Montez Ford

Introduction

Montez Ford is an American professional wrestler who has been signed to WWE since 2015, where he performs as one half of the Street Profits tag team alongside Angelo Dawkins. Ford, whose legal name is Kenneth Crawford, teamed with Dawkins in 2017 and went on to win tag team championships across NXT, Raw and SmackDown, becoming WWE Tag Team Triple Crown champions in 2020. In October 2026 Ford was named as a defendant in a civil lawsuit brought by a Cook County sheriff’s officer who alleges Ford performed an unwanted, sexualized “lap dance” on him during a live, nationally broadcast episode of Monday Night Raw that past July.

Background Information

The incident is alleged to have occurred during the July 6, 2026 episode of Raw at the Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Illinois — an episode that drew an estimated 12,500 fans and recorded 2.5 million global views on Netflix over its first seven days. On that same show the Street Profits lost the World Tag Team Championship to Bron Breakker and Austin Theory of The Vision, in what has so far been Ford’s last televised appearance. The plaintiff, Noel Lucas, is an officer with the Cook County Sheriff’s Department who was working the event as off-duty private security for the firm Monterrey Security; according to the complaint, a WWE employee directed him to take up a position near ringside.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Allegations. The claims recounted here are allegations from a civil complaint filed in the Circuit Court of Cook County. They were never admitted by Ford, never criminally charged, and have never been adjudicated in court. Ford has not publicly responded to the lawsuit, and WWE did not respond to press requests for comment.

According to the complaint, as Ford and Dawkins made their entrance toward the ring, Ford approached Lucas without warning or consent and performed a “sexually provocative dance” in front of and over him for nearly 30 seconds. The filing states that Ford “began performing a sexually provocative dance immediately in front of and over Plaintiff [Lucas], repeatedly thrusting and gyrating his hips and pelvis towards Plaintiff, performing a sexualized ’lap dance,’” and alleges his “left inner thigh repeatedly rubbed against Plaintiff’s leg.” Fan footage cited in coverage shows Lucas appearing uncomfortable and initially looking away before eventually cracking a smile.

The lawsuit was filed on October 14, 2026 in the Circuit Court of Cook County, first reported by Wrestlenomics’ Brandon Thurston of POST Wrestling, and names WWE, Ford (Kenneth Crawford) and WWE subsidiary Event Services, LLC as defendants. It alleges 14 counts, including assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress and violations of the Illinois Gender Violence Act, along with a claim under the Illinois Right of Publicity Act accusing WWE and Ford of using Lucas’s image commercially without permission.

The complaint further alleges that footage of the encounter spread across social media, drawing hundreds of thousands of views — including on WWE’s and Ford’s own accounts — leaving Lucas “publicly recognizable.” The next day, back at his full-time courthouse job, members of the public allegedly recognized and mocked him by imitating the movements, and his children were “mocked and ridiculed” at school over the footage. The episode’s current Netflix version cuts away early during the Street Profits’ entrance, omitting the interaction, though the clip remains available online.

Public Reaction and Consequences

When the entrance aired live in July, the moment circulated as online comedy — clips shared with rows of laughing-crying emojis under captions like “MONTEZ FORD!!!” — and the ratings bump of the dance was part of what made the segment travel. The lawsuit reframes that same footage as the harm itself. Lucas’s attorney, Whitney Barr of Caffarelli & Martin Ltd., said “Mr. Lucas was there to do his job, not to be made a part of WWE’s entertainment,” adding that he “had been instructed to remain at his post, and while following those instructions, a WWE performer subjected him to unwanted sexualized physical contact in front of thousands of spectators and a nationwide audience.” Her firm argues the nature of the entertainment event “does not excuse the conduct or eliminate the requirement of consent.” WWE did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and the story spread from wrestling outlets to mainstream coverage in the Chicago Sun-Times and the New York Post.

Current Status

The case is pending civil litigation: the claims against Ford are unadjudicated allegations, and no criminal charges have been filed in connection with the incident. Lucas is seeking unspecified monetary and punitive damages, legal costs, and a court order barring WWE and Ford from using his identity, and has demanded a jury trial. A case management hearing is scheduled for December 10, 2026 at the Daley Center in Chicago. Ford has not appeared on WWE programming since dropping the tag titles in July — an absence that predates the lawsuit, with no reported injury, though SI notes the filing came too recently to explain it.

Impact on Their Career/Life

For a performer whose act is built on swagger and physical comedy, the suit draws a legal line through the middle of it: a filmed-for-broadcast entrance gag has become 14 civil counts because a security contractor at ringside says he never consented to being part of it. Ford, a Triple Crown tag team champion, now faces a complaint under Illinois’s Gender Violence Act while off WWE television, with the promotion’s own distribution choices — posting the viral clip, then scrubbing it from the Netflix cut — cited in the allegations. The Right of Publicity count targets the same footage WWE and Ford themselves amplified, making the clip that entertained the internet the evidence base of the claim against its star.

Sources

NY Post, “WWE star Montez Ford sued over alleged ‘sexualized lap dance’ on security guard during ‘Monday Night Raw’,” October 16, 2026. source
Chicago Sun-Times, “Cook County sheriff’s officer sues WWE, wrestler for ‘unwanted’ lap dance during live show,” October 15, 2026. source
F4W/Wrestling Observer, “Montez Ford, WWE sued over ‘sexually provocative dance’ during ring entrance,” October 2026. source
WrestleZone, “WWE & Montez Ford Sued Over Controversial RAW Lap Dance Segment — Report,” October 15, 2026. source
NoDQ, “Report: Montez Ford and WWE sued by security guard over ’lap dance’ on RAW,” October 2026. source
Sports Illustrated, “WWE and Montez Ford Facing Lawsuit Over ‘Lap Dance’ Entrance,” October 2026. source
NY Post, trigger post on X, October 16, 2026. source