Wrestling is in the DNA of Westside Gunn’s music. For the main event of AEW Dynamite, broadcast live on TBS from Buffalo’s KeyBank Center, Westside Gunn performed his verse from Griselda’s WWCD track “Dr. Birds” at the top of the entrance platform.
Pitchfork reported that Gunn was there to play the hometown technical wrestler Daniel Garcia to the ring for a championship match. A full Griselda-representing crew—mostly Gunn’s nephews—dominated the first row in matching red sweatshirts. Gunn shouted into the mic as Garcia walked out, “Tell Virgil to write ‘brick’ on my brick.”
Garcia won the belt that night and celebrated in a cloud of red confetti. Pitchfork would speak to both Garcia and Gunn about the moment, and Garcia revealed this had been something he had been looking to make happen for a long, long time.
“Since I became a wrestler, I always thought to myself if I ever do a big show in Buffalo, I want Westside Gunn to play me out,”
The moment may have been even more special for Gunn, a life-long wrestling fan who has even looked at getting into the wrestling business recently with his own promotion. Gunn said, “I’ve been there since day one and that was always a dream of mine — just being a part of it.” He further said, “And it’s all about timing. I could’ve had the opportunity sooner, who knows, but it happening in Buffalo for Danny and him winning the belt? That’s the story. It doesn’t get any better than that.”
“I stopped being mad a long time ago that I wasn’t getting the acknowledgement that I should. Every time I go to a show, I leave to a couple hundred tweets of ‘why why why why why,’ you know what I’m sayin’?” Perhaps no one however was more disappointed about Gunn not getting his due in wrestling than Garcia himself.
“I don’t feel like the wrestling business owes anybody anything, but Gunn has the power to do so much for the culture of pro wrestling,” he said. “He’s probably introduced wrestling to a lot of different people and made people view wrestling in a different light. He’s never asked for a free ticket — he just buys tickets and sits in the front row. Then a lot of rappers who maybe don’t like wrestling at all are getting opportunities and they aren’t even as popular as him. It’s been time for him to get a little shine, so I’m glad we were able to put that shine on him and give him that moment.”
Gunn’s performance was a long-belated acknowledgment from a major wrestling promotion on a weekly TV show, and it reflected his genuine endorsement of Garcia. The admiration is mutual; the two became friends after Garcia shared a highlight reel of his matches soundtracked by a Westside Gunn song, and the performance was one Garcia had been dreaming about for a long time. Stay tuned to Thirsty for further updates.
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