Brett Lauderdale Praises Shotzi Blackheart, Says Indie Wrestlers Should Learn From Her

Brett Lauderdale admires Shotzi Blackheart’s passion.

Blackheart has been very open about her current run on the indie scene, saying that she is enjoying the grind as opposed to WWE, where she was used rarely. Since making her return to the scene in June 2025, Shotzi has wrestled in 98 different matches across promotions like GCW, MLW, House Of Glory, and CMLL.

Speaking with Fightful’s Sean Ross Sapp for a new interview, Lauderdale praised Shotzi for getting herself out there and being a passionate performer.

“Shotzi is a great example of that. Not only is she not afraid to get out there, but she’s another person who has really embraced the GCW style and been willing to get in there and do whatever it takes. It’s really endeared her to our fans. I know she does that everywhere she goes and I think she really enjoys wrestling and she likes performing. So that helps. There’s some TV wrestlers who it’s just their job, whereas to somebody like Shotzi or Matt Cardona, it’s their passion and they love doing it. So she is absolutely somebody who I look at her and she’s a great wrestler and she’s also running a great business and she knows what she’s doing and she knows how to do it. She’s not afraid to do it. So she’s absolutely somebody that indie wrestlers can look at and probably learn something from.”

Continuing on, Lauderdale credited Shotzi for engaging with fans and giving all of them a moment of her time.

“There’s so many little things you can do that go a long way. Then when you take a bunch of little things and put them together they become a big thing. She’s really good at that. She’s great at making connections and her meet and greet, I always feel bad sometimes because we’ll go to a certain venue, a certain market where maybe they haven’t seen her in a while and she has such a long line after the show and she’s the last one standing there. The ring’s gone and half the wrestlers have already left and gone back to the hotel and the venue is looking at me like, ‘Hey, are we ready to wrap this up?’ and I have to go over to Shotzi and tell her, ‘Let’s keep it moving here.’ Part of that is because she’s so good to every fan. She talks to them and engages and she tries to give everybody their moment. So she’s great to have on the team.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Lauderdale talked about Effy’s current absence from GCW. Check out his full comments by clicking here.

Fans can check out Fightful’s full interview with Brett Lauderdale in the video linked at the top of this article. After that, head over to our YouTube channel to catch a full review of all the action.