Nick Wayne Officially Signed with AEW, Loses on Debut
Nick Wayne is officially All Elite, AEW President Tony Khan has announced.
Wayne, a third-generation wrestler and already a famous name in independent wrestling, was signed to an apprenticeship with AEW even before turning 17. Darby Allin famously offered him the deal in February 2022 at Defy Wrestling event.
The apprenticeship deal was turned into a full-time contract once Wayne turned 18 on July 11, 2023. It was Darby himself who pitched a video package for Wayne which aired last week to announce his AEW Debut to take place during July 12, 2023 episode of Dynamite.
Congratulations! What a great debut tonight on Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite, and now it's official: @thenickwayne is All Elite! pic.twitter.com/3NJPBtqCPR
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) July 13, 2023
After the show, Tony Khan took to Twitter to announce that Nick Wayne has signed to a full-time contract. He joins the growing list of new AEW signings this year.
Wayne wrestled Swerve Strickland in his AEW debut match, which was the main event on July 12 Dynamite episode. However, he ended up on losing side after Swerve took JML Driver to get the pinfall. It was good performance from Wayne regardless as he shown his technical as well as high-flying abilities.
Active since 2018 itself, Nick Wayne already has more that 200 matches under his belt as per the data from Cagematch. Wayne has also won Defy World Championship by beating Strickland this year in April. He lost that title to KENTA in June. He is also the current GCW Tag Team Champion alongside Jordan Oliver in The East-West Express.
Nick Wayne’s father, Buddy Wayne appeared in WCW and WWE back in the 1990s for a handful of matches. He passed away in 2017 at the age of 50 due to heart issues. Darby Allin credits Buddy Wayne as his coach.
