The Elite have not been on AEW programming since ALL OUT on September 4. The infamous BRAWL OUT happened that night, leading to suspensions of The Elite, CM Punk, and Ace Steel. The first four were stripped of their respective titles.
The AEW All Out media scrum is one of the most talked about press conferences in the history of the wrestling business.
CM Punk ripped Colt Cabana, Hangman Page, and The Young Bucks. The former AEW World Heavyweight Champion was involved in a backstage brawl with The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega. Ace Steel was also part of the brawl.
No Timetable
A third-party investigation into the brawl was started and is still going on. Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that there is still no timetable for the investigation to be concluded.
Meltzer stated that none of the five (Punk, Young Bucks, Steel, and Omega) have heard anything from AEW but are continuing to get paid.
At least one person (not one of the five) who was there had not been interviewed, and there may be others. It was said that most are frustrated because they want to be back working at this point. Punk may be the exception to that belief since he can’t work for a long time due to getting surgery.
Meltzer continued by noting that none of the five stars are allowed to speak, but several of them want to discuss the incident.
“Any rumors of anyone being fired, anyone being told they aren’t coming back, or anything like that are incorrect as of midweek at least. None have been given any impression of a timetable.”
Hardy names various wrestlers who he thinks are the best he’s worked with in his career. He lists wrestlers like Eddie Guerrero, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, The Rock, Brock Lesnar, and Edge & Christian.
He shared who thinks are the best “with the newer style of wrestling.” “Three guys that I have to give shoutouts to because they truly do have great minds for what they do and they’re very polarizing, but Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks. I’ve loved my experiences with them as well. It’s funny, you know, people sleep on the Young Bucks, but they really do know their shit. I mean, they can work an old school-style match if they needed to. They’re very well-versed in everything. They are extremely smart in how they put together their shit. They’re great.”
Matt Hardy would like to work with these AEW wrestlers
(AEW)
When asked who we wants to work with in AEW that he hasn’t worked with yet, Hardy immediately replied, “Kenny Omega”. For younger talent, he wants to work with MJF. He revealed that it was discussed at one point during the Pandemic Era.
Although they worked together some in WWE, the current AEW World Champion, Jon Moxley, is someone who would love to work with now and have a “one-on-one match with.”
After getting to work with “All Ego” Ethan Page a little bit, Hardy can see the similarities that host Jon Alba pointed out, such as his “wrestling acumen”.
AEW Dynamite is set to make its International debut on Wednesday night, as it emanates from Toronto, Ontario Canada for the very first time.
The show features a packed card, with Chris Jericho defending his ROH Championship against Bryan Danielson, Pac defending his AEW All-Atlantic Championship against Orange Cassidy, ‘Jungle Boy’ Jack Perry taking on former friend and partner Luchasaurus, and more.
But fans online are still reticent about the show because they feel that Elite member and former AEW Trios Champion, the Canadian-born Kenny Omega should be a part of the first AEW Dynamite from Canada.
Omega, of course, was one of the wrestlers suspended after a reported backstage brawl between Omega, The Young Bucks, CM Punk, Ace Steele, Ace Steele’s wife, CM Punk’s dog, the AEW company lawyer, and more.
Granted, not all of those names listed were actually throwing hands, but they were in the vicinity that the brawl took place.
The Elite and CM Punk Suspended
It’s been alleged that CM Punk threw the first punch in the brawl. It’s also alleged that Ace Steele, Punk’s friend and a (former?) producer for AEW threw a chair and bit Kenny Omega on the arm.
Most reports seems to indicate that Omega didn’t actually do anything wrong, but he was suspended anyway, at least until any legal ramifications might be cleared up.
Omega still appeared in Japan last month on behalf of AEW for the Tokyo Games Show, but he hasn’t been seen on AEW television since All Out.
Now, a new piece of merchandise may just mean that Omega could be in Canada.
It would be weird to promote The Elite in Canada without a member of The Elite actually appearing in Canada, but stranger things have happened. Maybe this is nothing. Or maybe, just maybe, Kenny Omega could appear on AEW Dynamite.
