All Elite Wrestling has gone on the offensive in its legal fight with Ryan Nemeth. The promotion filed a new petition on June 5 in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, accusing Nemeth of misrepresentation and misleading conduct during the arbitration process the two sides had agreed to enter.
AEW is now pushing to strip Nemeth of the California venue and labor-code claims he filed after both parties opted for private arbitration. According to POST Wrestling, the company wants the proceedings shifted to Florida.
The dispute traces back to February 2025, when Nemeth filed a complaint in California Superior Court against AEW, Tony Khan, and Phil Brooks (CM Punk), alleging assault, professional retaliation, and being blacklisted from the industry. He also accused the promotion of breach of contract and breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, as detailed in his original assault lawsuit naming CM Punk and Tony Khan.
Two months later, Nemeth voluntarily dismissed that lawsuit and agreed to take the matter to private arbitration. AEW then dismissed its own petition in the Middle District of Florida, where it had sought to compel arbitration under the terms of Nemeth’s contract. That step was covered when Nemeth’s AEW and CM Punk lawsuit moved to arbitration.
AEW Pushes for Florida-Based Arbitration
JAMS, the private dispute-resolution company AEW designated in its contractual language, is based in Irvine, California, and operates 29 locations worldwide. AEW says that after agreeing to arbitration, Nemeth filed a demand with a JAMS office in Orange County, California, and added “an assortment of unsupported claims under the California Labor Code.”
The promotion argues those claims do not apply. Per the report, AEW contends the California Labor Code does not cover Nemeth because he was classified as an independent contractor rather than an employee.
AEW is asking the court to deem the terms of Nemeth’s contract valid and enforceable, and to require him to arbitrate his claims at the JAMS office nearest Duval County, Florida. The company also wants to prevent Nemeth from pursuing arbitration in a way that violates the agreement, and is requesting “reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs incurred in this proceeding” along with “any other such relief to which petitioners may be entitled.”
The renewed jurisdictional battle mirrors AEW and Tony Khan’s earlier effort, which was detailed when AEW and Tony Khan first sought arbitration in the Nemeth lawsuit.
Nemeth competed for AEW and Ring of Honor from 2021 to 2023. Since 2024, he has been part of the TNA Wrestling roster alongside his brother, Nic Nemeth, with the pair holding the TNA World Tag Team Championships as former champions.
Via POST Wrestling