Former WWE star had no idea about Ryan Nemeth's serious issues with CM Punk despite being close friends (Exclusive)
A former WWE star had no clue about CM Punk's beef with Ryan Nemeth. The name in question is none other than EC3.
It was recently revealed in a Fightful report that Ryan Nemeth filed a complaint about facing abuse, threats, and harassment from former WWE Champion CM Punk. He also accused AEW of not handling the issue and encouraging him to cut a shoot promo on Punk. In the document, Ryan Nemeth also claimed that the WWE star had an executive role in All Elite Wrestling.
In a recent episode of Sportskeeda's The Wrestling Outlaws podcast, EC3 revealed that he had no idea about the controversy despite having a close relationship with Ryan Nemeth. He further shared his thoughts on the issue and stated that the only way to solve these things is to have conversations with the talent.
"I have a very close personal relationship with Ryan Nemeth, and I had no idea about any of this. So I didn't, until I saw the email, know this existed. But what I can say about him is that, especially when it comes to legalities and corporate structure, he's very cunning and he's very much going to document things. So what to think about it? I mean, he said, she said, legalities, we don't know really what is to be said. We don't really know the variations of truth between all parties involved. But what we do know is that everything is accountable for leadership at the top. And this just seems like something where leadership failed to get ahead of something or to have uncomfortable but needing, needful conversations with the talent." [5:20 - 6:12]
Former WWE star EC3 pointed out the difference between CM Punk and Ryan Nemeth as talents
In the same episode, EC3 further examined the situation and spoke about how AEW approached the issue between Nemeth and Punk. He pointed out that CM Punk was the top draw and World Champion of the promotion so the company sided with him instead of Ryan Nemeth who was a mid-carder.
"Whereas even in fact, as a leader, maybe there's an issue between Ryan and Phil that perhaps, well, Phil is the draw and he is the champion and he is the top guy in the company. And Ryan, you're, you know, mid-card and not the necessary cog in the wheel. I have to play this game with him. While this is going on, we will take care of you kind of thing." [6:12-6:35]
CM Punk was fired from All Elite Wrestling in September 2023. This led to his historic WWE return at the Survivor Series WarGames PLE last year.
If you use the quotes from EC3, please give an H/T to Sportskeeda Wrestling and backlink the YouTube video.