May was one of the busiest months of Nick Wayne’s professional wrestling career thus far.
The 19-year-old AEW talent and current ROH World Television Champion spent most of last month with NJPW, competing in their annual Best of the Super Junior tournament.
Touring throughout Japan, Wayne wrestled a total of 13 matches, meeting names like El Desperado, Titan, and Taiji Ishimori along the way. Then, just three days after his tour in the country concluded, he was already back stateside and wrestling again for AEW.
With the experience of going on a short NJPW excursion in his rearview mirror, Wayne can confirm that he absolutely loved the experience, from the atmosphere of the trip to the grind of the schedule.
“The consistency of wrestling, wrestling almost every day, that felt so good, even when I was tired and exhausted,” Wayne told Undisputed in a recent interview. “I ate at a yakiniku spot every day. That Hamburg steak, I miss it already. The wrestling, the city life, the food, all of it was an incredible experience. It was a dream come true.”
Wayne revealed in the interview that appearing in the BOSJ tournament was his “biggest goal” in recent years, and that it lived up to his expectations. “I felt at home right off the bat,” he said. “After I landed in Japan, I did the press conference, and the second I made my entrance, I felt like I belonged.”
Wayne’s now back to his spot on AEW TV where, while unlikely to wrestle over a dozen times per month, he’ll remain an important figure on TV. He’s currently the main focus in Christian Cage’s Patriarchy group, getting his tolerance for disrespect tested by the faction’s leader.
Wayne’s full chat with Undisputed includes details on what it’s like to work on AEW TV alongside his mother, and what it means to carry on the legacy of his late father, Buddy Wayne. You can read the full piece here.
