On Friday I submitted my opposition to AEW’s renewed effort to file under seal much of Ryan Nemeth’s three wrestler contracts. AEW’s renewed motion was filed on September 24.
AEW argues the redactions cover confidential business information that competitors and talent could use to replicate AEW’s deals.
I argue that the redactions are overly broad and the public can’t assess whether wrestlers are independent contractors or employees without reading the contracts more fully. Nemeth claims he was misclassified.
The newest filings:
This is part of a case in federal court in Florida where AEW and Tony Khan are asking the court to order that arbitration with Nemeth take place in Florida rather than California.
The dispute began with Nemeth’s February 2025 lawsuit against AEW, Khan, and Phil Brooks (CM Punk), alleging AEW tried to “black ball” him from wrestling and that Brooks assaulted him. The parties agreed in April 2025 to move that case to private arbitration (POST Wrestling report here). The parties had a dispute over where arbitration would take place, and AEW filed its petition in federal court.
AEW cites Nemeth’s wrestler contracts in arguing for Florida, and attached them to the petition, at first completely under seal, which I filed to oppose. The court decided the contracts couldn’t be completely sealed and allowed AEW to file the motion again to redact portions of them.
You can read more about the background of the petition case in reporting from POST Wrestling, here from June and here from September.
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