 Zayne in April 2023 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alex Zayne Brandenburg[4] (1986-10-28)October 28, 1986 (age 39) |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Alex Zayne Andras Vidal Ari Sterling[1][2] Zayne |
| Billed height | 6 ft 1 in (185 cm)[3] |
| Billed weight | 202 lb (92 kg)[3] |
| Billed from | Lexington, Kentucky[3] |
| Trained by | Backyard wrestling WWE Performance Center |
| Debut | March 31, 2007 |
Alex Zayne Brandenburg (born October 28, 1986) is an Americanprofessional wrestler primarily working on theindependent circuit under thering nameAlex Zayne. He is best known for his tenure withNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).[5] He has also appeared onImpact Wrestling,Ring of Honor (ROH),[6]Game Changer Wrestling,[7] andWWE, where he performed under the ring nameAri Sterling.
Zayne debuted in several small wrestling promotions, including Resolute Wrestling in Crossville, TN in 2019/2020 where he's held several championships throughout the years before making it big time. Zayne made his debut in NJPW on November 11, 2019, at New Japan Showdown, in a tag team match, where he andAaron Solow lost againstAmazing Red andT. J. Perkins. Since March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Zayne was unable to work on NJPW events in Japan, leading him to take part in NJPW Strong series. His big matches and performances led him to a WWE Try-out, which he passed, leading him to leave NJPW and sign with WWE in the spring of 2021.
In the fall of 2021, Zayne was released from WWE as part of budget cuts relating to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and returned to NJPW Strong, and made his return match at New Japan Showdown defeating Ariya Davari. Zayne then later faced Will Ospreay on November 17, at the second NJPW's XTRA show in a losing effort. On May 1, Zayne was announced to take part in the 2022 Best of the Super Juniors in Japan. At the tournament, Zayne finished the tournament with a record of four wins and five losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament. During the tournament, Zayne formed a tag team with Ace Austin. However, on June 3, Austin joined the Bullet Club, this led Zayne questioning Austin's actions before being laid out by Austin and the Bullet Club. On the June 20th episode of IMPACT, Austin defeated Zayne with the help of Chris Bey.