? It's incredible."
Kingston is now signed with AEW, and Effy gave his thoughts on Kingston's AEW run. Lauderdale has been on The Wrestling Inc. Daily before and spoke on Joey Janela's transition into AEW as well. In his appearance on the podcast, Effy noted that wrestlers need to be adaptable wherever they go saying that Kingston has done exactly that.
"It's one of those things where I can say, 'yeah, I'm friends with Eddie Kingston. We've had a lot of great conversations,' but I also am a person whose watched wrestling forever and ever, and there's something about Eddie Kingston where if he had never gone to TV and never done anything, I would still look at him as his legendary person, this legendary outlaw because he's always done things his own way," Effy explained. "And whether that's in CHIKARA or showing up in AEW, wherever Eddie Kingston goes, he's still Eddie Kingston, but he can fit the role to work on cable TV.
"He can fit the role to work in an audience that usually isn't used to cussing. There's magic to that, and that's something that you look at and you've got to be the adaptable performer these days. You can't just be one thing or the other. You've got to fit into whatever role they need, and look, he's talking. He's working tags. He's working battle royals. He's working man events. He's working title matches. The man will stick his foot in wherever he can, and that's how he makes things work."
You can follow Effy on Twitter @EffyLives. Effy's full interview aired as part of a recent episode of our podcast, The Wrestling Inc. Daily. Subscribe to get the latest episodes as soon as it's released Monday – Friday afternoon by clicking here.