Kevin Kelly & Tate Twins’ Appeals Case Against AEW Filed, Attempting To Reverse Judge’s Decision To Send Defamation Case To Arbitration

An update on the Kevin Kelly/Tate Twins/AEW suit.

The appeals case against All Elite Wrestling that was brought forth by Kevin Kelly and the Tate Twins (Brandon Tate & Brent Tate) was filed in the 11th Circuit on August 26th.

Brandon Thurston of Wrestlenomics has the details, and he posted the following on X:

The Kevin Kelly & Tate Twins appeals case against AEW in the 11th Circuit was filed today. They’re trying to reverse the district judge’s decision to send their defamation case to arbitration. Attorney Stephen P. New argues the district judge erred in not allowing discovery before ruling and by ruling that they didn’t attack the delegation clause. The brief insists the arbitration clauses in their talent contracts were both substantively and procedurally unconscionable, a standard of unfairness which would make them unenforceable.

AEW put arbitration clauses in their contracts, keeping disputes out of public court. (This is probably common throughout major wrestling companies’ talent contracts.) Kelly & Tates say the judge sent this case to arbitration too quickly…

They claim the arbitration clauses were so unfair that they do meet the very specific legal standard required to prevent a judge from enforcing arbitration. They claim they couldn’t negotiate the clauses, they weren’t told about the costs of arbitration, they have to arbitrate in Florida even though they don’t live there, they weren’t told the rules of arbitration, they were pressured to sign, and had no real choice. Thus, they meet the high “unconscionability” standard, they say.

In June 2025, a federal judge ruled in AEW’s favor, ordering the legal dispute with Kelly and the Tate Twins to arbitration. The Tate Twins and Kelly sued AEW, Tony Khan, and Ian Riccaboni in August 2024. They alleged breach of contract, defamation, and additional claims after departing AEW.