On Wednesday, US District Judge for the Central District of California Michael W. Fitzgerald dismissed Joey Ryan’s defamation lawsuit against three women who accused him of sexual assault and harassment last June.
According to court documents, Fitzgerald stated that Ryan “has not adequately responded to the OSC (order to show cause). It is well-established that a district court has authority to dismiss a plaintiff’s action due to her failure to prosecute and/or to comply with court orders.” The judge has dismissed the case “without prejudice,” therefore, Ryan can refile his lawsuit.
Last month, Ryan won a default judgement against a woman who failed to respond to a complaint. The defendant can have the default set aside and move forward with the case if she provides a valid reason for not responding. In addition, a California judge dismissed Ryan’s case against former ROH wrestler Pelle Tsichilis, aka Pelle Primeau.
In June 2020, more than fifteen women accused Ryan, born Joseph Ryan Meehan, of sexual assault and harassment. Although Ryan tweeted an apology, several wrestlers, including Joey Janela, Tony Deppen and Ryan Nemeth, who had worked for Meehan at Bar Wrestling, sided with the women.
On June 23, 2020, Impact Wrestling terminated Ryan’s contract as a result of the allegations. In an hour-long video posted on July 18, Ryan denied the accusations. On September 24, he filed a multi-million dollar lawsuit against three of his accusers for defamation, alleging that that he had lost revenue as a result of the allegations. Ryan also filed another lawsuit against Impact Wrestling for $10 million for allegedly breaching his contract.
Ryan, 41, who founded PWG with five other wrestlers, held the PWG World and PWG World Tag Team Championships. He later wrestled for promotions such as Ring of Honor, Wrestling Society X, Major League Wrestling and DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he held the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship 43 times. At NWA, he was a NWA World Tag Team Champion with Karl Anderson.
Ryan has also appeared several times on WWE, wrestling Rosey, Sylvan, The Gymini, Mark Henry, John Morrison, Super Crazy and Big Show. On August 14, 2011, he appeared at SummerSlam during a match between Mark Henry and Sheamus.
Source: Wrestling Inc