Matt Jackson, All-Elite Wrestling Executive Vice President and member of the Young Bucks, posted a video story on Instagram on Tuesday promoting the release of the team’s new basketball shoes. It was the first public comment from either member of the Young Bucks since they were suspended following the All Out pay-per-view on Sept. 4.
Jackson was suspended along with several others following a fight in CM Punk’s locker room following Punk’s comments about the EVPs during a press conference. In Tuesday’s Instagram post, Jackson was emotional and reflective about the release of the sneakers and the tag team’s fans over the years.
“Thank you for everything the last 18 years,” Jackson said. “You’ve supported us and been so great for us and I really can’t wait to see you guys soon.”
Matt and Nick Jackson, Kenny Omega, Ace Steel and CM Punk remain suspended while a third-party firm continues to investigate a brawl that occurred after the show.
Thank you for everything the last 18 years. You’ve supported us and been so great for us and I really can’t wait to see you guys soon.
Matt Jackson
Jackson made his comment to fans during a video promoting the release of the Diadora Young Bucks basketball shoe by Champs Sports scheduled for Wednsesday, Sept. 28. The Young Bucks have become synonymous with their shoe collection during their last two years, wearing expensive and designer Air Jordans to the ring, even attracting mainstream press attention. Their Dior designed Air Jordans were a small part of a storyline in a feud with Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston in 2021.
Jackson said he and his brother consulted with Denise Cutler, wrestling outfit designer and wife of AEW wrestler Brandon Cutler. The shoes were made by Diadora and are being released through a promotion with Champs Sports.
“I got Denise Cutler on the job,” Jackson said. “I said please Denise, you need to come up with a Young Bucks sneaker. I wore them at the mall for two hours and they got so many looks.”
The Young Bucks wore the sneakers in their trios tag team tournament final match at All Out with Omega.
“Our dream was to make it to the NBA and to have our own basketball sneaker,” Jackson said. “We were too short to make it to the NBA, but our dream of our own sneaker did pan out. I’m super proud of this. You (our fans) have always supported us with all of our crazy projects. This is the one I might be the most excited about. It’s definitely in the top three.”
Jackson said the shoes tend to run ‘big.’ He said he normally wears an 11 or 11.5 size shoe, but wore 10.5 size shoes at the PPV. He recommended fans buy a half-size or full-size smaller than their size in other brands.
A limited number of shoes are available. Jackson said fans who want the shoes should buy them early on Wednesday because of limited quantities.
As the month of September comes to an end the pro-wrestling community is still reeling from the events of the AEW ALL OUT media scrum, and the tirade from former two-time world champion CM Punk, who called out the wrestling media for their “mishandling” of the Colt Cabana situation. The Second City Saint also took aim at the AEW EVPs Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks.
The situation only became worse when a backstage melee occurred between Punk and the Elite, one that got multiple names suspended and threw a wrench into several ongoing storylines that cause Tony Khan to alter his plans once again. At this point an investigation is still going on, with Punk’s status the biggest question mark up in the air. A number of top legends, analysts, and current superstars have weighed in on this monumental moment, and now we can add one more to the list.
Mick Foley Calls Punk’s tirade a disaster for AEW President Tony Khan
WWE Hall of Famer Mick Foley spoke about the ALL OUT media scrum and the ensuing backstage altercation on the latest edition of his Foley Is Pod program. The Hardcore legend begins by stating the obvious, which is that Punk’s comments at the scrum were counterproductive to his world title win earlier in the evening, and put AEW President Tony Khan in a terrible position.
“I think anything that takes away from the majesty of that moment is counterproductive. By that standard, everything Phil did, Punk did, was disastrous because it put Tony Khan in a bad position. Anything that ends up with, Punk I believe was hurt and would have probably been out. But it put a lot of eyeballs on the product the next night, that’s a given. It was just really unfortunate. You don’t want to see that side of your superstars.”
That’s not all. Foley further elaborated on the situation by comparing Punk’s victory over Jon Moxley to his victory over The Rock, his first world title win in WWE.
