AEW’s Blake Christian has confirmed that he was the original choice to portray the masked character Axiom during his time in WWE. The plans were developed while Christian, then known as Trey Baxter, was in NXT, but were scrapped following his release from the company.
During a recent appearance on Fightful Overbooked, Christian detailed his initial involvement with the concept and the plan to launch it with the advent of NXT 2.0.
“They approached me when I first went and they were like, ‘We want this type of character.’… When (NXT) 2.0 came around they were like, ‘We’re going to do it now. This is a perfect character for this show.’”
Christian explained that he helped shape the gimmick before his WWE release in November 2021 prevented him from seeing it through.
“I came up with a suit design and a name. It just didn’t happen. Well, it did happen, but it didn’t happen with me.”
He directly confirmed the Axiom connection and praised his successor, expressing that he was happy with how the character has been handled.
“I was supposed to be, yes. I came up with all the stuff… I think the person they gave it to is great and he’s done a great job… I’m happy to see it still alive and doing as well as it’s doing.”
The role ultimately went to A-Kid, who debuted as Axiom in July 2022. The character has since become a two-time NXT Tag Team Champion with Nathan Frazer and is currently part of the SmackDown roster.