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Tony Khan Announces Nick Wayne Is All Elite

By John Canton • Published 13th July 2023
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Nick Wayne is officially All Elite following his impressive debut as a teenager on AEW Dynamite.

The name Nick Wayne has been mentioned on AEW television before this week. That’s because, in February 2022, AEW signed an agreement with Wayne that would see him join the company when he turned 18 years old.

As they mentioned on the AEW Dynamite broadcast from Saskatoon, Nick Wayne turned 18 years old on July 12th, so two days after that birthday, he stepped into the AEW ring as the youngest wrestler ever hired by the company.

Over the last year or two, Nick Wayne has wrestled all over the world, so he has a lot of experience. He’s the son of the late wrestler Buddy Wayne and the grandson of another wrestler, “Moondog” Ed Moretti. There was a video featuring Wayne before his match talking about how he trained with his father when he was just a kid and we saw clips of that.

Swerve Strickland faced Nick Wayne because they are familiar opponents that had wrestled before, which was also mentioned on the broadcast. Darby Allin came out to watch the match because he is Wayne’s friend and mentor since Allin was trained by Buddy Wayne. Allin and Nick are as close as family members even though they aren’t actually related.

The Strickland/Wayne match was very even the whole way. Wayne nearly won with his Wayne’s World springboard Cutter move, but he wasn’t able to get the pinfall win. Swerve got the win after pulling back on Wayne’s arms and stomping on them. Swerve hit a JML Driver for the pinfall win.

After his match, AEW Owner Tony Khan tweeted that Nick Wayne was All Elite meaning he had been signed to the company. Nick issued a short tweet as well.

Congratulations to Nick Wayne, who at 18 years old, obviously has as bright of a future as anybody in AEW.