All Elite Wrestling has seen its business struggle in the last year with declining ratings and attendance figures in their quest to build a rival to WWE. And now AEW is facing legal trouble with a lawsuit against the company and its current World Champion, Jon Moxley.
AEW just making it past the five year mark is an extraordinary achievement in and of itself given the monopoly WWE has had over professional wrestling this millennium. The promotion’s signature show, Dynamite, even surpassed WCW’s Monday Night Nitro in total episodes and has a new rights deal with WBD that will continue to provide a foundation for the future.
However, AEW has also been criticized for its inconsistent storylines, bloated roster, and talent decisions. After running large arenas and drawing over 1 million viewers weekly, AEW now draws in the 600k viewership range and runs ballrooms and theaters.
But now as Sports Illustrated‘s Jon Alba reports, the company has another headache to deal with thanks to a lawsuit filed by a former production crew member against AEW and one of its biggest stars in Jon Moxley.
Moxley is the reigning AEW champion and has held the title for more than any other wrestler who has worked for the company. But an incident in a match from 2023 is at the center of a lawsuit filed by a contract worker on the production crew, Christopher Dispensa.
During a steel cage match between Jon Moxley and Kenny Omega, Moxley shoved Dispensa down while grabbing a screwdriver from him. Dispensa alleges that it caused him injuries.
According to Sports Illustrated, the crew member alleges that Moxley went off script in shoving him to the ground and claims that it was civil assault and battery.
A production crew member who has worked with All Elite Wrestling since 2019 has filed a civil lawsuit against the company and AEW World Champion Jon Moxley (Jonathan Good). In it, he alleges various degrees of negligence by AEW and Moxley, alongside civil assault and battery against Moxley concerning an incident on AEW Dynamite in 2023.
The lawsuit was filed against the parties on May 30 in the Wayne County Circuit Court by Christopher Dispensa, a longtime wrestling and entertainment production crew member who started doing contract work with AEW in 2019. Dispensa is not a direct employee of AEW, and provided services to Broadcast Service Group, which supplies crew for AEW. His legal team, Raitt Law, PLLC, told The Takedown on SI he has not done work with AEW since Dec. 5, 2024, and was demoted by Broadcast Service Group to the role of carpenter without explanation. As of Monday morning, it had not yet received a response to the filing from the promotion.
Dispensa said the injuries occurred on the May 10, 2023 edition of AEW Dynamite in Detroit. There, Moxley faced Omega in a cage match, which ended up spilling to the outside. Moxley went to grab a screwdriver to use on Omega, and in doing so, shoved Dispensa to the ground. The lawsuit claims Moxley was supposed to only grab the screwdriver, and Dispensa took an unplanned fall as a result of being shoved. His legal team alleges this is an example of civil assault and battery, claiming that in allegedly deviating from the script, Moxley either showed intent to harm Dispensa, or “at a minimum a complete disregard for whether harm was a result.”
Moxley has been a leader for AEW both on screen and behind the scenes. When he signed a new contract with the company in 2022, he took on a coaching and mentoring role.
It’s a difficult situation for Jon Moxley and AEW. Clearly Dispensa was planned to be involved in the match because he had the screwdriver that was used for the finish. But was the physical conduct planned ahead of time or was it something that happened in the spur of the moment? Moxley’s character is supposed to be a violent, unhinged maniac that is capable of doing anything at any moment in time.
If this was planned, it would seem like AEW should be covered given this is professional wrestling after all and it’s a contact form of entertainment. If it wasn’t planned, did AEW have it in the contract that being at ringside could involve physical participation? If that is not the case, the company and one of its biggest stars could be in for a prolonged legal battle.
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