'You got to believe in yourself': Partially deaf Central Florida WWE wrestler sees challenges as advantages

ORLANDO, Fla. - WWE wrestler Myles Borne is a trailblazer.

Borne, 25, wrestles under the NXT brand and signed with WWE in 2022.

"I never knew it was a possibility for me, but I knew it was a dream of mine," Borne said.

Borne is partially deaf because of a condition at birth. He was diagnosed by doctors with persistent pulmonary hypertension of the newborn. It's a potentially deadly condition where babies don't adapt to breathing on their own outside the womb.

Borne spent the first few days of his life fighting to survive on a ventilator in the NICU. He said he even flat-lined twice.

Borne said his parents signed waivers to take him off the ventilator and prayed, handing their son off to God.

"The doctors did everything they could," Borne said. "They had no answers. When they unplugged me from the machine, everything started working."

Borne called his own survival nothing short of a miracle. Faith is one of his motivators. His father gave Borne the cross he wore during the interview with FOX 35 News.

"He put it on me when I was in the NICU, and he told the doctor, 'Thank you,'" Borne said. The doctor's response back to him was, 'There was nothing I did. Don't thank me. That was a greater power.'"

Borne's fight was just beginning. His parents knew their son would be a target for bullies in school, so his father, a wrestling coach, got him into the sport to defend himself.

Borne said he already had an interest from a young age in playing wrestling video games but added that participating is how he learned character and discipline.

"When other kids were socializing and playing, talking back and forth during practice, I couldn't fit in with that and couldn't go along with it, so I would be keyed in on the coaches," Borne said. "It actually advanced me quicker in my sport so that when it got competitive, I was already ahead of the game."

Today, he does it all without the help of hearing aids. He wore them as a child, and he said peers would ask questions or tease him about it.

Borne said he works mentally over time reading lips and faces.

"You could be booing, cheering, I don't know what you're doing, but I can read the look on your face," Borne said. "He's smiling. He likes what he's seeing. Or he's upset. He's mad."

Borne moved to Central Florida with his now-wife, Jadin Bostian. She teaches fourth graders who love learning and who she's married to.

"I forget how it came about, but they know now," Bostian said. "They're Googling him in the middle of class, and I'm like, 'You can't Google Myles Borne in the middle of school.'"

Bostian said she goes to every match and even offers pointers after each one.

"I don't know anything about wrestling, so it's not good, I'm sure, but we're both learning so much, and I think that it's an interesting point of view that I tell him because I'll go sit in the crowd and watch his match as well as all the other matches," Bostian said. "So I tell him that I have that fan perspective, so maybe he should listen to my pointers."

Borne said his message is simple.

"Don't let your limitations hold you back because the reality is the world doesn't care about your limitations," Borne said. "They see past that for the most part. You're the one holding yourself back with your own fear of, 'What are they going to think of me?'"

Borne and his wife say they've learned so much about the sport and life since he joined WWE.

"You've got to believe in yourself and take chances and that's what I'm hoping to do with my platform now, is to create a spark," Borne said.