AEW Boss Tony Khan Declines To Comment On Reported Onscreen Departure

AEW President Tony Khan has been asked about a recent departure within the company, but has decided to not comment at this time. It was announced earlier this week that Kevin Kelly had been fired from his position as a commentator in AEW. Kelly, who only debuted for the company officially in June 2023 as part of the "AEW Collision" broadcast team, was removed from the AEW roster page after a recent outburst on social media that included a shot at fellow commentator Ian Riccaboni, who Kelly believes was favored over him.

Speaking with TV Insider, Khan was asked about Kelly's firing and whether he could give any details on the decision, to which Khan decided to not comment. "I prefer not to comment on that, but I appreciate you asking," Khan said. Kelly had worked for AEW previously thanks to his work with NJPW, meaning he was on hand to call the first-ever Forbidden Door event in 2022 as NJPW's representative. He made one last series of appearances for NJPW in 2023 shortly after signing with AEW, where he was asked to call the action for the 2023 G1 Climax tournament.

Ironically, Kelly's replacement while he was in Japan was Riccaboni, who has primarily done play-by-play commentary for ROH since the company was purchased by Khan in 2022, but has made sporadic appearances on "Collision," "AEW Rampage," and "AEW Dynamite," something that Kelly didn't ultimately get the chance to do. Kelly's role as play-by-play announcer was changed in late 2023 when Tony Schiavone asked to cover the action on Saturday nights, and with Kelly gone from the company, Schiavone and Nigel McGuinness called the most recent edition of "Collision" as a two-man commentary team.