As a guest on Eric Bischoff’s Wise Choices veteran commentator Kevin Kelly has revealed he is suing AEW for the way in which he was terminated.
“So what are you going to do? Are you suing them?” asked Bischoff after Kelly described what led up to him being fired.
“Yes, of course,” replied Kelly.
“That’s unfortunate,” said Bischoff.
Earlier in the broadcast Kelly chronicled the entire situation from his point of view.
“Everything was fine. Everything was going along just great. A couple of weeks in it was a personal thing with me and Ian Riccaboni, of all people, an RoH announcer,” he said.
Kelly detailed Riccaboni accusing him of being a conspiracy theorist and right-wing radical just because he wanted people to be more aware of child trafficking as a whole. He was inspired to discuss the topic because of the movie Sound of Freedom. Kelly wasn’t agreeing with the accusations or ideas made or presented in the movie just the idea that child trafficking should be a major concern.
“That really pissed me off. I thought we were friends,” said Kelly of Riccaboni’s comments which then set other fans off on X against Kelly.
“Ian, if you are listening to this, you are f—–g weird and the people who think like you are f—–g weird,” said Bischoff breaking in.
Kelly says that privately Riccaboni told him that he had insulted him “one too many times”.
“I don’t remember insulting you at all. I thought we were friends,” Kelly said he wrote back.
“I don’t even know this guy but I am going to wake up every day and try to find a new way to insult him,” laughed Bischoff.
Kelly stated he contacted AEW HR and they said they would deal with the situation. All the while Kelly says he was being left off broadcasts which he took personally.
AEW HR informed Kelly later that the disciplinary commission dealt with the problem but Kelly couldn’t know of the decision because it was a private matter.
“I get that but I was the victim!” said Kelly. “I didn’t want him to be fired. I just wanted an apology and know if this perception has hurt me in the company.”
Due to the way he was being treated within AEW and by some online Kelly spoke with an AEW psychiatrist. Still frustrated he called HR, left what he admits was a heated message and spouted off online about the situation. He was fired because of that.
Bischoff asked Kelly about what AEW is like behind the scenes. Kelly explained that Tony Khan has good people around him but doesn’t use them.
“His vision of what wrestling is, for me, works best on a small scale…He wants to appeal to a niche audience with his vision of wrestling. He thinks he can convince people to watch that on a grand scale. The other thing he has done is he has made himself the face of the company…Man, that is not his skill set,” he explained.
“There is a lot of people backstage who aren’t being used, who want to be used that have creative ideas but they aren’t getting through. There would be a Conga line outside Khan’s office waiting to get in to see him. Nothing wrong with that but I don’t remember a long line of wrestlers waiting to see Vince (McMahon) because there were other people to talk to like a Pat Patterson and a Gerald Brisco or Blackjack Lanza. There were agents who were respected that had Vince’s ear and could forward your message,” he continued.
He also criticized Dave Meltzer for his reporting on AEW.
“He will spin the numbers to make them not smell so bad. I think that can be done,” he said.
TOP PHOTO: Kevin Kelly at the Icons of Wrestling Convention & Fanfest on Saturday, December 17, 2022, at the 2300 Arena, in Philadelphia, PA. Photo by George Tahinos, Slam Wrestling, https://georgetahinos.smugmug.com
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