Former NXT Champion Debuts for AEW

By Connor Casey

Former NXT North American Champion Leon Ruff made his AEW debut this weekend, taking part in the latest set of AEW Dark tapings down at Universal Studios in Orlando. Ruff, who held one of NXT's top prizes for a little over three weeks back in 2020, was released by the WWE back in August 2021 and has since popped up in promotions like GCW, Terminus and Battle Slam. 

Ruff worked primarily as a jobber on WWE programming before his North American title run, but his unlikely status as a champion quickly made him a fan favorite. He talked with ComicBook in late November about chasing his dream alongside his fiancee, WWE referee Aja Smith.

"I'm really glad that you asked me that question. It was definitely difficult. For those people that don't know, I didn't have a job coming down here," Ruff said. "I moved down with my girlfriend Aja, because she got a job and I was trying to make wrestling take off because that's all I had at the time. So when I would take all these matches, I did it because I told myself 'Well, I'm down here to get signed. So I need to do something to make ends meet, to help bring money into the household'. It was very scary. It was the first time that I lived on my own and I'm trying to be the man of the house, but I'm not bringing in any money. So not only am I'm trying to take whatever match they give me, but I want to make sure I do the best I can so they keep bringing me back, so I can keep making more money."

"The advice I wanted to give people is it's never going to be time," he added. "You're never going to have that set dollar amount to make your dreams happen. You just got to go and you've got to do it. As scary as it may sound, you'll always find a way. I didn't have any money coming down here. All I knew was I had Evolve, though there was no guarantee of me getting extra work when I moved down here. I knew that 'Well, if I keep doing right with that, eventually, I'll get signed'. It was scary, but I knew that there was no waiting I could do to prepare me for what I was going to encounter, had I did it then or later."

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