WWE NXT has many names more than ready for the main roster. We know how stacked the women’s roster is, but the men are right there too, with Trick Williams, Oba Fema, Ethan Page, and Ricky Saints as the near future stars of Raw and SmackDown. In their shadows is a young roster waiting to take over NXT. Among them is Myles Borne, who is only 25. Borne has been with WWE since 2022, working his way through Level Up and being part of No Quarter Catch Crew.
Until now, his biggest claim to fame was how much he looks like Randy Orton, but as he climbs up the ladder and prepares for an NXT Championship title shot against Oba Femi at NXT Battleground, Borne is finding a bigger spotlight. On the last episode of NXT, Myles opened up about the reasoning for his unusual accent. He told the audience that it’s because he’s deaf. This is not a character trait. Myles Borne really is hearing impaired, but it’s not stopping him from becoming a big star of the future.
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Myles Borne Is In NXT’s No Quarter Catch Crew
He Gets Comments About How Much He Looks Like Randy Orton
- Borne was an amateur wrestler in high school.
- Myles Borne and Randy Orton have met in person.
- He has tweeted about not being able to hear voices like Randy Orton.
Myles Borne (real name David Bostian III) was a high school amateur wrestler before being recruited to WWE in 2022. He learned at the Performance Center, performed often on NXT’s little-seen show, Level Up, and is now part of the No Quarter Catch Crew faction with Charlie Dempsey, Tavion Heights, and Wren Sinclair.
Still, no matter what he did as a member of the lower card, he was best known for his appearance, because he looks so much like Randy Orton, from his face to his tattoos. Orton and Myles Borne have met in person, where they played up their similarities for a laugh, and even though Borne probably gets sick of the comparison, it hasn’t stopped him from joking about it on Twitter/X, posting:
“Bro I’m not Randy Orton, he hears voices… I don’t hear s**t”
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He Has Mentioned His Disability In Interviews As Well
- He was born with Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn.
- Borne has limited hearing and wears hearing aids.
- He wants to be judged by his wrestling ability and not his disability.
Myles Borne said this because it’s in fact very true. He is deaf. He was born with a condition called Persistent Pulmonary Hypertension of the Newborn, which makes it harder for the heart to pump blood. It’s a treatable issue, and Borne is now okay, but one of the side effects is deafness. It’s something he’s had to deal with his entire life, including as a teenage amateur wrestler. When he was 13, Star News Online wrote an article about him. Borne does have very limited hearing, as he’s able to pick up some sounds, but he can’t detect what they are. At a young age, he learned to read lips and he received hearing aids, but he’s still not able to understand a lot of words.
On the last episode of NXT, as a way of introducing himself to fans, Myles Borne spoke about his real-life deafness and how it’s the reason behind his unique accent. Still, he aims to be more than a heartwarming story, saying:
“I want to be more than just the deaf kid. I want to be judged by my ability, not by my disability. And that’s what everyone with a disability wants to be judged by.”
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How Does Myles Borne Wrestle Despite Being Deaf?
The Disability Only Makes Myles Borne Even Easier To Root For
- Myles compared his hearing during matches to being white noise.
- Borne can hear the crowd cheering but can’t pick up what’s being said.
- The referee helps him by talking louder during NXT matches.
Now, while that’s a great story of perseverance, you might be wondering just how does Myles Borne compete in the ring when so much of a match is built on talking to your opponent and the ref? Speaking on the All Real Wrestling Podcast last year, Borne explained what a match is like for him, saying:
“So it’s just like a white noise going out there. I hear the crowd cheering and roars but I can never pick out what’s actually being said, and then in the ring of course, with all that white noise, you have to listen to the referees, they’re giving you counts, they’re giving you the rules of everything that’s going on… When I go out there, they know, alright, we’re gonna have to speak up a little bit more to this kid, you know? So, they do a really good job of making sure that they make the announcements and I can hear and raise their voices so I can hear them because, it’s even when it’s loud out there, it’s even harder to hear those conversations and dialogue, from my perspective.” (h/t Post Wrestling)
Who knows how far Myles Borne will go in WWE, but with his look, talent, and charisma, he has all the tools to become a big name not just in NXT, but on the main roster one day. His deafness will help him as a character, making him a wrestler you want to see succeed, but if he does, it won’t be because he’s deaf and having his disability exploited for ratings and headlines. If that was the case, WWE wouldn’t have waited three years to tell his story on TV. If and when Myles Borne becomes a big star, it will be because he earned it.
