The Boys (Brendan and Brandon Tate) and Kevin Kelly are suing AEW for the circumstances that led to their terminations.
Kelly claims Ian Riccaboni falsely linking him to QAnon conspiracies was not only defamatory but it cost him his job at AEW and has made it harder to find work elsewhere.
He alleges that by firing him AEW breached their contract with him.
The Tates are alleging that Tony Khan’s public comments that they no-showed events damaged their reputations. They claim a miscommunication not any negligence on their part forced them to miss events.
Kelly and the Tates are seeking a class-action suit against AEW for these reasons and “misclassifying its talent as independent contractors rather than employees”.
Their attorney stated:
How fitting and appropriate that on Labor Day weekend a lawsuit is filed seeking to correct, among other things, the abhorrent practice of misclassification of pro wrestlers as independent contractors and not employees. All AEW wrestlers are now members of this putative class https://t.co/lEARTPAhBt
— Steve New (@StephenPNew) September 4, 2024
For its part AEW isn’t commenting on the lawsuit stating: “AEW does not comment on pending litigation.”
Jim Ross though has. On his podcast he said: “When you sign your contract, you agree to the terms. That would include being an independent contractor. I’ll say this. The plaintiffs, Kevin Kelly and those guys, they’ll run out of money before Tony Khan does. I don’t hold out much hope they’re going to get any kind of settlement, whatsoever. Maybe I’m wrong. I’m not a judge or lawyer or anything along those lines. I don’t like those kind of lawsuits. I think they’re frivolous. You would think guys would get together and work out something before going to spend their money on a lawyer, who is probably doing it, ‘If you win, you get this. If you don’t win, no harm, no foul.’ There is harm and there is foul. You knew what you were doing when you signed your deal. I’m not familiar with the two wrestlers. I know who they are. Kevin Kelly is an old friend of mine for years. I was sad to see him leave the way he did. He just wasn’t happy. I think he wanted a bigger role that wasn’t available to him. Then, all of a sudden, he’s gone. It’s unfortunate, it’s sad. He has a lot to offer. As far the independent contractor thing being thrown out and overruled, I don’t hold any hope for that to happen.”
RELATED LINKS