“You know, I know when I held that title aloft when I beat [The Rock] for the WWE Title, and I never thought I was a WWE Title guy, so I never based my career on it the way that a lot of people have. But I remember that feeling of just utter joy. I moved pretty good for a big guy when I ran my two or three laps around there and then gave the impromptu promo, Big Daddio did it. I can’t imagine going backstage and being angry or bitter, or taking the joy out of the experience for our fans. So I didn’t see Punk’s promo in its entirety, but it put Tony Khan in a bad position, and there’s a time and a place, maybe, to play with emotions. If you have something substantial that can make people feel strange in their gut, but not after a title win.”
Aside from just the incident Punk was also injured during his matchup with Moxley, which has put him on the shelf once again. At this time it is unknown if he will return when he is all healed up.
Cody Rhodes says he had a “lovely time” during his run with Ring of Honor.
When the American Nightmare departed WWE for the first time in 2016 he set out to change his image completely, eventually teaming up with top talents like Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks, as well as a successful run in NJPW and indies all across the world.
One of those spots was at Ring of Honor, with Rhodes capturing the promotion’s top prize, the Ring of Honor world championship. Rhodes shared a photo of himself carrying the belt recently on Twitter as he was celebrating his anniversary with Brandi Rhodes and decided to use a throwback. His tweet reads:
“Happy Anniversary @TheBrandiRhodes. Today is the best day. Thank you for the endless unspoken sacrifices you’ve made for me, for being the best mom, and being the ultimate confidant (oldie but a goodie pic).”
Happy Anniversary @TheBrandiRhodes – today is the best day. Thank you for the endless unspoken sacrifices you’ve made for me, for being the best mom, and being the ultimate confidant (oldie but a goodie pic) pic.twitter.com/AKCHiq9yss
Rhodes says competing in ROH helped shaped him into the competitor he is today
A fan would see Rhodes’ photo and compliment him for his time with ROH, calling it the beginning of the eventual revolution that would eventually form AEW. Rhodes agreed, and wrote the following back to the fan.
“Lovely time – ROH was so good for me. Got to work w/the Bucks, big Frank, Lethal, Hunter/CD, Joe & Greg, Chrissy, and a super underrated production team that allowed me to play my music uninterrupted. We got to legit change the wrestling world and shaped me as a competitor/person.”
You can see their exchange below.
Lovely time – ROH was so good for me. Got to work w/the Bucks, big Frank, Lethal, Hunter/CD, Joe & Greg, Chrissy, and a super underrated production team that allowed me to play my music uninterrupted. We got to legit change the wrestling world and shaped me as a competitor/person https://t.co/kAbHn7ujKl
Aside from the ROH world title Rhodes captured the IWGP United States championship, and the NWA world’s championship. His involvement at ROH, along with the Bucks and Omega, helped bring the promotion to their greatest financial heights before they would eventually sell to Tony Khan.
As founding members of AEW, it’s hard to imagine that the Young Bucks would be willing to join any other promotion, especially WWE. On the F4W Message Board, a fan claimed that Matt and Nick Jackson have signed new deals with AEW, but that isn’t the case.
The Wrestling Observer’s Ryan Frederick corrected the fan, saying that their current deals were renewed. “They didn’t sign new deals. Their options were picked up. They did reach out to a talent to send feelers that they would be interested in talking about coming in when their deals are up.”
When Cody Rhodes returned to WWE in April 2022, fans speculated on who could be next to join him. Since returning, the three-time AEW TNT Champion has been treated very well, and is expected by many to hold the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion when he’s back from injury. WWE has also got their eye on certain AEW talent, with reports of reigning AEW TNT Champion Wardlow and MJF being on their radar.
Young Bucks to WWE?
With a budding tag-team division in WWE, including teams like The Usos, the Street Profits, and RK-Bro, there’s no shortage of fans who hope to see the Young Bucks join the company.
Frederick explained that while the Bucks may not have spoken to WWE directly, they did try and gauge what it’s like to work there.
“I can’t say they talked to anyone direct at WWE, but that would fall under tampering and this came at the same time the legal letters were being sent about tampering.
“They talked to other WWE talent about coming in.”
Ryan Fredrick on the Young Bucks joining WWE.
“Can’t confirm they actually talked to WWE people themselves, but they talked to other WWE talent about coming in, which they can do (much like WWE talent can send feelers thru AEW talent, which has happened and happens on both sides often).”
