• Look Back In History
• Pmessages
• Quiz
• Stump The Staff
• Top Fifty
• Close

Why Joey Ryan Has Been Blackballed From Pro Wrestling, Explained

Posted: Oct 20th 2022 By: Michael Chin - TheSportster.com

Joey Ryan became a cult favorite among indie wrestling fans, only have a serious fall from grace.

Modern pop culture has seen its share of falls from grace as major celebrities and power brokers ranging from Louis CK to R. Kelly to Harvey Weinstein have faced the consequences of real life choices, often in their private lives, being draw to light. For better or worse, pro wrestling traditionally has a relatively high threshold before fans would renounce someone, let alone someone who’d achieved significant notoriety struggling to get booked again. Joey Ryan is among the few figures in wrestling who garnered fame, but whom most fans would agree should not appear on TV again.

The Rise Of Joey Ryan

Joey Ryan was an unlikely indie star who found a niche for himself by pushing the boundaries of lewd behavior in a highly sexualized gimmick. From Pro Wrestling Guerilla to Lucha Underground to ROH to TNA, Ryan hit most of the major stages shy of WWE (though he did a bit of enhancement and extra work for them as well). Perhaps the peak of Ryan’s fame saw him play a featured role in the build to and at All In, the unofficial precursor to AEW that drew 10,000 fans toto the Sears Centre and a startling number of PPV buys for an independently promoted event.

Joey Ryan was an unlikely indie star who found a niche for himself by pushing the boundaries of lewd behavior in a highly sexualized gimmick. From Pro Wrestling Guerilla to Lucha Underground to ROH to TNA, Ryan hit most of the major stages shy of WWE (though he did a bit of enhancement and extra work for them as well). Perhaps the peak of Ryan’s fame saw him play a featured role in the build to and at All In, the unofficial precursor to AEW that drew 10,000 fans toto the Sears Centre and a startling number of PPV buys for an independently promoted event.

Joey Ryan Gets Canceled

After the MeToo movement swept across the mainstream in 2017, wrestling has its version of it take hold in 2020, when women and allies spoke out against men who had engaged in predatory, abusive, or otherwise problematic behavior within the business under the hashtag of SpeakingOut. Joey Ryan suffered the steepest fall from grace. As reported by DeadSpin, “Seventeen different accusations were levied against Ryan of unwanted sexual advances, assault, grooming underage girls, and various other acts of dangerous grossness.”

On one hand, fans were shocked to learn of Ryan’s disgusting choices. On the other hand, it felt a bit as though Ryan might have been hiding in plain sight for art imitating life, or perhaps living his gimmick, as the man was purportedly disturbingly close to the character he played. Ryan was certainly not the first wrestling personality accused of misconduct, as even a name as big as Sable filed suit against WWE around claims of harassment. Nonetheless, the modern age and the nature of the allegations cast Ryan in a particularly poor light.

The Aftermath Of Joey Ryan’s Fall From Grace

Joey Ryan took the harshest brunt of the SpeakingOut movement as promoters across wrestling blackballed him. The Bar Wrestling promotion he had led lost its key partners. Moreover, when Ryan might have thought the heat had cooled off around him, he agreed to wrestle for a charity event, only for Tony Khan to issue an edict that no talent signed to AEW would be allowed to appear at the show if Ryan were involved. Ryan’s fortunes only worsened as he briefly worked for Disneyland as part of the Jungle Cruise attraction, but, as reported by The LA Times, was let go after wrestling fans drew attention to his past online and forced the family friendly theme park’s hand.

Ryan’s name sprouted into conversation again in pro wrestling social media circles when popular indie talent Effy started to use offense that felt highly reminiscent of Ryan’s controversial signature moves. While a vocal contingent of fans drew the distinction between Effy playing a character opposite consenting opponents and Ryan’s real life choices causing his downfall, the heated debate nonetheless made it clear fans haven’t forgotten or forgiven what Ryan was accused of.

Joey Ryan has publicly denied all charges against him. The court of public opinion seems to have made its choices, though, between the volume of people who spoke out against him and what the allegations were. It seems unlikely any promoter will take a chance on Ryan again at this point—not to mention that, in his forties, he may have been winding down his full-time career anyway, even if he had kept his reputation intact. Nonetheless, Ryan's career now feels more like a cautionary tale, and his legacy stands to be lost for no one in the business (at least publicly) wanting anything to do with him anymore.