Posted by Westside Gunn’s love of professional wrestling is no secret, and now the Griselda rapper has announced he’ll be starting his own pro wrestling franchise.
The rapper revealed on Instagram that he will be starting a new wrestling promotion called 4THROPE, and announced the former WWE NXT star Parker Boudreaux would also be joining the roster.
“Y’all Done Fucked Up!!!!” Westside Gunn wrote. “Meet @theparkerboudreaux the 1st official wrestler W/ 4THROPE.. we’re about to do something the Wrestling world has NEVER scene.”
He continued: “EVERYBODY knows I’m the biggest wrestling fan in the world but now I’m about to mix Cultures and present special talent, merch, 4THROPE radio, 4THROPE TV, and again HIGH LEVEL ART stay tuned for more 4THROPE announcements and LINK IN MY BIO we just World Premiered on AEW tonight start it at the 28min. Mark ROPE #GXFR #CULTURE #4thROPE #PARKERBOUDREAUX #FLYGOD.”
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Gunn announced his Fourth Rope company back in 2019, and started things off by linking up with Brian XL and House of Glory (HOG) Wrestling to drop his own brand of wrestling merch and limited edition art.
”Fourth Rope, is the designer of all merch for HOG,” the rapper told HipHopDX. “I was already over there watching the matches and just building with Brian XL. We formed a relationship. He could see my loyalty and I just said, ’Man, let’s take this shit to another level.’ I wanted to invest in that shit. We did what we did.”
He continued: “Just long as we the best at what we do, the sky’s the limit, man. You never know what the fuck this can be. This shit could be the biggest shit in the world. I just know it’s about to be crazy.”
While Westside Gunn and his Griselda roster all have a deep love pro wrestling, the Buffalo rapper and the WWE haven’t always seen eye to eye.
In January, Griselda Records shared a screenshot to Instagram of a notice from YouTube demanding that several of Westside Gunn’s music videos be taken down. The takedown notice was issued by the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), and they were all for tracks that featured audio from WWE interviews and shows.
“Retroactive copyright claims why?? @WWE,” Griselda wrote in their Instagram Story post.
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The tracks included “Claiborne Kick” featuring Boldy James, “French Toast” with Wale and Joyce Wrice, the Benny and Conway-assisted “Allah Sent Me,” and “The Hurt Business” featuring fellow wrestling fans Smoke DZA and Wale.
Westside Gunn also butted heads with WWE announcer Greg Hamilton last November, when the latter threatened the former with a lawsuit over an uncleared voice sample on the Hitler Wears Hermes 7 cut “Undertaker vs. Goldberg.”
“Well @westsidegunn @buffalokidsgallery let’s hope that since you STOLE my voice for your incoherent kindergarten fables…that you saved up enough delivering for Door Dash….because….You….are…,” Hamilton wrote on Instagram.
“You’ll be paying me for years….apologize and I’ll think about not collecting every dime for the rest of your life….or I can just get WWE lawyers… .that’s ok too. Settle with my lawyer. And don’t EVER use my voice again….so wrong.”
No known lawsuit emerged from the squabble.