The Bucks are currently serving a suspension for their role in the All Out post-show fight.
Sunday’s All Out pay-per-view was another successful outing for AEW. The matches were well-received, we’ve got a new AEW World Champion (CM Punk) and MJF made his highly anticipated return.
Unfortunately, the events that transpired after the show went off the air have been overshadowing AEW’s latest event.
During the post-show media scrum, new AEW World Champion CM Punk lashed out at Colt Cabana and Hangman Page, who he called an “empty-headed f**cking dumb f***.” Punk also trashed AEW’s Executive Vice Presidents (Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks), who he said are incapable of managing a Target retail store.
Punk said once again, if you have a problem with him, he’s not hard to find. His locker room door is always open. Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks took this message to heart. They were waiting for Punk in his locker room after Punk finished ranting at the media scrum.
The Fallout
We know a physical altercation occurred involving CM Punk, AEW producer Ace Steel, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks. Details are still coming out, as it relates to escalated the situation to the point of violence.
Punches (and a chair) were thrown, hair was pulled and there’s even been reports that Ace Steel bit Kenny Omega. Nick Jackson was seen with a black eye after the melee. The situation is a complete mess and you can be sure consequences will be levied very soon.
AEW has yet comment publicly on what transpired, but we can report that Ace Steel is not expected to stay with the company due to his conduct. Steel has been working as a producer for AEW since earlier this year. Last week on Dynamite, he played a key role in CM Punk agreeing to wrestle Jon Moxley at All Out.
Additionally, we’re told several AEW personnel who were in the room for the altercation have been suspended. For more on this developing story:
This week’s edition of AEW Dynamite took place in Chicago, Illinois, and served as the go-home show for the All Out 2022 Pay Per View this Sunday.
Last night’s episode saw the main event of All Out be confirmed that AEW Undisputed World Champion Jon Moxley will defend against CM Punk.
In the main event of this week’s Dynamite, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks defeated the United Empire to advance to the finals of the AEW Trios Tag Title Tournament.
The other finalists will be determined on tomorrow night’s Rampage, with the finals scheduled for All Out.
After the Show
Once AEW Dynamite went off the air, Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks remained in the ring to the delight of the crowd. He spoke about how great it was to be in Chicago, which he called the birthplace of AEW.
The former AEW World Champion also said that it had become a privilege and a purpose to provide an alternative (though didn’t reference WWE by name) in professional wrestling.
While speaking about the upcoming Trios Tournament finals, Omega and the Bucks were attacked by the United Empire.
Grabbing the microphone, Will O’Spreay said that things between himself and Omega aren’t over by a long shot, before continuing his attack with a steel chair.
Despite the best efforts of the Young Bucks to protect their tag-team partner, the two were attacked, and the United Empire only left after Ospreay relieved an elbow to Omega.
After the attack, Omega was helped to the back by officials at ringside.
According to a new report, one of AEW’s key superstars is currently out and dealing with a minor injury, but will return in “a few weeks.”
According to Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer, Matt Jackson suffered a “stinger”on the July 13 episode of AEW Dynamite Fyter Fest week one. However, Meltzer says that Matt is doing better. During this match, Matt competed with his brother Nick in a triple threat tag team match against Team Taz (Ricky Starks & Powerhouse Hobbs) and Swerve in Our Glory (Swerve Strickland & Keith Lee) for their AEW Tag Team Championships.
Update On Matt Jackson
Meltzer says:
“Matt described it as like bad whiplash. He’s had no loss of strength, and his mobility and range of motion is already back to normal. He passed a strength test right after the injury.”
Matt is expected to be out of in-ring action for “a few weeks.” On Twitter, the Young Bucks current bio reads “R&R.”
Swerve in our Glory won this triple threat tag team match, and captured the AEW Tag Team Titles in the process.
The Young Bucks are gearing up for action against The Hardys this Sunday at AEW Double or Nothing.
The match is a clash between two teams of brothers known for their high-flying and high-risk arsenal of moves.
