Tony Khan And AEW Accused Of Aggressive And Intimidating Tactics
The legal battle between Tony Khan and a former AEW wrestler isn’t going away quietly.
Back in February, Ryan Nemeth filed a lawsuit against AEW, Tony Khan, and CM Punk, featuring a series of eyebrow-raising claims concerning Punk’s time with the company.
In the lengthy suit, it’s noted that Punk served in a role of “executive leadership” and that Khan “has a very deep personal affinity” for the star. The filing contained allegations of assault, breach of contract, and claims that Punk left Nemeth “embarrassed and humiliated.”
In response, Tony Khan and AEW sought to compel Ryan Nemeth into private arbitration, which would see the wrestlers’ contracts involved remain sealed.
Ryan Nemeth Hits Back At Tony Khan
In a post on his Substack, Nemeth took issue with how Tony Khan and AEW have handled their legal battle. The star broke down how he was served legal papers that confirmed he was being counter-sued by his former employer.
The night of our second, and final, performance, I was approached by a man in the theater lobby just outside the restrooms. He said he was there to serve me legal papers (“Hey, sorry, you’re gettin’ sued”), and apologized for doing it at this inopportune time. He was giving me a legal notice that my former employer was suing me to move our legal dispute to arbitration, i.e., to keep everything private.
Nemeth explained that while he and his legal team made sure Khan wasn’t ambushed and was given a chance to review the original suit before it was officially filed, he wasn’t afforded the same courtesy.
The TNA star dismissed the idea that Khan didn’t have a choice when his suit was served, claiming his actions were aggressive and designed to intimidate.
Nobody was ambushed. Nobody was caught off-guard. In fact, one might argue that me choosing the unfortunate lawsuit option was telegraphed very clearly by two years of me trying all the other non-lawsuit options. Finally, after that very fair, very professional heads up, we filed.
For those of you with the knee-jerk reaction of “That’s how it works, idiot! He doesn’t get to choose when they serve you!” I’ll say this: my former employer, a billionaire, definitely had a choice.
He could have very easily sent the notice to my attorney; he has his contact info. (I mean, my attorney’s contact information is printed quite clearly on the paperwork that I was served, so there goes that excuse.) He could have had it sent to my attorney on Monday morning, or any morning, for that matter.
So, yeah, my first thought was also, “Well, this wasn’t intentional.” But, it kinda was. The billionaire in question definitely has my attorney’s information, as does his legal team and any independent counsel he’s gotten involved in this.
These are aggressive tactics that I believe are designed to intimidate me and to stop me from speaking up about how I was treated.“
Nemeth said he was offered a new AEW contract in lieu of the lawsuit, but he turned it down. He also turned down a settlement offered by the company, which he claims the lawyer involved had no authority to offer.
Going back to when he was served, Nemeth said the way in which it was done was “pathetic.” The star then turned his attention to Tony Khan.
The one man who single-handedly runs the entire company can’t just claim plausible deniability at every turn, on every issue that seems remotely negative.
Nemeth closed by saying there were more “humane and professional” ways the situation could have been dealt with.