Myles Borne Reflects On WWE Application & Tryout Process, Early Days In NXT

Today, WWE fans know Myles Borne as the NXT North American Champion. Just five years ago, though, he was merely a lifelong WWE fan looking to get his foot in the company's doors. During an interview with "No-Contest Wrestling," Borne detailed how he turned his dream of wrestling for WWE into a reality. 

According to Borne, the wheels toward this goal officially started turning just before his graduation from Appalachian State University, in which he studied strength and conditioning.

"There was a guy named Sonny Siaki and my father coached him back in the day in football," he said. "He had been through the program a little bit. I was in college and I'm about to graduate. He had just thrown it out there and said 'Hey, I think you would be really good at WWE.' I'm like, 'Wait a minute. I've always wanted to do it, but you can't just go to WWE, right?' He said he was like, 'No, no, no. There's a whole process. There's a tryout. Let's fill out an application, send it in, and we'll see what happens.' So we fill out the application, send it in, and I'm thinking that they're not going to see the application. There's no way."

For eight months, Borne's application was met with nothing but silence on WWE's end. Because of that, Borne wrongfully believed the response he eventually received via email to be fake. Once WWE's recruit page sent a follow-up message through an Instagram DM, however, he realized its legitimacy.

WWE's message to Borne contained an invite to a tryout, set for December 15, 16, and 17 of 2021 at the Performance Center in Orlando, Florida. The same tryout included several other future WWE stars, such as Arianna Grace, Thea Hail, Kiana James, and two-time NXT Women's Champion Roxanne Perez.

Borne naturally accepted the offer and headed into the opportunity with the confidence that he'd make it through successfully. Upon arrival to Florida, though, Borne experienced some internal doubts.

"They brought me down here to try out. And I remember I check in at the hotel and I'm pretty sure it was Lucien Price. He's at the tryout. I remember seeing this guy walk into the building, and I'm bigger at the time, but he was towering over me," Borne recalled. "I called my mom immediately. I said 'I think I'm in over my head. These guys are like coming out of the elevator seven-foot-five.' My mom was like, 'Son, do your best. believe in you. You're there for a reason. There's nothing you can't do.' I said, 'Alright.'"

Despite the momentary worries, Borne pushed through them, and within days of his tryout, learned of the good news. "Go through the tryout. And then a week later, I got a call. They extended me the contract and I was so excited," he said. "Finally moved down here. It was a big jump."

WWE announced Borne's signing in March 2022 as he and others reported to the Performance Center for formal training. Additional names revealed were Perez, James, Grace, Hail, Fallon Henley, and Sol Ruca.

Borne marked his professional wrestling debut three months later when he took on Guru Raaj on "NXT Level Up." The next year, his "NXT" television debut came, with a notable alliance with the No Quarter Catch Crew then following shortly afterward.

"That was cool because there were amateur wrestlers in that group and people with other disciplines," Borne said. "So it was fun to have that little group together. Before we even got together in a group, we hit it off really quick in the PC. We felt like brothers from other parts of the world because we shared one thing and that was amateur wrestling. So now that we were in a group together it felt like alright we are the NQCC, we are dogs, we are tough catch wrestlers. It was cool. It was fun to have a group because it's scary being on TV that new. So it was nice having those guys come out there with me while I'm out there. I didn't feel so singled out."

In its early form, the No Quarter Catch Crew consisted of Borne, Charlie Dempsey, Drew Gulak, and Damon Kemp. As Borne alluded to, he and Kemp arrived to WWE with backgrounds in amateur wrestling; Borne competed as a folkstyle wrestler for 16 years. Meanwhile, Gulak and Dempsey joined the company with prior experience on the independent pro wrestling circuit.

Gulak and Kemp departed from WWE in 2024, making room for Dempsey to act as the group's official leader as well as Tavion Heights and Wren Sinclair to come aboard as new additions.

With Dempsey primarily focused on the NXT Heritage Cup throughout 2024 and early 2025, Borne and Heights invested their efforts in the "NXT" tag team division. Eventually, their efforts were rewarded with an NXT Tag Team Championship match against Axion and Nathan Frazer at "NXT" Deadline. Two months later, Borne and Heights then welcomed the Hardy Boys (Matt and Jeff Hardy) back to a WWE ring when they collided in tag team competition on "NXT."

"Me and Tavion, we clicked really good," Borne said. "We worked good together. I think we had some of our best matches together. I still look back and I'm like, dang, we killed it. We went to Deadline a couple years ago and against Nathan [Frazer] and Axiom. That was a phenomenal match. We had a blast. Me and Tavion, we went hard, and then we got to welcome the Hardy Boys back. That's fun. So, me and Tavion, we had a good time together. The NQCC, that was fun. I'm happy it happened, but I'm also even more happy that I got to step out and now do something on my own. I wanted that pressure and I wanted that spotlight."

Borne's desire to break out from the No Quarter Catch Crew and into the singles spotlight came to a head in June 2025, leading to a British Rounds Rules match between him and Demspey. Borne ultimately defeated the NQCC leader, which meant that his time in the group had officially ended and his freedom to pursue his new goals began. Heights followed suit the next month, and recently, took on the reigning NXT Champion Tony D'Angelo.

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit "No-Contest Wrestling " with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.