Ahead of the match this Sunday, the Young Bucks are using their social media bio to sling mud at the Hardys, as well as the Hardys’ contemporaries from the WWE Attitude Era
Early Tuesday morning, the Bucks let people know to check out their “New bio!” for their latest provocative “hot take.”
New bio!
— Matthew & Nicholas Jackson (@youngbucks) May 24, 2022
All Super Talented Tho!
The Young Bucks are very confident in their abilities. How confident are they?
They’re so confident that they believe the Attitude Era’s best tag teams would have been “fodder” for them, had they been active back in the day.
“If we were around during Attitude Era, The Hardyz, Edge/Christian & Dudleyz would’ve been tag team fodder for us,” they wrote on Twitter.
They concluded this bold claim with a disingenuous compliment about those teams. They added,” All super talented tho!,” they wrote.
Talking trash is a big part of pro wrestling, so you can’t fault the Young Bucks for believing they’re better than the Attitude Era’s best team.
Bully Ray, a target of the Young Buck’s latest Twitter bio, didn’t take offense. He replied to the Bucks’s claim by writing, “Huge pop!!”
There has been a lot of speculation about the relationships between Cody Rhodes and The Young Bucks, but according to a new interview, that has been a lot of speculation over nothing.
Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson sat down with Sports Illustrated and discussed Rhodes moving on from AEW, as well as the idea that they took a shot at Rhodes recently on Twitter.
After Rhodes returned to WWE at WrestleMania 38, he took to his Twitter account and wrote, “Wrestling is a love story.”
Around the same time, The Young Bucks updated their Twitter bio. That bio read, “The story of a couple of self-made SoCal kids who came from nothing & built a gigantic movement was never going to be romantic enough for you.”
Speaking to SI, Matt Jackson denied this was a cryptic message to Rhodes. He noted that both he and his brother keep in touch with Cody and they wish him the best with WWE. Instead, he claimed the update was a reference to wrestling fans.
“That Twitter bio was actually dedicated to cynical wrestling fans who’ve always discredited us and shaped a narrative early on that we weren’t important to the launch of AEW. So they ran with a story that made more sense to them. We talk to Cody regularly, and hope nothing but the best for him,” Matt Jackson said.
Prior to the aforementioned Twitter bio update, The Bucks had updated it around the time of Cody’s return at WrestleMania to wrestle Seth Rollins. That time, the bio read, “Wtf I thought we were doing All In 2.” Neither brother was asked about that one by SI, but it clearly was a reference to Cody.
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An angle with implications for NJPW and AEW took place Saturday night on Impact Wrestling’s No Surrender PPV. The Guerrillas of Destiny were challenging the Good Brothers for the Impact World Tag Team Championships when Chris Bey came to ringside. His distraction seemed to irritate both Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa. Then, Jay White appeared and gave a Blade Runner to Tama, leading to Anderson and Gallows retaining.
After the match, it was made clear that White had kicked the GOD out of Bullet Club and welcomed Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows back into it.
Following these events, Jay White tagged the Young Bucks in a post featuring highlights of his Blade Runner to Tama Tonga.
There are implications for the angle in AEW as well. In storyline, Adam Cole brought White into the promotion recently. The Young Bucks and the Good Brothers had previously been aligned along with Kenny Omega as members of the Elite in both Impact and AEW last year. This angle is essentially taking place in 3 different promotions.
During a recent episode of his podcast, Ric Flair spoke about why he is a fan of AEW’s Young Bucks. Co-host Mark Madden expressed surprise that Flair would be a fan of theirs considering the new-school and high-spot focussed style they have wrestled over the years. Flair, however, listed several reasons why he likes Matt & Nick Jackson.
“I can identify somebody being able to do something I couldn’t have done. I can honestly tell ya, I could have learned how to do a moonsault, I could have learned how to do a couple of things the kids can do but the stuff they do, I could have never done,” Flair said.
“I was a division 1 athlete but the things those guys do, similar to the Usos and the bumps they take, I can’t help but respect them. Plus, they are really nice, respectable kids. I know that word respect is probably used too much by me, but when you’ve got my respect, you’ve got me.”
Ric Flair’s comments regarding the Young Bucks begin about 2 minutes into the below video.
