A March wrestling event designed to raise money for The Wrestling 4 Women’s Charity in Knoxville, TN was canceled Tuesday after it became public that former IMPACT Wrestling star and former Bar Wrestling owner Joey Ryan was involved.
The event, which was scheduled for March 20th was to feature AEW stars Brian Cage and Sonny Kiss, IMPACT star Trey Miguel, 2 Cold Scorpio, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and JTG.
A poster apparently was on the event’s Twitter page Tuesday with Ryan seen on it.
Based on the web page to buy tickets, it appeared that Bar Wrestling was promoting the show using a new email address specifically for the charity.
This led AEW CEO and President Tony Khan remove talent from the event if Ryan was to be involved, but would still donate to the charity. Khan’s offer then came into question with Khan asking if the charity was even real.
Soon thereafter Khan’s Twitter posts, Bar Wrestling announced on their now deleted Twitter account that they were canceling the whole show while implying they did nothing wrong with noting the following:
“We apologize for riling everyone up. It is clear that we’re in over our heads. We’ll say that everybody booked was fully aware of all details including going through AEW’s 3rd party booking system for talent. Rather than put talent in a tough situation, we’ve canceled the show.”
At one point, the the Bar Wrestling Group announced the event was going to stream on FITE TV. However, FITE noted on Twitter they were not carrying the event.
After last summer’s #SpeakingOut Movement, Ryan was accused by multiple women of sexual assault. He is attempting to fight some of the charges in court as he has several lawsuits going.
Ryan was released from his contract with IMPACT Wrestling last June. Last October, he filed a $10 million breach of contract lawsuit against Anthem Sports and Entertainment. That lawsuit is still pending.
If Joey Ryan is there, my people won’t be there. I’ll gladly donate to the charity though.
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) March 2, 2021
Wait if he’s behind this (is he?), then is this charity even legit?
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) March 2, 2021
Hello, this is Kim Hurwitz, CMO of FITE. I wanted to confirm that this event is not being carried by FITE. Thank you for your comments. We love our pro wrestling community!
— FITE (@FiteTV) March 2, 2021