Former WWE NXT Tag Team Champions To Make AEW Debut on Collision

The Grizzled Young Vets call out The Acclaimed for their AEW debut.

By Haley Miller

On AEW Collision this week, a popular former WWE NXT tag team look to put the tag division on notice and have them grit their teeth. 

The Grizzled Young Veterans who were granted their release from WWE in September of 2023 are set to wrestle The Acclaimed for the very first time as they have been on their radar for "a few years now." Prior to their release from WWE, they became NXT UK Tag Team Champions before the brand shuttered and they moved to the United States. They'd been wrestling for WWE in some capacity since 2018. Since their release, they've toured all throughout the independent circuit in RevPro, REVOLVER, and DPW. They've also popped up in TNA Wrestling recently, wrestling the likes of ABC and the Motor City Machine Guns.

In the short promo video which you can watch below, James Drake notes that to be the best you have to "fight the best" and says they are going to make a statement. "For the past 18 years we have traveled the world, living the pirate life," Gibson starts. "Honing our craft and establishing ourselves as the premiere team anywhere in this industry," Zack Gibson adds.

Will The Grizzled Young Vets Sign With AEW?

When they returned to independent wrestling following their NXT release, GYV made a challenge to The Workhorsemen, then the top tag team on the scene. Now they have been scooped up by AEW, though Anthony Henry was released and subsequently re-hired. 

With that history, their rivalry could absolutely bleed over to AEW and give the tag team the rejuvenation it needs. It also leaves a lot open for them to revisit their story with the MCMG who are said to be AEW bound imminently. As the Young Bucks are spearheading the division as tag team champions again and FTR are one of the standouts of the division, there would be a lot of potential for the team to mix it up with legendary teams they have never faced. 

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For now, though, they are looking forward in their wrestling careers as they start their own promotion Burning Heart Pro Wrestling which was announced earlier this week. James Drake and Zack Gibson revealed that it's "created by wrestlers, for wrestlers and fans." BHPW will host its first event at the Liverpool Olympia on June 21 with tickets set to go on sale at 10 a.m. GMT on April 29. You can check out the full announcement below...

Stay tuned for updates on the Grizzled Young Vets and AEW.

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