A lawsuit has been filed against AEW.
Kevin Kelly and The Boys (Brendan and Brandon Tate) have filed suit against the company.
Kelly alleges defamation from Ian Riccaboni and AEW, stemming from Riccaboni making comments on a discord channel regarding Kelly being involved with QAnon conspiracies. He is seeking monetary damages claiming AEW breached his contract and that the situation has made it difficult for him to find work elsewhere. Kelly was fired from AEW in March.
The Tate Twins were fired in April. Tony Khan stated publicly that their releases were due to no-showing events, which the brothers later attributed to a miscommunication between them and management after they were booked to fly out of a different airport than they normally use. The claim they no-showed events is at the center of their defamation suit against Khan and AEW.
Kelly and the Tate twins are also requesting the court certify a class-action suit against AEW over the company misclassifying its talent as independent contractors rather than employees.
“I applaud the bravery of these Plaintiffs in bringing this long-overdue action, challenging the mis-classification of pro-wrestlers as independent contractors instead of employees. We know we are in for a long, hard fight, but in the end, I believe justice always prevails,” said attorney Stephen P. New.
The Wrestling News AV was the first to report the news.
BREAKING: Three former talents terminated by the company have brought a lawsuit against All Elite Wrestling, among others. The suit, brought by announcer Kevin Kelly and wrestlers Brandon & Brendan Tate, was filed on August 30 in the Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas by attorneys Stephen P. New & Benjamin Baer, and is seeking to void the arbitration clause of their talent contracts, as well as requesting the court certify a class-action suit against AEW over claims the company is misclassifying its wrestling talent as independent contractors, rather than employees.
“In April, it was reported that the Tate Brothers, known professionally as “the Boys”, were released from their Ring Of Honor contracts due to budget cuts. ROH owner Tony Khan claimed during media events that their release was due to no-showing several events, a claim the brothers deny. That claim is now at the center of the defamation allegation against Khan by the Tate Brothers.”
“Kelly, who joined AEW in June 2023 after working as the English speaking commentator for New Japan, was fired from his position as an AEW play-by-play announcer in March, after he went public on his social media expressing his frustrations with the company and Riccaboni.”
Will update as more is reported.
Edit: Updated URL to F4W.
Not a lawyer, but I remember years ago people talking about and wanting someone to go to court with WWE over the employee v independent contractor stuff. But they’re such a juggernaut, I figured it’d never happen.
So many lawsuits go nowhere so who knows if anything will really happen here, but that seems the only really interesting detail. After all, I think Kevin Kelly has done enough to tarnish his own reputation without the help of others.