Tony Nese Confirms He Signed With AEW, Calls It ‘A Blessing’
Photo Credit: WWE
Tony Nese is All Elite.
Tony Nese was a guest on Insight with Chris Van Vliet, and the former WWE Cruiserweight Champion confirmed that he signed with All Elite Wrestling. After Van Vliet said Nese, billed on AEW TV last week as “the hottest free agent in wrestling” is now the hottest signed wrestler in wrestling, Nese said the opportunity was a blessing.
“Thank you so much, man. This is awesome, it’s been a blessing. I’m very happy,” Nese said.
Nese did not add further detail about terms of his contract. F4WOnline‘s Dave Meltzer first reported Nese had signed with AEW.
Nese appeared on AEW Dynamite on Saturday, sitting in the crowd during several segments on the broadcast. He also worked the latest set of AEW Dark television tapings in Orlando; his match against Fuego Del Sol will air on next week’s show. Read spoilers for the set of AEW tapings on October 24 at this link.
Read More: Tony Nese Says He Hid Bicep Injury From WWE So He Wouldn’t Get Released
Hot pro wrestling free agent @TonyNese is in #AEW to show he’s THE Premier Athlete and he plans to prove it next week on #AEWDark against @FuegoDelSol. Watch #AEWDark NOW – https://t.co/GWntDzJX4s pic.twitter.com/oc3eKgzVV7
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) October 26, 2021
Tony Nese was released by WWE on June 25, and told the Wrestling Perspective Podcast about how his WWE release went down as well as his excitement for the future.
“So it wasn’t a creative thing of like, ‘Listen, we’ve just got nothing for you’ or whatever. It was straight up what you hear on the internet, it was ‘budget cuts.’ The company is obviously trimming some fat and whatever their plan is, unfortunately, business is business,” Nese explained, “and I was on the shit end of that stick.”
“Honestly, the wrestling world has changed drastically in the last—I was pretty much working with WWE for five years. A little bit of that at the beginning, I was still doing independents, but I was there for five years and the five years, to me, it felt like twenty years because so much has changed. So much has changed in the company, and so much has changed in the world of wrestling, so not only am I excited because I’m getting to try this new world out now,” Nese said, “but on top that, I’m coming out of this way different than when I was going in.”
Read More: Tony Nese Comments On WWE Release, Says He’s Excited To Try This ‘New World’ Of Wrestling Out