Nick Wayne is considered a prodigy in the wrestling world but doesn’t want to stay on his laurels.
The 16-year-old independent standout is the youngest wrestler to sign with AEW. Wayne told ESPN he is preparing himself for when that day finally comes.
Wayne told Andrew Thompson:
Just from now until I’m 18 years old, we’ve got about a year and a half left, I’m just working my hardest as I can right now. So the day I turn 18 I’m ready to go. I look the part, my talent in the ring is crisp, you know. Just working to be the best version of myself.
Nick Wayne has unfinished business with Darby Allin and one of their differences dates back to when Allin debuted for Buddy Wayne’s WWE developmental territory, DEFY Wrestling. Defy Wrestling‘s yearly 5 shows had numerous stars debuting in front of large crowds on a single night. At the time, AEW was just beginning to solidify its name so there wasn’t much buzz around the event, but Buddy, Dan McGuinness, and company put on an all-star show nevertheless.
Nick Wayne said:
I hope it happens one day. Me and Darby have so much backstory behind us. You know, I was there for Darby’s first day of training. Yeah, he was trained by my father. I saw him about 4-5 times a week training. We have a really big story together.
It was perfect timing because that match with Swerve, on my end, was my first DEFY match after getting signed to All Elite Wrestling, my first DEFY match after [the] DEFY Championship match [against Christopher Daniels on February 12], and then, Swerve’s first match coming back on the independents – coming back to DEFY.
Wayne recalled:
DEFY is a place that he built on his own. That is Swerve’s house. So being able to come back and share the ring with Swerve, me being his first match back, I felt so honored.
And that was our first time ever touching in the squared circle and I felt like there was a lot of anticipation built up to the match for the fans. It was something they really wanted to see and by the sounds of it and the reviews of it, it sounds like we lived up to the expectation and 100% one of my favorite matches and maybe my favorite match I’ve ever had.
