Eighteen-year-old Nick Wayne, now established as a regular name on AEW programming, has opened up about the “wave of emotions” surrounding his debut match.
Wayne’s AEW debut came a couple of months ago on Dynamite’s 12th of July edition. On this show, he battled Swerve Strickland in a ten-minute losing effort, but impressed the AEW bigwigs enough to become a staple of their televised product.
In a recent conversation with Denise Salcedo of Instinct Culture, Nick Wayne delved into his thoughts and emotions leading up to his debut match.
“Previous to the debut, I can tell you about the day before, I had nerves the entire day before the match.”
“I was like, ‘I’m not even wrestling today and these nerves are killing me’ I was traveling to Saskatoon, which is where the debut match was.”
“I had nerves the entire day, it was hard to sleep because it was happening tomorrow. It felt like a year and a half of built up anticipation was leading to tomorrow.”
“I couldn’t believe it was already happening. Being in the moment of the year and half of waiting, ‘this feels like it’s taking forever.’ Then we got there, ‘it went by so fast.'”
“The waves of emotions I got, I was so nervous, but at the same time so happy and thankful. I cried tears of happiness after the match.”
“My mom was there, everyone was watching at home. I got so many messages the day of, before the match, after the match.”
“My goal was to make the world proud, and I feel like I did just that and it really touched my heart because that’s what I wanted to do and I feel like that’s what I did.”
“I’m very glad I made everyone at home happy, all my brothers and sisters and family. It’s a moment I’ll cherish for the rest of my life.”
Nick Wayne has since wrestled five more times on AEW Dynamite, Collision and Rampage.
Who Is Nick Wayne’s Dad?
Nick Wayne is the son of the late wrestler Buddy Wayne.
Buddy Wayne was never signed to a big-money contract during his wrestling career. Still, he often appeared as enhancement talent for the WWF and WCW, facing off against significant names like Bam Bam Bigelow, Edge, Scott Hall, and Shawn Michaels.
H/T Fightful