Speculation Grows Over Possible Nick Wayne-Led Faction in AEW

Nick Wayne’s recent heel turn has fans and pundits wondering whether “The Prodigy” is building toward something bigger than a singles push — namely, a stable of his own stacked with AEW’s younger talent pool.

Wayne beat Chris Jericho for the second time at WrestleDream 2026, and the win seems to have gone straight to his head. He’s leaned fully into an arrogant persona, taking to Kick streams to brag about his victories over Jericho. With Wayne wrapping up a run in NJPW’s Super Junior Tag League, the thinking is that once he’s back on AEW soil full-time, he could look to surround himself with like-minded rising stars rather than continue as a lone wolf.

Several names have been floated as logical additions if such a group comes together. Alec Price and Jordan Oliver — known as Bustah & The Brain — signed with AEW at the start of 2026 and have been regulars on Ring of Honor television since. Both built a real relationship with Wayne on the independent scene before any of them reached AEW, which makes them an easy fit on paper.

Billie Starkz, another indie-circuit friend of Wayne’s, has similarly blossomed in ROH, serving as Athena’s top lieutenant in the MIT faction and holding the distinction of being the first-ever ROH Women’s TV Champion. Whether she’d walk away from Athena’s group to join forces with Wayne is far from certain, but the history between them is real.

Zayda Steel, who arrived in AEW after departing WWE’s ID program and the Evolve brand, currently runs with Christopher Daniels, Scorpio Sky and Top Flight as part of SkyFlight. At 23, she’s viewed as one of the company’s brightest long-term prospects, and some believe her personality could be put to better use in a younger, more rebellious unit.

Then there’s The Swirl, Blake Christian and Lee Johnson, who have emerged as one of AEW’s most reliable tag teams. They’ve recently aligned with Jay Lethal as the Lethal Twist, a trio that captured the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship at Death Before Dishonor 2026 by defeating Dalton Castle and The Outrunners. Fresh off their own NJPW tour, Christian and Johnson could theoretically pivot toward a faction that better showcases their chemistry and characters.

None of this is confirmed — AEW hasn’t announced any new stable, and Wayne himself hasn’t said anything about recruiting. But the pieces are there: a hot heel turn, a deep bench of twenty-something talent spread across the ROH and NJPW circuits, and a roster-wide trend toward faction-building that AEW has leaned on for years. If Tony Khan is looking for a way to give Wayne’s new attitude some staying power, building a Gen Z crew around him would be a fairly obvious next step.

For now, it’s a matter of watching how Wayne is presented once he’s fully back from Japan — and whether any of ROH’s rising names start popping up by his side on AEW programming.