Nick Wayne Says It Was ‘Unreal’ To Receive AEW Contract Offer At 16 Years Old

Nick Wayne looks back on a career-defining moment.

In February 2022, former TNT Champion Darby Allin revealed that the prodigious Nick Wayne had been offered an All Elite Wrestling contract. There was one condition, of course, as Wayne’s deal wouldn’t be put into full effect until the summer of 2023, when he turned 18 years old. Despite the wait, Wayne was inherently thrilled by this development. In a recent interview on The Daly Mags Show, Wayne recounted his initial reaction to being offered, and then accepting, a contract with AEW.

“It was always like a goal of mine, of course, as every wrestlers is, to eventually make it in professional wrestling,” Wayne said. “And throughout school and just as a kid, I’ve always been told, ‘You just got to wait till you’re 18,’ I thought maybe once I turned 18 and then once I get older, maybe one day I could be approached with a contract and one day make it. But at 16, it was something I thought was impossible as a kid. So in my eyes, achieving the impossible was one thing, but being presented a contract at 16 was unreal.”

‘It’s Go Time’

“I had absolutely no clue that it was even happening or it was going on,” Wayne continued, “but once I was approached with it, I felt like I had the world in my hands. I felt like from that moment until I turned 18 and I could finally fulfill the contract, it was go time. You work your hardest until you get to that point, and then eventually, once you’re on TV now, it’s go time. It’s always go time for me, whether it’s the independents or TV. But I feel like once you finally are on that grand stage, it’s when it’s really go time.”

Following his 18th birthday, Wayne rekindled his partnership with Darby Allin on AEW programming. By October 2023, however, it became clear that Wayne’s real allegiance lied elsewhere — specifically to Christian Cage, who unofficially adopted Wayne as his “son.”