Independent circuit (2005–2011) Nese made his wrestling debut on September 23, 2005, for the New York Wrestling Connection promotion in a #1 contender's battle royal match for the NYWC Interstate Championship, which was won by
Rob Eckos. On November 11, 2005, Nese made his in-ring debut under the ring name
Matt Maverick in a losing effort against Spyder. Nese won his first match on December 17, 2005, in a triple threat match defeating Spyder and
Amazing Red. Nese continued to wrestle for the promotion for several years, shortening his ring name to
Maverick. His independent wrestling career was jumpstarted after he competed in the 2008
ECWA Super 8 Tournament, where he won the first round around against Loca Vida but lost in the semi-finals to Aden Chambers. Nese would then later on compete in various dark matches for
Ring of Honor (ROH) in 2009.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2011–2012, 2013) Nese made his debut for
Total Nonstop Action (TNA) on the July 7, 2011, episode of
Impact Wrestling as part of the
X Division Showcase tournament. He was eliminated from the tournament after losing to
Jack Evans in a three-way match that included
Jesse Sorensen On August 18, TNA announced that Nese had signed a contract with the promotion. On that evening's episode of
Impact Wrestling, he took part in a
gauntlet match to determine the #1 contender to the X-Division Championship which he would be eliminated early in the match. Nese did not appear on television for a while after this. He made his return on the December 15 episode of
Impact Wrestling, where he would compete in a Best of Three Series with
Zema Ion to determine the third and final challenger for the X Division Championship at
Genesis. Nese would lose the first match of the series. On the December 22 edition of
Impact Wrestling, Nese defeated Ion in the second round of the series. Two weeks later, Nese lost to Ion in a
Contract on a Pole match in the final round of the series. Nese appeared on the March 22, 2012, episode of
Impact Wrestling, competing in fatal-four-way match that included
Austin Aries,
Kid Kash, and Zema Ion which ended in a no contest. This would also mark Nese's final appearance in company. Nese was released from TNA on May 17, 2012, after asking permission to work a scheduled tag team match for Pro Wrestling Syndicate, which would include Nese teaming with
Sami Callihan against
The Great Muta and
Kai. Nese was offered his release from TNA which he accepted. Nese returned for one night only for the company's One Night Only pay-per-view show, X-Travaganza on January 12 the following year competing in a tag team match in a losing effort.
Return to independent circuit (2012–2016) After departing from TNA, Nese returned to the independent wrestling circuit continuing to appear for the New York Wrestling Connection promotion also competing in several independent wrestling promotions including Pro Wrestling Syndicate. He started using his real name,
Anthony Nese as his ring name. Nese became the first PWS Tri-State champion and was undefeated. He shortly feuded with
Matt Hardy, defeating him in a match for the Tri-State title before eventually losing the title to Star Man on November 9, 2012, in a triple threat match. On October 12, 2013, Nese defeated the FWE Tri Borough Champion
Paul London in a non-title match. In early 2013, Nese began working for
Dragon Gate USA and
Evolve. On November 3, Nese began his first tour of Dragon Gate USA's
Japanese parent promotion,
Dragon Gate, unsuccessfully challenging
Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!! for the
Open the Brave Gate Championship. On November 9, 2013, at
House of Hardcore 3, Nese defeated Alex Reynolds and
Petey Williams. On December 8, 2013, Nese won the Family Wrestling Entertainment's Openweight Grand Prix. On September 14, 2014, at Evolve 35, Nese and
Caleb Konley won the
Open the United Gate Championship from The
Bravado Brothers (Harlem and Lancelot) in a three-way match, also involving
A. R. Fox and
Rich Swann. At FWE ReFueled day 1, Nese and
Jigsaw defeated Adrenaline Express to win the FWE Tag Team Championship. The following day, they lost the title to The Young Bucks. On the September 26 episode of
Raw, Nese made his main roster debut, losing to
Cruiserweight Champion T.J. Perkins. On the October 3 episode of
Raw, Nese won his first match on the main roster against
Rich Swann. Nese made his
pay-per-view debut on the
Hell in a Cell pre-show, teaming with Drew Gulak and
Ariya Daivari in a losing effort to
Cedric Alexander, Lince Dorado and
