AEW's The Young Bucks Named on PWI's Tag Team 50 Rankings for 2021

By Connor Casey

All Elite Wrestling picked up its second No. 1 spot on the annual Pro Wrestling Illustrated rankings for 2021 on Thursday as it was confirmed The Young Bucks have been named the top tag team on the annual PWI Tag Team 50 list. The rankings were first introduced last year with FTR and Adam Page & Kenny Omega (who was named No. 1 on the PWI 500 for this year) taking the top two spots. The Bucks were unable to crack the top 10 on the initial list, but their lengthy reign as AEW World Tag Team Champions, heel turn and Match of the Year contender against the Lucha Brothers at All Out catapulted them to the No. 1 ranking. 

Rounding out the top five were the Lucha Brothers, New Japan's Dangerous Tekkers, WWE's The Usos and Stardom's ALK. The Bucks have not competed since their six-man tag match against Christian Cage and Jurassic Express at Full Gear as both are dealing with injuries. 

Ironically, the Bucks admitted in interviews that they didn't want to win AEW's tag titles until at least 2021, but Tony Khan insisted on them winning the gold from FTR at Full Gear 2020. They went on to second the record for longest reign as tag team champions at 302 days. 

"If we'd won them right away, there wouldn't have been a struggle for our characters," Nick Jackson said during an interview with Sports Illustrated. "We actually wanted to hold back for another year, so winning now was a Tony [Khan] call, but I'm glad it happened at the pay-per-view. It felt special, and winning it from FTR in this rivalry, in a match we never thought would happen, took it over the top."

"We wanted our story to be painful," Matt Jackson added "So we kept losing, and when you finally thought we'd start winning, we'd lose more. Being fans, we know the feeling of when that pain turns to celebration, and this was the right time for us. We competed in arguably the biggest tag-team match of the last five years and finally won the tag titles in the company we helped start. Does it get any bigger than that?"

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