If you use any of the above transcriptions please credit Ric Flair’s podcast with a H/T to SEScoops for the transcriptions.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to surge around the world, the virus has been contracted by another member of the wrestling world. Matt Jackson of the Young Bucks has reportedly tested positive.
The former AEW Tag Team Champion’s condition was confirmed by a bio change on Twitter.com. The Bucks often use that location to announce things, be snarky, or a little of both.
You can see the reveal below.
Bryan Alvarez of F4WOnline revealed that both Jackson and Brandon Cutler have contracted COVID-19. Further, Nick Jackson was with both recently for 18 hours so is considered a close contact. All three men will be forced to miss tomorrow night’s TBS debut of AEW Dynamite and will not be able to return until cleared.
Dynamite takes place from Newark, New Jersey this week and none of the three are reported to have made the trip. The date of their tests has not been revealed, but due to them not making the trip, it was likely prior to Tuesday.
Nick Jackson, Matt’s brother and tag team partner of The Young Bucks, had COVID-19 in the fall of 2020 very bad. He wrote about it in an Instagram story about one year ago, detailing his battle and the long-term effect it had on him.
“Crazy to think there’s still COVID deniers out there in the world. I had a pretty bad case of COVID in early September that kept me bed ridden for nearly 3 weeks. I couldn’t taste or smell for 2 in a half months. At one point my whole body had hives in it and my doctor said that it was definitely from COVID. Matt had to do the majority of the work in matches once I returned safely because I couldn’t catch my breath. My cardio is finally back but it took months to finally feel like myself again. Let’s protect each other and wear [a] mask.”
Nick Jackson on his 2020 battle with COVID-19
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Matt & Nick Jackson have signed new contracts with AEW. News that the Young Bucks have signed new long-term deals with the company was reported in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Regarding the Young Bucks, Dave Melter wrote that they did “sign a new contract which will keep them with the company through at least 2026.”
Update: It has since been revealed that their current contracts have only been extended until 2024.
The actual deal with the Bucks is a two-year extension starting January 1st, so this deal runs through 2024, not 2026.
The Young Bucks hold the record for the longest reign with the AEW World Tag Team Championships. Their 302 day reign lasted from Full Gear 2020 until All Out 2021. They are tied for the most title defenses as well with 9. Kenny Omega and Hangman Page also successfully defended the titles 9 times.
During a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, the Young Bucks commented on what it is like to have Adam Cole in the AEW locker room.
“I can’t fully express the happiness I currently have, sharing a ring with Adam Cole again,” Matt Jackson said. “His positivity and energy had really helped the morale in our locker room. I haven’t stopped smiling since he showed up. When he arrived, it felt like we finally found that missing piece of the puzzle. The whole gang is finally back together. We hadn’t worked together in five years, but the chemistry was still there. The dude is a star and getting some of the biggest reactions I’ve ever heard.”
Adam Cole debuted for AEW at All Out in Chicago last month. He quickly joined up with the Elite, whom he had been aligned with before signing with WWE in 2017 as members of Bullet Club. Matt and Nick Jackson were recently interviewed by Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated and commented on what it’s like having Cole in the AEW locker room.
“I can’t fully express the happiness I currently have, sharing a ring with Adam Cole again,” Matt Jackson said. “His positivity and energy had really helped the morale in our locker room. I haven’t stopped smiling since he showed up. When he arrived, it felt like we finally found that missing piece of the puzzle. The whole gang is finally back together. We hadn’t worked together in five years, but the chemistry was still there. The dude is a star and getting some of the biggest reactions I’ve ever heard.”
Nick Jackson also commented on Adam Cole’s arrival in AEW. He commented on both WWE letting Cole leave and him being resurrected from the dead on BTE.
“I’m still trying to figure that out,” Nick said of WWE letting Cole walk away. “But even crazier than resurrecting the dead is letting a superstar walk away from your company to join the competition.”
Cole has wrestled 4 times in AEW thus far. He’s 2-0 in singles matches having defeated Frankie Kazarian and Jungle Boy. He’s 2-0 in tag-team matches as well. HE teamed with the Young Bucks and defeated Christian Cage & The Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) on Rampage Grand Slam. He later teamed with the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega and defeated Bryan Danielson, Christian Cage & The Jurassic Express(Jungle Boy & Luchasaurus) in Philadelphia on October 6th.
