An independent show, titled Wrestling 4 Women’s Charity, was canceled yesterday after it was revealed that Joey Ryan’s Bar Wrestling promotion is behind it and AEW President Tony Khan threatened to pull all his talent from it after it was pointed out that Bar Wrestling was the contact for the tickets.
The show was scheduled to take place on March 20 in Knoxville, Tennessee, featuring several indie wrestlers as well as those from AEW and Impact Wrestling including Sonny Kiss, Brian Cage, Trey Miguel, and others.
After being alerted about it, Tony Khan said that if Joey Ryan was going to be there, there would be no AEW involvement but would still donate money to the charity. Several fans then pointed out to Khan that the charity had a shady background as well and everything fell from there.
FITE TV’s Chief Marketing Officer Kim Hurwitz also came out on Twitter saying that the company would not be airing the event after it was alleged that the charity show was airing on their platform.
After all the commotion, the Wrestling 4 Women’s Charity Twitter account issued the following statement, saying, “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.”
The Twitter account was also swiftly deleted.
Joey Ryan remains an outcast in the world of professional wrestling after several women accused him of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior during the #SpeakingOut movement last June. No charges have been filed against him and Ryan continues to deny the allegations.
