At The People vs. GCW during WWE SummerSlam weekend, the show kicked off with Cole Radrick becoming the new GCW Extreme Champion.
Radrick won the belt in a scramble match that featured AJ Gray, Axton Ray, Grim Reefer, Marko Stunt, and Shane Mercer. It marked the first championship victory for Radrick in GCW, who made his debut for the company in 2019 and has gained more prominence in 2022 by competing in deathmatches.
Speaking to Jeremy Lambert and Stephen Jensen on The Spotlight, Radrick discussed his championship victory.
"It's pretty fucking crazy [laughs]. No, it's really sick. When I first started in GCW, it's still extremely hard to get into GCW, so every time I wrestle there, I'm like, 'This is probably the last time I'm being brought back.' Even up until a few months ago, I was still having those thoughts of, 'damn this might be the last time I get booked. Maybe people don't rock and roll with me.' Now, I have a fucking belt, so what are they gonna do now? In reality, I got to this point where I'm now holding one of the belts in GCW and it's time to make a statement that Raddy Daddy is here to stay," he said.
When asked when he learned of winning the title, Radrick replied, "It was probably about 30 minutes before the show. We were the first match and we were getting everything together. We looked around and were like, 'who is winning?' I was walking through the curtain, and Brett was coming out and he kind of gave me the three cliff notes he wanted from the match. 'Alright, who is over?' I presumed it was somebody else. He's like, 'Cole's up.' I was (taken aback). 'Yeah, you.' 'Alright.' I looked at everybody and it's kind of like when you're telling a fib to your little brother. You go up and it's like, 'Hey, I'm winning the match aaaaand.' Honestly, I thought somebody would be like, 'No, you're not, let's go ask who is actually winning the match.' That's how it ended up happening and I'm pretty thankful."
Throughout the bout, Radrick was often paired with Marko Stunt, who failed to pick up and slam Cole, but finally managed to get him up for a chokeslam. The finish saw Radrick hit Stunt with a pedigree, who took it like Marty Garner.
"I really enjoyed the spots with Marko, the crowd ate them up," said Radrick. "Then, I killed him with a pedigree. When he jumped up, I was worried like, 'What the fuck are you doing?' He's kicking his legs up and I'm like, 'Oh fuck, I've seen this one before.' Luckily, you see me shoot my knees underneath last second. I was going to go normal, but I was like, 'Oh fuck, might as well try to protect Marko as much as I can.'"
Radrick was back in action at the Scenic City Invitational, competing in the annual tournament. He is set to compete at GCW Homecoming Part Two on August 14.
Fans can find results from The People vs. GCW by clicking here. Check out the full episode of The Spotlight in the video above.
