Nick Wayne joined Chris Jericho this week on “Talk Is Jericho” to talk about his rise on the independent scene. Wayne is under AEW contract but won’t debut until after he turns 18 years old.
Nick Wayne talked about signing a contract with AEW last year:
“I signed back in February when I was 16 (years old), of last year. As of right now, I can’t do any in-ring work with AEW until I turn 18, which will be this July. So from now until then, or I guess from last February until July, it’s just like a learning experience trying to learn TV wrestling and how AEW does things around here.”
On if he gets paid: “Not yet. Not until July.”
On how his signing happened:
“I didn’t know any of this was going on. I did a show called DEFY Wrestling here in Seattle. I wrestled Christopher Daniels, and after the match, Darby Allin came out. I had no clue he was here in town or anything. He did something with Daniels. Then he got on the microphone. He was talking for a bit. Then he pulled a paper out of his pocket and it was the AEW contract. I said yes in front of the fans, it blew up online, and I was trending like number seven in the world on Twitter for this contract. But yeah, it took me months to realize like that was even real and it felt like I was on cloud nine forever. I still do. I still can’t believe it’s real sometimes.”
On how he was able to go to Japan to wrestle while still in high school:
“I miss school, but when I come back, I just gotta make up all the work. My teachers were pretty cool with it. As long as I stay on top of my grades and on top of the assignments, they’re pretty chill with it.”
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If you use any portion of the quotes from this article please credit Talk Is Jericho with a h/t to WrestlingNews.co for the transcription.