AEW wrestler Ryan Nemeth filed a lawsuit against his former contractor alleging assault, breach of contract, breach of implied contract of good faith and fair dealing and intentional interference with prospective advantage.
Nemeth, the brother of former WWE and current TNA talent Nic Nemeth (f/k/a Dolph Ziggler) filed this lawsuit in state court in California where he resides. However, the lawsuit was transferred out of California and moved to federal court in Florida where AEW has its core business.
Since the filing of the lawsuit, AEW has requested that the lawsuit be moved to arbitration and that Nemeth’s talent contracts are filed under seal.
Nemeth’s lawsuit places blame on former talent, CM Punk (aka Phil Brooks), for an alleged hostile working environment and bullying co-workers.
Brooks undertook a campaign to terrorize and intimidate Plaintiff, including physical assault.
The lawsuit details the “Brawl Out” which occurred in 2023 where CM Punk got into an altercation with Nick and Matt Jackson after an AEW PPV.
He claims that after Punk’s suspension he was involved in a verbal altercation with Punk
Nemeth noted that after telling executives of the encounter he was “benched” by AEW. Essentially, Nemeth was not used by AEW which equated to a loss of income for the independent contractor. He also argued the lack of ring time meant fans would not purchase his merchandise which is another revenue stream.
After almost two months of inaction, he was booked to wrestle in August 2023. However, Nemeth claims Punk had him removed from the arena before wrestling.
Upon CM Punk leaving AEW after an incident with Jack Perry in London and a subsequent confrontation with Khan, he left and returned to WWE. Nemeth claims that Khan blamed Nemeth for the departure.
Nemeth has sued Brooks for the civil tort of battery which seems to be mischaracterized as “assault” in his lawsuit. He claims that Brooks threatening Nemeth constituted the assault. While it is a textbook definition of the civil tort, it is very hard to prove especially in the circumstances of professional wrestling.
Nemeth claims that AEW breached his contract by not scheduling matches for him, not protecting him from other “employees” (i.e., Brooks) and essentially blackballing him from wrestling.
Payout Perspective:
This will be a very hard case for Nemeth to win. Although we will not see it due to being filed under seal, it is hard to believe that Nemeth had any guarantees in how many matches and how often he would appear with AEW. Moreover, it seems as though he was still being compensated even though he was not appearing in matches. The alleged breach does not claim that he was not being paid which is a big issue when you look at potential damages. Also, Nemeth would have to have witnesses that Punk was attempting to “blackball” him with the help of Khan. The fact that Nemeth has been able to participate in other promotions is evidence that he has not really been “blackballed” or harmed during his career. Likely, Nemeth is looking for a settlement but we shall see. MPO will continue to follow.
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