AEW's Tony Khan Provides Update On Injury Status Of ROH World TV Champion Nick Wayne
Tomorrow night at Ring of Honor Final Battle, several championships will be put on the line. Per ROH owner Tony Khan, Nick Wayne's ROH World Television Championship will not be one of them.
On the ROH Final Battle media call, Khan addressed the lingering injury to Wayne's foot, which he first sustained in August. Khan admitted that he and other officials initially expected a full recovery for Wayne by the time Final Battle came around on December 5. As with life, though, an unpredicted curveball emerged.
"I'll be honest, the timeline on this particular injury changed, which is the nature of injuries," Khan said. "You can expect when somebody recovers, but when it's a bad injury, it can take longer ... Nick Wayne got hurt in the ring. It's not his fault. We thought he would 100% be back for Final Battle. I'm not allowed to bet money, but if I was allowed to bet money, I would have bet money that Nick Wayne would be back for Final Battle. He's not, but I would have to be honest, at Death Before Dishonor, I did not know that Nick Wayne would not be back by now. I didn't know that a few months ago that was going to be the case or we probably would have crowned an interim TV Champion for when he is back."
Despite the setback, Khan is hopeful that Wayne is now "close" to returning to in-ring action after breaking his foot. Wayne's last match came on July 31 when he successfully defended his title against Willie Mack on the Ring of Honor YouTube special (aired August 15). His last physical interaction occurred on the August 13 edition of "AEW Dynamite" as Christian Cage knocked a chair out of his hand with Spike, the nail-filled bat.
If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit ROH with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.