Former WWE Superstar Tony Nese appeared in the crowd during AEW‘s Saturday Night Dynamite broadcast from Orlando this weekend. He was billed as, “one of the hottest free agents in pro wrestling.”


The 36-year-old grappler from Long Island, New York would later make his AEW in-ring debut over the weekend at the latest set of Dark tapings from Universal Studios in Orlando, FL.
Tony Nese is All Elite

Nese’s situation with AEW was addressed recently on Wrestling Observer Radio. According to Dave Meltzer, Tony Nese has signed with the promotion. This has not been made official, however, and it is being speculated that this is due to an angle AEW has planned.

“On the show on Saturday, they showed him in the stands so obviously he’s signed,” said Meltzer. “But they won’t announce it because probably they are doing something. They did the Dark tapings yesterday in Orlando and he wrestled, I think he wrestled in more than one match. He’s signed, that’s the deal.”

Nese signed with WWE in 2016 to take part in the Cruiserweight Classic. He would later become a regular with the 205 Live brand.

Nese won the WWE Cruiserweight Championship on the WrestleMania 35 Kickoff Show in New Jersey. He defeated Buddy Murphy to win the title. Nese would hold the championship for 77 days before dropping it to Drew Gulak.

He was released from WWE on June 25, 2021.