Ryan Nemeth Sent Complaint To AEW About Alleged Abuse From CM Punk

Former AEW Wrestler Ryan Nemeth was reportedly on the end of ‘abuse’ from former AEW World Champion CM Punk, with Nemeth submitting complaints about Punk’s conduct to AEW management.

Nemeth quietly exited AEW in early 2024 following several years with the promotion, but a new report from Fightful Select has uncovered complaints filed by Nemeth with AEW management from September, with Nemeth presenting a timeline of events in which he says ‘highlight abuse, harassment, and threats he faced while working in AEW’. It should be noted that that these are the individual claims of Nemeth himself, primarily as outlined in the document sent to numerous AEW executives.

In the report it is stated that Nemeth alleges abuse from Punk, and takes issue with AEW management for failing to respond to any of the incidents, with Nemeth at one point encouraged to cut a promo antagonising Punk. 

Nemeth states in his complaint that he has retained a log of emails, texts, phone call logs, and other records, with Punk referred as ‘a former AEW talent who also had an undisclosed (i.e. not publicly known) Executive/Producer/Manager title with AEW.’

He claims he contacted then AEW legal representative Megha Parekh on April 16 2023, with Nemeth concerned that he would be targeted by Punk - real name Phil Brooks. Nemeth also alleges that Punk threatened him in an AEW locker room on June 21, 2023 - with news of the incident reported at the time. Punk is believed to have taken umbrage with Nemeth over tweets pertaining to his ego, with Nemeth adding that Tony Schiavone, Parekh, and the Young Bucks all showed him empathy, with Nemeth allegedly assured his AEW relationship wouldn’t be affected by the incident - although it is not noted who assured him of such things. Nemeth claimed his tweet stating ‘Literally the softest man alive’ was in character.

After this incident, Nemeth claims he wasn’t booked by AEW for two months, with Jon Moxley alleged to have contacted Nemeth to say the situation ‘didn’t sit right with him’ and supported Nemeth during this period. Nemeth then followed up with Parekh on July 17, 2023, with Nemeth upset that AEW hadn’t responded to the locker room incident in June, with Nemeth feeling he’d be ‘silently fired’ by the promotion, specifically that his paid-per-appearance deal would be allowed to expire, with Nemeth feeling he was being punished, although Parekh is said to have assured him ‘that speaking up wouldn’t impact his job’.

Nemeth was booked by AEW for the first time in two months on August 12, but upon arriving to the venue in Greensboro, Nemeth was told to go home, with Pat Buck originally telling Nemeth there was travel confusion before saying that Punk demanded Nemeth be removed from the venue. Again, reports at the time highlighted this incident, with several AEW talent asked to stay away from the show. Nemeth alleges he has audio evidence from this day from several interactions.

Again, Nemeth says he contacted Parekh for action to be taken, with Nemeth flown into the August 16 show and - in Nemeth’s words - "ordered to verbally antagonise the 'World Champion' (Brooks is AEW Collision World Champion at the time) in a promo in front of the live crowd, taped for AEW programming."

Nemeth claims he spoke with AEW legal and HR on August 16, but there was ‘no appropriate response to anything in the situation’. Parekh abruptly left her position in AEW’s legal department, with Nemeth then dealing with Chris Peck and Margaret Stalvey.

After the Punk/Jack Perry incident at All In Wembley in August 2023, Nemeth was asked to speak to outside counsel, as AEW legal and HR were investigating the situation. Nemeth claims he mentioned how he had been speaking about Punk’s pattern of behaviour, and was concerned about being ‘made the fall guy’ for Punk’s behaviour and conduct. Those Fightful spoke with claim this was to determine the course of action with Punk rather than rectifying Nemeth’s past issues with Punk, and AEW. Nemeth states he again stated concerns his contract would be left to expire, and was reassured that it wouldn’t.

Nemeth’s final appearance for AEW came on November 18, 2023 - the same week that Punk would make his WWE return at Survivor Series. Nemeth claims he believes Tony Khan and AEW hold him responsible for the firing of Punk, and his subsequent return to WWE. Nemeth’s AEW deal eventually expired in March 2024, with Sonjay Dutt believed to have made numerous creative pitches to use the ‘Hollywood Hunk’ that ultimately went ignored.

After the completion of the outlined timeline, Nemeth alleges that AEW legal rep Chris Peck communicated a settlement interest ‘that would equal approximately three years of Nemeth’s salary’, dependent on Nemeth signing a non-disclosure agreement on the matter. Nemeth says whilst he was appreciative of the offer, he wished to discuss it, but was informed by his legal counsel that the offer was ‘no longer an option’. It is also claimed that Peck informed Nemeth he would be ‘placed in an antagonistic position to Megha Parekh if things ever escalated to arbitration’, although Nemeth claims he maintained a positive and respectful working relationship with Parekh. Nemeth further claims that Peck threatened him with legal action in response to sending the aforementioned timeline.

As a result of the events claimed by Nemeth, Nemeth states he met with a mental health professional, and is seeking policy change within AEW, as well as the aforementioned financial consideration that was discussed.

Nemeth states he felt the AEW locker room was ‘full of amazing people’ and that they ‘deserved’ to work and be in a safe environment. Nemeth does not necessarily believe that Punk was the catalyst for such conditions, as he believes it would likely be someone else. Nemeth specifically claims he believes these concerns fell on deaf ears to Chris Peck and AEW, with others believed to have communicated such issues to Peck.

The document filed by Nemeth noted that AEW’s legal and HR departments had received Nemeth’s timeline of events, but Peck himself had not personally received the timeline as ‘things had reached a stonewall with him.' Nemeth specifically noted that Parekh, Matthew and Nicholas Jackson, and Jon Moxley had all been helpful during the situation.

Fightful added that they had heard that after Nemeth had spoken with AEW President Tony Khan and others in AEW this year, Khan had entertained the notion of working again with Nemeth in AEW, but Nemeth didn’t want to.