Matt and Nick Jackson are cementing their status as the most talented tag team in the world, while also working behind the scenes as AEW executive vice presidents https://t.co/BrXybFcXDp
Penta El Zero M and Fenix are going to All Out in search of some gold.
The Lucha Bros have earned the right to take on The Young Bucks for the AEW World Tag Team Titles. The Lucha Bros defeated Varsity Blondes and then Jurassic Express to seal their spots on the All Out PPV.
During an interview with Sports Illustrated, Penta El Zero M discussed what defeating Matt and Nick Jackson would mean for him and Fenix.
“Matt and Nick Jackson are our greatest rivals, and we have so much history with them in AEW and from the independent world. We are both brothers, and we all have a passion for wrestling, but there is a difference between us and The Young Bucks. It is not for show. Winning titles means everything to us. We will fight to the death for that championship.
“Our biggest motivation is that we are indebted to all our fans. This time, we will show them it is different. This time, we are better prepared. We will show why we’re the best tag team in the universe.”
The Lucha Bros have yet to capture tag team gold in AEW. Back in Oct. 2019, they took on SoCal Uncensored for the inaugural AEW World Tag Team Championships. Penta and Fenix fell short in the match, which aired live on Dynamite.
The title bout between Lucha Bros and The Young Bucks will be inside a steel cage. Time will tell if the stipulation will be able to prevent interference.
It was said that the honeymoon period among some key people in the company was over and there were executives who were not even on talking terms.
The Young Bucks seem to have taken note of these rumors and the AEW EVPs recently reacted to them by updating their Twitter bios to “Currently not on speaking terms.”:
On a related note, Dave Meltzer provided some update on the situation while writing about it on the Wrestling Observer Message Board. He suggested that the report of the AEW VPs not talking to each other are exaggerated:
“Anyway, nobody isn’t talking to each other, it’s impossible in wrestling to get everyone to agree on everything, especially when they are passionate about it. The Young Bucks & Omega are legit close personal friends.
Cody is more of a business relationship with the other three but it’s not an adversarial one in the least and all have the same end goals which is to build a company that sustains and grows.”
Meltzer also mentioned how Tony Khan is the one running the show at the end of the day and the VPs just have different philosophies about how things should be.
AEW Tag Team Champions Matt & Nick Jackson, the Young Bucks, were guests recently on Talk N Shop. During the conversation, the brothers revealed that WWE offered them $500,000 to sign with them in 2018.
“I knew [Good Brothers] money. Everyone else was getting [$150,000] to start. He’s already offering us $500,000 each guaranteed. I’m going, ‘what!’ Right then, we knew our street value. That was the first offer. Basically, he said, ‘by the end of your trip, I would love an answer.’ The whole trip, I’m [stressed]. I kept dragging it out,” said Matt (transcriptions via Fightful).
The Bucks also spoke about negotiations they had with Ring of Honor to stay with them. According to comments by Nick Jackson, they knew ROH would be unable to afford what they were looking for.
“They couldn’t afford it. We told them, ‘we know we can make a million and that’s our goal, to make seven digits this year.’ They knew they couldn’t come close to that,” Nick Jackson said.
During an interview with Chris Van Vliet in 2019, Matt Jackson opened up about how close they were to signing with WWE.
“We talked to [WWE] endlessly. At one point, I remember me, Nick, and Kenny were in a room because all of our deals were up at the same time. We got off the phone one day and we looked at each other, and we said, ‘I think we’re all going to WWE.’ It was that close.”
AEW Tag Team Champions The Young Bucks have been working hard on their recent heel turn on All Elite programming. The duo have been utilizing their social media, specifically Twitter, to advance their NJPW Bullet Club-esque characters over the past few weeks.
One way that Matt and Nick Jackson have used Twitter is by posting ‘New bio!!’ every few days to get fans to click on their profile and check out the latest musings from AEW’s top tag team.
In the latest update, The Young Bucks have said that they plan to ‘retire’ from professional wrestling at the age of 40.
