Tony Khan, the son of Jaguars owner Shad Khan and the team’s chief strategy officer, has ended up on the wrong side of a lawsuit arising from the pro wrestling league owned and operated by the Khans.
Via Fightful.com, wrestler Ryan Nemeth has sued Khan, AEW, and CM Punk in California state court. The complaint, per the report, includes claims of assault, breach of contract, breach of implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, and intentional interference with prospective advantage.
The gist of the case is that Nemeth accuses CM Punk (listed as Phil Brooks, his real name) of assaulting Nemeth in the locker room. Nemeth claims that AEW thereafter “benched” him, at CM Punk’s request. Nemeth contends that, after CM Punk left AEW for the WWE, the defendants attempted to “blackball” Nemeth from professional wrestling.
From paragraph 41 of the complaint obtained by Fightful.com: “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.”
With pro wrestling, it’s always hard to know where the bits and the publicity stunts end and where the truth begins. Last April, for instance, Tony Khan played up the notion that he’d been injured in the ring by wearing a cartoonish neck brace during the draft. Appearing on NFL Network (while wearing the apparatus), Tony Khan said the WWE “is like the the Harvey Weinstein of pro wrestling.”
Still, the lengthy excerpts from the lawsuit obtained by Fightful.com look legitimate. We’ll see how this plays out — and whether it will prompt any league scrutiny of Tony Khan.
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