Nick Wayne AEW Debut Date Has Been Announced

A date has been announced for when the nearly 18-year-old wrestling phenom Nick Wayne will make his AEW in-ring debut.

In February 2022 when Nick Wayne was 16 years old, AEW wrestler Darby Allin presented him with an AEW contract that was like an apprenticeship. Since Nick isn’t 18 years old, the deal was that when he turned 18, he could start wrestling in AEW.

Nick Wayne is the son of the late Buddy Wayne, who was a wrestling veteran from the Pacific Northwest who trained many wrestlers including Darby Allin in the Seattle area. Buddy died in 2017 at 50 years old. Incredibly, Nick started training when he was 9 years old and had his first match at 12 years old.

At Saturday night’s DEFY Wrestling event, AEW’s Swerve Strickland informed Nick Wayne that he’ll have his AEW debut match on July 12, 2023, on Dynamite in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada because it is one day after Nick Wayne turns 18 years old. The match will likely be for the DEFY World Championship held by Swerve.

At last nights DEFY event, Shane “Swerve” Strickland, after losing his title, announced that Nick Wayne will make his AEW debut on July 12, 2023’s “Dynamite” in Saskatoon, Canada, after he officially turns 18-years-old, and they will have a one-on-one rematch for the DEFY World… pic.twitter.com/NQ2DQkuh4Q

— One Fall Wrestling (@WrestlingFall1) April 9, 2023

In January 2023, Nick Wayne was a guest on Chris Jericho’s Talk Is Jericho podcast to discuss his wrestling future.

“As of right now, I can’t do any in-ring work with AEW until I turn 18, which will be this July.”

“From last February until July, it’s just a learning experience, trying to learn TV wrestling and how AEW does things around here.”

Wayne also said he wasn’t being paid by AEW yet.

AEW fans may remember Wayne from the January 4th edition of Dynamite when Darby Allin beat Samoa Joe to win the TNT Title.