By David G. Firestone
I’ve discussed the idea of rank on my former podcast and The Driver Suit Blog before. Sometimes you don’t get a higher rank because you don’t deserve it. Sometimes you are not the right person for the job. Life is unfair, and you aren’t special. Well it appears that wrestler Ryan Nemeth didn’t get the memo on that.
From 2023 to 2024, Ryan Nemeth was contracted to AEW on a per-date basis, meaning he would be paid when he was used. In wrestling, Ryan Nemeth is what is known as a “jobber,” which means he loses, or “does jobs” to more established wrestlers. Jobbers are typically on the bottom end of the hirearchy in wrestlers. In his AEW career, Nemeth has wrestled a total of 83 times between 2021 and 2024. He has only won 10 of these matches, all of them for AEW’s YouTube programs. In addition, his only championships in the US were tag team champions, and his only singles title is a few minutes with the DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Championship, which is impossible to take seriously.
Yet, according to Ryan Nemeth, AEW, and CM Punk were on a campaign to ruin Ryan’s career. After leaving AEW on bad terms, Nemeth has filed a lawsuit agains AEW and CM Punk. Apparently, even though he brought nothing to AEW, Tony Khan and CM Punk have been trying to ruin Nemeth’s career. The legal filings are hysterical.
One part of this really stands out. “In early 2023, Brooks assaulted and battered two fellow wrestlers known by the stage names Matt and Nick Jackson. Brooks is known to have an uncontrollable temper and often lashes out in violent tirades against others. Thus, Defendants were on notice regarding Brooks’ violent proclivities.”
Well, that is technically true. Punk did batter Nick and Matt Jackson…AFTER they burst into his locker room looking for a fight after his rant at the AEW All-Out press scrum. That’s something that is present quite a bit in this filing. Some of it is so laughable, I’m stunned it would be filed in a lawsuit.
But we now get to the meat of the matter, and why I had to discuss this. This is from the filing in question:
“On November 25, 2024 Brooks left AEW to wrestle for the organizations main competitor, WWE.
Khan was heartbroken by the departure of Brooks, his idol and that he adored in every way.
Khan was furious with Nemeth. Khan believes that Brooks left AEW because of Nemeth.
The Defendants have embarked upon a campaign to “blackball” Nemeth from
professional wrestling. Specifically, Tony Khan blames Nemeth for Brooks leaving AEW and has used his significant resources to make sure that Nemeth can never again make a living in wrestling.”
I’ve discussed both the incidents at All-In and All-Out. The fact of the matter is that no matter how you slice it, Ryan Nemeth had NOTHING to do with the fact that CM Punk left. The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, and Jack Perry were the ones who forced Punk’s hand. All Ryan Nemeth did was to post something on Twitter that got Punk’s attention, and Punk responded. I’m willing to wager a lot of money that Nemeth was just a drop in that cesspool. Yet this low-ranking jobber thinks that he is the reason Punk left.
If Ryan Nemeth really thinks that he is the reason Punk left, he’s delusional. It’s much more likely that he’s trying to get a quick buck from a billionaire, after his run in AEW didn’t pan out. Oh, and the blackball efforts were so successful that Ryan is currently wrestling for TNA and had a WWE NXT Tag-Team Championship match on national TV. So that argument isn’t exactly water-tight.
The facts are that Ryan Nemeth was at the bottom, CM Punk was at the top, Ryan shot his mouth off, and Punk had to put him in his place. Nemeth thinks he’s more important to wrestling that he ever really will be, and he wants money as a result. Tony may settle, Punk probably won’t, and I’ll be interested to see how this plays out.
Souces cited:
The Driver Suit Blog 