Announcer and two pro-wrestlers sue AEW in Philly over contracts and alleged defamation

A pro-wrestling announcer is suing the country’s second-largest wrestling promotion, alleging that he was defamed as a QAnon supporter by a fellow announcer and that the accusation led him to lose his job.

Kevin Kelly, whose real name is Kevin Foote, and two professional wrestlers, Brendan and Brent Tate, claim they have been defamed by an All-Elite Wrestling announcer and the organization’s president, respectively.

In the class-action lawsuit filed last week in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, the trio also contends that AEW’s contracts contain clauses that are “unreasonably favorable” to the company.

The lawsuit asks a judge to nullify their contracts and reclassify all AEW talent as employees instead of contractors, which would break a common practice across the pro-wrestling industry.

“I think it’s abhorrent that professional wrestlers who have every aspect of their job controlled by a corporation are called independent contractors, as if they have any say whatsoever in anything that they do,” said Stephen New, a West Virginia attorney who filed the lawsuit in Philadelphia on behalf of the announcer and two wrestlers.

The lawsuit also alleges that AEW president Tony Khan made a defamatory comment against the Tate brothers, who are known in wrestling circles as “The Boys,” after a Philadelphia event in April and that announcer Ian Riccaboni defamed Kelly in a social media post in August 2023.

One lawsuit takes on these seemingly different issues because the experiences of Kelly and the Tates reflect various problems of AEW’s contracts, which provide little recourse for talent, New said.

AEW did not respond to a request for comment. Khan could not be reached. Riccaboni declined to comment.

Kelly, of York County, joined AEW as an announcer in June 2023 after having worked for decades in pro-wrestling, announcing for WWE and New Japan Pro Wrestling.

His relationship with his colleagues and the company turned sour quickly after Kelly recommended the movie Sound of Freedom, a controversial feature about human trafficking, to his social media followers in July 2023.

The movie is based on Tim Ballard, a disgraced antihuman trafficking activist, who is depicted by Jim Caviezel. Caviezel made comments promoting misinformation that is part of the far-right conspiracy theory when promoting the film. The movie’s director, Alejandro Monteverde, distanced himself from QAnon and said Caviezel’s comments hurt his work.

A month after Kelly’s post, Riccaboni, of Allentown, posted on social media that he “had no idea [Kelly] was going to promote QAnon movies.

“That QAnon stuff breaks my heart,” he wrote on the platform Discord, according to the lawsuit.

Kelly attempted to reach out to Riccaboni to explain that he does not support QAnon, according to the lawsuit, but didn’t get a response. He later filed a complaint with AEW against Riccaboni over the remark, and the company said it disciplined the announcer but did not share with Kelly what the discipline entailed.

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After Riccaboni’s August 2023 post, Kelly says he was invited to announce less often. AEW terminated his contract in March.

Kelly claims in the lawsuit that he was terminated because of Riccaboni’s statement that he promoted a QAnon movie.

“The implied association with QAnon subjects [Kelly] to ridicule, embarrassment, humiliation, and is detrimental to his personal and professional relationship,” the lawsuit states.

Kelly hasn’t worked as a pro-wrestling announcer since because of a noncompete clause in his contract with AEW, his lawyer said. The details of the contract are redacted in the complaint.

Joining Kelly in the lawsuit are the wrestling duo who are known as “The Boys.” The Tate brothers allege that they suffered defamation by the president of AEW.

The brothers’ contracts with AEW were terminated in April after roughly three years in which they performed for AEW and Ring of Honor, a wrestling promotion that is affiliated with AEW. The company told the Tates’ their termination was due to budget cuts, according to the lawsuit. But a few days later, at a media call before an AEW event in Philadelphia during WWE’s WrestleMania, Khan said that the two missed multiple events.

“They didn’t show up to work on more than one occasion,” Khan said. “And it’s not acceptable.”

The Tates say in the lawsuit that events they missed were the fault of AEW. For example, they missed one event because AEW booked them a flight out of the wrong city, they lawsuit says.

“They now have been branded and tarred with the reputation of being unreliable workers,” New, the Tates’ lawyer, said.

With the class-action lawsuit, Kelly and The Boys claim to be representative of the type of contractors who do work for AEW.

The lawsuit asks a judge to reclassify all wrestlers, announcers, and similar talent at AEW who are now contractors as employees. The change would expand worker protections and require that they receive certain benefits, New said.

The lawyer’s goal is for a Philadelphia judge to lift the contracts’ confidentiality clauses, and release the plaintiff from their contracts — including non-compete clauses. That, he hopes, will start a movement in which wrestling organizations treat wrestlers and other talent as full-time employees.

“This is the first shot,” New said. “This is the first battle.”