On August 30, Kevin Kelly, Brent, and Brandon Tate filed a lawsuit against Tony Khan, All Elite Wrestling, and Ian Riccaboni, asking the court to certify a class action suit. The plaintiffs say AEW misclassified its talent as independent contractors rather than employees.
Stephen P. New, an attorney for Kevin Kelly and Tate Twins, appeared on the House of Kayfabe podcast to discuss the lawsuit. Stephen stated that Kelly was treated differently by AEW and the HR team after the incident with Riccaboni. He added that Kelly was fired from AEW in nine months after signing a 3-year contract.
“[Kevin] Kelly perceived being treated differently by AEW, by H.R., by the people in the home office after this dustup with [Ian] Riccaboni and then resulting in that first week of March being let go, by AEW. Only about nine months into a three-year-long contract.”
AEW commentator Jim Ross stated on his podcast, “They’ll run out of money before Tony Khan does. I don’t hold out much hope they’re gonna get any kind of settlement whatsoever. But maybe I’m wrong. I’m not a judge, or lawyer, or anything along those lines. I don’t like those kinds of lawsuits. I think they’re frivolous.”
Stephen P. New responded to JR and stated that the latter is part of the problem. Stephen admitted that they might lose the lawsuit, and he stated that the case was not frivolous.
“Jim Ross called this lawsuit frivolous. Well, let me tell you something: this is not a frivolous lawsuit. You’re part of the problem. You, Jim Ross, are part of the problem because you fed the guys in WWE, as Talent Relations, these crap contracts for a quarter of a century. You told these guys that it was the take it or leave it deal and that they needed to sign these crap contracts that were contracts of adhesion, that they should’ve never have signed or they should have lined the arbitration provisions out of so, I’m not shocked in the least that you go on Conrad Thompson’s podcast and you say that this is a frivolous lawsuit. I might lose it, but bah gawd! It’s not frivolous. I can tell you that.
Tony Khan’s paid JR a lot of money to do nothing for about five years now, and so, if I were Jim Ross and I were living at Jacksonville Beach and making a bunch of money to not do much at all, I’d probably come out and call Stephen P. New’s lawsuit frivolous also. Everybody’s got a price.”