The Young Bucks on Retirement
“Wrestling’s sweethearts. Needle movers. Goalpost chasers” The Young Bucks write. “Polarizing, self-made millionaires. Could’ve retired years ago so this is all extra credit. Done by 40.”
It’s worth noting that Matt Jackson is 36, and his brother Nick will be turning 32 in July.
It’s not uncommon for professional wrestlers to still be performing well into their 40s or even 50s. Arguably the biggest mainstream name in AEW is Chris Jericho, and he turned 50 last year.
Depending on when you grew up and which wrestling promotion you watched the most, your opinion on the presence of factions in wrestling will differ. The Young Bucks, who cut their teeth in NJPW took time to respond to fan criticism that AEW has too many factions.
The Young Bucks, who were part of two factions while working in Japan – Bullet Club and the splinter group The Elite – responded to their critics in an interview with TV Insider.
There have been several new factions form in AEW over the past couple of weeks. Including the ‘Super Elite’ which has seen the Bucks once more side with Kenny Omega. Alongside them are the Good Brothers Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson, and the group manager, Don Callis.
This particular group is interesting not because of its members but because it crossed two different promotions without any form of brand/network segregation.
Factions Form as the AEW Brand Takes Shape
We have also seen the rise of The Factory, The Pinnacle, Matt Hardy Office, and the post-pandemic reunion of Death Triangle. Surely it is also only a matter of time before Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston form their own group.
Either way, the Bucks are convinced that factions are good for wrestling. With the success AEW has had to date, who could question their logic.
New Japan Pro Wrestling has been booking factions for more than 40 years, and they’re still around. I see the argument, but I think North American fans have never seen this many at one time. They are used to one, two, or three stables in a company. It’s easier to book angles. It’s easy to get more people involved with different groups. If you’re not aligned in a stable, you’re alone, and that’s hard to book sometimes. That’s why we have a lot of factions. It has clearly worked. Nick said in response to the question.
While Matt went on to discuss the realistic possibility of a trios championship. This is another belt that gains much more credibility when you have clear cut groups to work with.
The Young Bucks kicked off Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite by cutting a promo about their decision to align with Kenny Omega and company last week. The Bucks are now working as heels and introduced new ring gear to signify their new attitudes.
Nick and Matt Jackson sported Jordan 1 Retro High Dior sneakers this week. The shoes sell for upwards of $10,000 on the secondary sneaker market.
— Matthew & Nicholas Jackson (@youngbucks) April 15, 2021
Some eagle-eyed fans on social media were quick to point out that the Young Bucks’ Jordan 1 Retro High Diors might not be authentic. Sneaker aficionado @Richiedge is convinced the Jackson brothers were rocking fakes.
For those doubting. The swoosh placement being so close to the midsole is literally one of the main things to look for when spotting fakes of these which are all over now. The swoosh also looks really bad. The worst part is I’m sure they spent close to 5 figures on them pic.twitter.com/RQBYW6q5TI
It’s interesting that this ‘controversy’ occurred just as the Bucks were solidifying their heel turn. Was this fashion faux pas an oversight, or was it really a very clever move that shows the depths to which some wrestlers are willing to go in order to play their characters?
Designing the Perfect Heel
Spending $10,000 on sneakers could be perceived as a heel move. However, if the shoes are in fact fraudulent, there could be other forces at work.
Could Excalibur’s insistence that Don Callis is literally human garbage could point to the fakes being a planned spot? After all, great professional wrestling is about great storytelling just as much as it is the action in the ring.
Could it be that the Bucks’ new designer shoes were a gift from Callis? A device to further highlight his slimy and underhanded nature? He is, after all, a bold-as-brass coward, and an even bigger snake than Jake has ever met. Kitting out his guys in fake designer gear would be a perfect fit.
Whether true or not, you could easily see the story being spun that way now, and fair play for it. Creativity is important to AEW and well, let’s face it, you’ve got to give the people what they want.
Great heels were becoming a thing of the past, and the universal loathing for Kenny Omega and the new Super Elite is a throwback to the days when a heel was booed and loathed to the very core of a wrestling fans heart.
