Kevin Kelly Reportedly Fired from AEW

As noted before, AEW commentator Kevin Kelly’s future in AEW was believed to be in doubt following his profile recently being removed from AEW’s roster page over potential fallout from a recent online incident. Kelly was not in attendance at Thursday’s Collision tapings in Duluth, Georgia fueling more speculation of him likely being released by AEW.

PWTorch’s Wade Keller reported that his sources within AEW confirmed that Kelly has been fired from the company.

Keller reported that those spoken to confirmed that Kelly’s recent posts on social media and controversial online incident this past weekend was the reason for his firing from AEW

In regards to Kelly’s claims that AEW and Ring of Honor commentator Ian Riccaboni sabotaged his career and committed libel against him, Keller reported that this originated from a post on Twitter where Kelly stated “When you go out of your way to intentionally mischaracterize my raising awareness of the global horrors of child trafficking to a fringe conspiracy theory that everyone knows is bulls–t in order to hurt my career and standing in the industry, that at the very least is libelous.”

When you go out of your way to intentionally mischaracterize my raising awareness of the global horrors of child trafficking to a fringe conspiracy theory that everyone knows is bullshit in order to hurt my career and standing in the industry, that at the very least is libelous

— Kevin Kelly (@realkevinkelly) March 2, 2024

Keller reported that Kelly’s performances on commentary for AEW were viewed by many within the company, including AEW CEO Tony Khan, as being subpar in quality. This reportedly was the reason why Tony Schiavone took over Kelly’s role as the lead commentator for Collision only a few months into Collision’s run on TNT. Among the issues leading to Kelly’s demotion included him coming across on AEW television as not being familiar with the product, the names of signature moves for AEW wrestlers, and the history of wrestlers and ongoing feuds.

Prior to his firing, Kelly had been working for AEW since June of 2023.