Sin Cara. On the
Survivor Series pre-show, Nese, Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari lost to T.J. Perkins, Rich Swann, and
Noam Dar. In early 2017, Nese would later wrestle on
205 Live and
Main Event, trading wins and losses over
Gran Metalik, Lince Dorado and
Mustafa Ali. Nese began aligning with
Enzo Amore's faction which consisting of Ariya Daivari, Drew Gulak and
Noam Dar, they dubbed themselves as "The Zo Train". On the December 12 episode of
205 Live, Nese was attacked by The Zo Train. Nese returned two weeks later, unsure of his position as a member of the Zo Train, and defeated
Akira Tozawa. Amore was fired from WWE in January 2018, thus quietly disbanding The Zo Train. On the March 27 episode of
205 Live, Nese was defeated by
Mark Andrews. On the April 10 episode of
205 Live, Nese saved Andrews from an attack of Drew Gulak, turning
face in the process. On the January 29, 2019, episode of
205 Live, he was suspended indefinitely for attacking Dar in the parking lot. Nese returned on the February 12 episode of
205 Live, defeating Dar in a well-received
No Disqualification match, ending their feud. Two days later, on the April 9 episode of
205 Live, Nese defeated Murphy in a rematch to retain his championship. At
Money in the Bank, Nese defeated Ariya Daivari to retain the Cruiserweight Championship. On June 23 at the
Stomping Grounds, Nese lost the title to Drew Gulak in a triple threat match which also involved Akira Tozawa, ending his reign at 77 days. He would go on to lose a subsequent rematch against Gulak at
Extreme Rules.
Various feuds (2019–2021) On the September 3 episode of
205 Live, after losing to
Mike Kanellis, Nese attacked
Oney Lorcan backstage. On that same night, Nese joined forces with Drew Gulak to attack
Humberto Carrillo and Lince Dorado. On the September 17 episode of
205 Live, Nese defeated Lorcan with assistance from Gulak. Nese continued teaming with Gulak before he was drafted to SmackDown Live in October. Following this, Nese would find himself feuding with members of the NXT roster who began appearing on 205 Live such as Oney Lorcan and Tyler Breeze which culminated in a 5-on-5 match pitting himself,
Brian Kendrick,
Jack Gallagher,
Ariya Daivari and Mike Kanellis representing Team 205 against Oney Lorcan,
Danny Burch,
Isaiah "Swerve" Scott,
Tyler Breeze and
Kushida representing Team NXT where they were defeated. In April 2020, Nese was announced as a participant in the Interim Cruiserweight Title tournament representing Group A in the tournament. Nese was defeated by
Kushida,
Drake Maverick and Jake Atlas failing to score a single win in the tournament. Nese would then begin feuding with Scott who made fun of him for not scoring a single win in the tournament which led to them facing off on the June 3 episode of NXT and again on the June 26 episode of 205 Live where Nese lost. On the July 3 episode of 205 Live, Nese assisted Scott in defeating
Ever-Rise in a tag team match and shook hands with him after. In late 2020, Nese aligned himself with
Ariya Daivari and referred to themselves as the "205 Live OGs", and throughout the first half of 2021 would feud with newcomers such as August Grey, Curt Stallion, and
Ikemen Jiro. On June 25, 2021, Nese was released from his WWE contract.
All Elite Wrestling / Ring of Honor (2021–present) On the October 23 episode of
AEW Dynamite, Nese was shown seated in the crowd during the show with commentators hyping him as "one of the hottest free agents in pro wrestling". Nese made his AEW debut on the November 3rd episode of AEW Dark in a winning effort against
Fuego Del Sol. On December 3, it was announced that Nese had officially signed with AEW. That same night, he unsuccessfully challenged
Sammy Guevara for the
AEW TNT Championship on
AEW Rampage. In the summer of 2022, Nese formed a tag team with
Josh Woods, and the duo would acquire the services of
Mark Sterling as their manager and on-screen attorney. On the August 5 edition of
Rampage, Nese & Woods unsuccessfully challenged Swerve in our Glory (
Keith Lee &
Swerve Strickland) for the
AEW World Tag Team Championship. On the October 7 edition of
Rampage, Nese & Woods defeated The Varsity Blonds (
Brian Pillman Jr. &
Griff Garrison), and after the match, Sterling revealed he had "trademarked" the term Varsity as it relates to professional wrestling, and that Woods & Nese would be known as The Varsity Athletes going forward. In August 2025, it was reported that Nese had been working in a backstage role in AEW as a
coach. == Other media ==