Published: 1 minute ago by Dave Adamson | Last Updated: 9 seconds ago by Dave Adamson
Dave has been a website writer for WrestleTalk since October 2022, having previously written for Den of Geek, among a number of wrestling, movie and television-related sites. Dave has been around the independent wrestling scene for more than a decade, including behind-the-scenes.
AEW
Nick Wayne has thanked Jun Kasai after their NJPW Best of the Super Juniors match that saw the AEW star embrace a new in-ring style.
Representing AEW in the annual tournament, Nick Wayne currently sits on six points, with his most recent outing being a loss to Jun Kasai, a Japanese hardcore wrestling legend.
Wayne may have been unsuccessful in his May 24 match in Kyoto, Japan, but he would comment on the encounter with Kasai, saying he has proven he can “hang in the hardcore ultraviolent” style thanks to his opponent.
In backstage comments made after the match, Nick Wayne said:
“It’s not often that I get hardcore. It’s not often that there’s time that I bleed my own blood, but it also wasn’t the first time. But, this time the experience was just a little different.
“For a split second there, as I felt the chairs bashing onto my skull, the little bit of blood trickling down my face, dripping onto the mat and soaking into the canvas, it brought me pleasure.
“It brought me pleasure, because I felt like I was one with the professional wrestling ring. Just when I thought my relationship with professional wrestling couldn’t get any stronger, it has. It has!
“I love professional wrestling, man. I love all styles of it. I want to be a hybrid wrestler, and I think tonight I proved that I can hang in the hardcore ultraviolent style.
“Kasai-san, thank you for one of the best fights of my life. Onto the next.”
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This match did feature a number of hardcore spots, including Jun Kasai sticking bamboo skewers into Nick Wayne’s head.
Wayne competed in his first Best of the Super Jrs tournament last year, with his previous NJPW appearance being with his East West Express tag team partner, and fellow AEW star, Jordan Oliver back in August 2023.
The Matriarchy member last competed in AEW on the Collision episode of Spring BreakThru in April, losing to Jon Moxley in a Continental Championship Eliminator match.
The Rise Of Nick Wayne
Nick Wayne got his start as a professional wrestler at just 12 years old, going on to receive his AEW contract at DEFY Wrestling, courtesy of his long-term friend Darby Allin on February 12, 2022.
While that contract would see the then-sixteen-year-old have little in the way of AEW commitments, the deal itself would come into effect when he turned eighteen, making his Dynamie debut on July 12, 2023.
Since then, Wayne has held the AEW World Trios Championship with Christian Cage and Killswitch, as members of The Patriarchy. It would be Wayne (and Kip Sabian) who would bring an end to Cage’s time in the faction, leading the current Matriarchy, with Sabian and Mother Wayne.
Missing last August’s Forbidden Door, Wayne would be out of action due to a foot injury, returning in February of this year to compete in ROH.
His current run in NJPW has seen Jun Kasai pitch for his real-life son, Hinata Kasai, to face the AEW star, believing the pair would have “one hell of a match”. Under a year into his professional wrestling career, Hinata Kasai wrestles for DDT-Pro Wrestling, a Japan-based promotion that has connections with AEW, most notably with Konosuke Takeshita holding contract with that company, as well as AEW and NJPW.
It’s yet to be seen if such a match would take place, but the very suggestion of it could be seen as quite the rub from a star with the status of the senior Kasai. Regardless of how his NJPW tour turns out, Wayne’s future in Japan seems assured as he continues to grow his own legacy across disciplines.
With Best of the Super Jrs 33 running until June 7, there’s the possibility that Wayne could make up for last year’s absence from Forbidden Door at this year’s event, which takes place on June 28.
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