Ryan Nemeth Talks Tony Khan Cutting His AEW Debut Match
AEW star Ryan Nemeth of The Wingmen was on a recent episode of the Talk Is Jericho podcast. Chris Jericho asked Nemeth how he found his way into AEW.
"Brodie Lee was a great friend of mine, met him in FCW / NXT and kept in touch with him and Amanda. I sometimes used to help babysit Jr.," Nemeth said. "He has no memory of this happening, but Trent and Luchasaurus both had been telling me, 'Hey, they're doing a birthday party for him, so you should fly in. Amanda would like that.' I said, 'It's kind of weird to just show up at a wrestling company you don't work for.' They said, 'Don't worry, it's fine and also just bring your gear.
"They have a lot of extras around, maybe you'll get a match or something.' I was kind of going back and forth, felt very strange. 'Hi guys, I just happen to be a wrestler.' So I said, 'Alright, I hope this kid remembers me. I don't know if he even would at this point. It's been five years since I've seen him,' and I came in for the birthday. I said hi to her. It was very cool. It felt like a really nice reunion."
Nemeth also discussed how his AEW debut came together. He recalled his reaction when his Dark match was cut.
"Then they said, 'Hey, do you want to be in a match?' And I said, 'I have my gear, of course,' and to inexplicably have a debut match on Dynamite against Adam Page is pretty wild," Nemeth admitted. "We did a six-man Dark, and then Tony [Khan], as we were going back through a tunnel, he came halfway through the tunnel and said, 'We're not going to air this. I want you to figure something else out.' I was like, alright.
"I interpreted that as, aw, I really blew it. I must have sucked, something went wrong, and the next morning, Jess Palombo was talking on the phone but looking at you. She goes, 'Hey, it's you and Hangman tonight,' and she walked off and I was like, 'What? Why? I mean, great. Okay, cool.' I don't know [what Tony saw], but I'm happy about it."
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit Talk Is Jericho with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.