Ryan Nemeth Alleges CM Punk Harassment, "Silently Fired" By AEW

Over a year after he was publicly fired by the promotion, CM Punk's time with AEW is now once again back in the news cycle - this time, where it pertains to Ryan Nemeth.

Nowadays to be found in TNA, plus working various independent dates, Nemeth alleges that he was "silently fired" from AEW due to the wider CM Punk situation.

Fightful Select has seen a complaint from Nemeth that was sent to various AEW executives in September 2023, where the talent outlined a timeline of events that, per Nemeth, highlight abuse, harassment, and threats that he faced during his time working for Tony Khan's promotion.

That complaint was dated 12 September 2023, with this timeline claiming Nemeth has emails, texts, phone call logs, and other records to back up these allegations. Here, Punk is referred to as "a former AEW talent who also had an undisclosed Executive/Producer/Manager title with AEW", which is something many had speculated on during the Second City Saint's time with AEW.

From Ryan Nemeth's point of view, this complaint isn't so much about CM Punk, but more the real issue is how AEW failed to respond to any of these incidents and that he was encouraged to cut a promo designed to antagonise Punk.

The Initial Timeline Of Ryan Nemeth's Concerns

As for the timeline of his concerns, Ryan Nemeth claims to have contacted Megha Parekh - then the legal representative for AEW - on 16 April 2023 because he was worried he'd be targetted by CM Punk. He then says Punk threatened him in the AEW locker room on 21 June 2023, for which he was shown "empathy" from Parekh, Tony Schiavone, and the Young Bucks. Nemeth was assured that his working relationship with AEW wouldn't be affected by this, although it's not specified who gave him these assurances.

Following this, Nemeth was not booked for AEW for two months, and he references Jon Moxley as somebody who contacted him directly to voice his displeasure at this situation, adding how Mox had supported Nemeth through this timeline.

Nemeth again contacted Megha Parekh on 17 July 2023 after being upset that he'd had no AEW response to that 21 June incident, stating how he thought he'd be "silently fired" from the company. At this point, Ryan Nemeth was operating on a pay-per-appearance deal for AEW, and he believed this deal would be allowed to expire as a result of this wider situation. The talent felt like he was being punished, but Parekh assured him that speaking up would have no effect on his job.

It's worth adding that this was around the time that Fightful Select reported how the Ryan Nemeth and CM Punk confrontation came about due to a tweet where Nemeth called the Chicagoan "literally the softest man alive", which Nemeth says was a comment made in-character.

12 August saw Nemeth booked for an AEW Collision taping at the Greensboro Coliseum - that'd be where CM Punk teamed with FTR to battle House of Black - which was the taping where he was asked to leave the building. AEW official Pat Buck initially told Nemeth that there had been confusion over travel, before later confirming that, in reality, CM Punk had demanded Nemeth be removed from the venue. Nemeth claims to have an audio recording of some of his interactions from that particular day, and once again contacted Megha Parekh, this time pleading for some action to be taken.

On 16 August, Ryan Nemeth was flown to an AEW TV taping where he was "ordered to verbally antagonize the World Champion" in a promo for the live crowd. At that time, CM Punk was doing his 'real' World's Champion schtick on the Collision brand. After speaking to the AEW legal and HR departments on that day, Nemeth says there was no appropriate response to this situation, with Megha Parekh having left her AEW legal role by that point, and Nemeth then dealing with Chris Peck and Margaret Stalvey.

By now, we get to AEW All Out 2023 and the infamous backstage altercation between CM Punk and Jack Perry, that being the altercation that led to Punk being fired by Tony Khan. After this incident, Ryan Nemeth was asked to speak to outside counsel as an investigation went on regarding what happened at All Out. Nemeth noted how he'd communicated his concern about the pattern of behaviour for months, and he himself was concerned he'd become the "fall guy" for CM Punk's actions. At this time, Nemeth was told how his AEW deal would not be allowed to expire while he continued to express his concerns, although the ongoing conversations were allegedly more about how to potentially move forward with CM Punk in AEW, rather than looking to address the issues between Nemeth, Punk, and AEW.

The End Of Ryan Nemeth's AEW Run

Of course, CM Punk would be fired in the aftermath of All Out 2023 and would return to WWE at that year's Survivor Series. Ryan Nemeth believes that Tony Khan and AEW held him responsible for having to fire the Straight-Edge Superstar.

Nemeth's final match for AEW came at the 4 November 2023 edition of AEW Collision, where he and Peter Avalon lost to Paul Wight in a dark match. Prior to that, his final televised match was back in October, losing to Wardlow in less than 30 seconds.

Ryan Nemeth's AEW contract expired in March 2024, with the talent claiming that Sonjay Dutt had made "repeated" creative pitches for him that ultimately went ignored. AEW legal representative Chris Peck would then reach out to Nemeth to offer him a financial settlement in the region of three years' worth of his salary, which was dependent on the wrestler signing an NDA. Nemeth was appreciative of this offer and wanted to discuss it further, but he was then told that this was no longer an option. This document also states that Nemeth was told that he'd "be placed in an antagonistic position to Megha if things ever escalated to arbitration". For his part, Nemeth says he always had a positive and respectful working relationship with Megha Parekh, adding how Chris Peck threatened to sue him should he send out details of this timeline.

As a result of this broader situation, Ryan Nemeth says he met with mental health professionals, with him now seeking a change of policy in AEW and also seeking the "financial consideration" that had been previously discussed with the company. Nemeth noted how the AEW roster is full of great people who all deserve to work in a safe environment, but that his prior concerns fell on "deaf ears" with Chris Peck and AEW - which is an issue others have also spoken to Peck about.

Interestingly, Chris Peck had not received the document with this timeline information due to things with him having reached a "stonewall". However, AEW's legal and HR departments received this timeline, with Nemeth adding how Megha Parekh, Jon Moxley, and the Young Bucks were helpful during all of this.

Finally, Fightful has been told that Ryan Nemeth did speak to Tony Khan and certain other figures in AEW several months ago, and Khan was open to the idea of Nemeth possibly returning to the company. On that front, Nemeth himself was not so keen on that potential return. Fightful has reached out to AEW for comment on this situation, but the outlet has yet to receive a response.