‘Redemption’: AEW’s Nick Wayne Announced For NJPW Best Of The Super Jr 33 Tournament

Published: Apr 4, 2026 by Sanchez Taylor | Last Updated: Apr 4, 2026 by Sanchez Taylor

Sanchez has over six years of pro-wrestling news writing experience, covering the biggest news stories in WWE, NXT, AEW, TNA Wrestling and more. He has personally interviewed a number of top stars, producing exclusive content with the likes of AEW's Swerve Strickland and WWE's Nick Aldis.

‘Redemption’: AEW’s Nick Wayne Announced For NJPW Best Of The Super Jr 33 Tournament

An AEW star has been announced for the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors 33 tournament, set to kick off next month.

NJPW’s annual tournament to determine the best junior-heavyweight wrestler will begin on May 14 and conclude with its final on June 7.

With NJPW announcing the full lineup for the event, an AEW star has been confirmed to be competing in the A-Block.

Representing AEW will be Nick Wayne, who will compete in his second Best of the Super Jr tournament following his participation in the 2025 series.

The ROH World TV Champion took to Twitter to state that this will be his redemption, writing:

Redemption. Best of the Super Jrs. 33 🪽

1 full year of preparation, concentration, repetition and disciplined hard work done in silence.

It was always my dream just to be in the Super Jrs, but my aspiration is to be victorious.

Last year, I arrived with a dream and learned a lesson, this year I leave with the aspiration accomplished.

The Best of the Super Jr tournament begins with block action, with everyone in the A-Block facing one another, and everyone in the B-Block facing one another, both under the round robin format.

This determines a leader from each block, who will face off in the tournament finals on June 7.

Besides Nick Wayne, other competitors in the A-Block include Master Wato, Ryusuke Tasuchi, Kosei Fujita, Robbie X, Francesco Akira, Titan, Valiente Jr, Jun Kasai, and current IWGP Jr Heavyweight Champion DOUKI.

This means that, regardless of how well he performs in this tournament, Nick Wayne is guaranteed to have singles matches against these nine stars, including the current champion of the division.

The A-Block consists of El Desperado, KUSHIDA, YOH, Robbie Eagles, Taiji Ishimori, Jakob Austin Young, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Hyo and Daisuke Sasaki.

Nick Wayne finished with eight points in the 2025 iteration of the tournament, defeating El Desperado, Robbie Eagles, Ryusuke Taguchi and SHO.

While he technically finished joint-fourth in the B-Block, he was tied with five other wrestlers, and only outscored Ryusuke Taguchi.

With Wayne pushing this year’s entry as his redemption, it would make sense to see AEW’s lone representative place higher, with the opportunity for him to score some major wins on Japanese soil.

Nick Wayne has the opportunity to make NJPW history, as a win would see him become the youngest Best of the Super Jr tournament winner in history.

Nick Wayne hasn’t wrestled for AEW since the July 26, 2025 edition of Collision, and last wrestled under the Tony Khan banner during the March 22 ROH TV taping.

Wayne being announced for the Best of the Super Jr’s tournament effectively confirms that he will be absent from AEW and ROH tapings from mid-May to early June at the earliest, as even if travel is physically possible, the round-robin format will provide Wayne with a grueling schedule.