Updated with the details
Fightful has obtained a complaint sent to numerous executives within All Elite Wrestling back in September, in which Ryan Nemeth outlined a timeline of events that he says highlight abuse, harassment, and threats he faced while working in AEW.
The complaint was dated on September 12, and noted that though the abuse stemmed from now-WWE Superstar Phil Brooks/CM Punk, his real issue was that AEW failed to respond to any of the incidents and was encouraged to cut a promo antagonizing Punk.
Punk is also referred to as “a former AEW talent who also had an undisclosed (i.e. not publicly known) Executive/Producer/Manager title with AEW.”
On April 16, 2023, Nemeth claims he contacted then AEW Legal rep Megha Parekh with concerns he’d be targeted by Brooks. Nemeth says that on June 21, 2023, Brooks did threaten him in an AEW locker room. Nemeth claims that Tony Schiovane, Parekh, and the Young Bucks all showed him empathy, and says he’s assured his relationship with AEW won’t be impacted, though it doesn’t specify who assured him.
Nemeth notes that he was not booked for two months after this incident, and that Jon Moxley contacted him and said it didn’t sit right with him, and supported him through the timeline.
Nemeth says on July 17, 2023, he contacted Parekh to communicate that he was upset AEW had not responded to the June 21 locker room incident, and said he believed he’d be “silently fired.” He was assured by Parekh that speaking up wouldn’t impact his job.
On August 12, Nemeth was booked for the first time in two months, confirming a story that Fightful Select had reported at the time. Upon arriving to Greensboro for an AEW show, Nemeth is asked to leave. AEW’s Pat Buck had originally told Nemeth that there was travel confusion before confirming that Brooks demanded he be removed from the venue. At the time, Fightful Select spoke to numerous sources in AEW who confirmed this to be the case, and mentioned that there were several talent that were kept off of the show. Nemeth says he has an audio recording some of his interactions that day.
Nemeth claims that after speaking to AEW legal and HR that day, there is no appropriate response to anything in the situation. Megha Parekh had abruptly left her role in AEW Legal, and Nemeth was instead dealing with Chris Peck and Margaret Stalvey.
He claims that he believed Khan and AEW hold him responsible for having to fire Brooks, and leading to his WWE return. Nemeth’s contract expired in March of 2024, and he says that Sonjay Dutt had made repeated creative pitches for him that went ignored.
Nemeth says that he’s met with mental health professionals over the matter, and is seeking policy change and the financial consideration that was discussed. He stated that he felt the AEW roster was full of amazing people who deserved to be in a safe environment, and didn’t necessarily believe Brooks was the catalyst for the contrary, as he thinks it would likely be someone else. He claimed that specifically, these concerns fell on deaf ears to Chris Peck and AEW.
We’re told that Nemeth did speak to Tony Khan and others in AEW months ago, and that Khan had entertained the idea of Nemeth returning to AEW. However, Nemeth didn’t wish to.
