On last night’s episode of AEW Collision, The Acclaimed faced off against the debuting Grizzled Young Veterans, a decorated and well respected tag team from Europe that had a stint in WWE where they became NXT UK Tag Team Champions. After their release last fall, they once again began dominating the independents and now are starting their own promotion, Burning Heart Pro Wrestling. In between all of that, though, they made a very surprising debut in AEW and quickly won the fans in Jacksonville and beyond over.ย
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Though James Drake and Zack Gibson didn’t win their debut match, it was outlined to fans that there is definitely a hole in the tag team division that they could fill, and that they deserve to be signed somewhere full-time. Gibson and Drake caught up with AEW in a digital exclusive where they made it clear that this isn’t the last time the AEW locker room or fans will see them.
Grizzled Young Veterans on Their AEW Future
“We are Grizzled Young Veterans. Any man and their dogs that were watching that match know the better team lost. The only solitary reason we lost the match was because of Billy Gunn, a man that wasn’t even supposed to be out there. We have conquered all of Europe and we’re never going to stop,” Gibson passionately said with Drake adding, “So The Acclaimed, Billy Gunn, in fact, the whole AEW roster, this isn’t the last time you’re gonna see the GYV. So remember this, when you see us coming, grit your teeth.”
The Grizzled Young Veterans have been taking over the U.S. wrestling market, including in TNA where they made their debut at TNA Hard To Kill back in January. As a whole it appears that the major promotions within the United States are putting an emphasis back on tag team wrestling, something that has come and gone in waves over the years. For AEW in particular, it was a major part of their identity in the early days with teams like the Young Bucks, Private Party, SoCal Uncensored, the Lucha Bros., FTR, Santana and Ortiz, The Butcher and The Blade as well as the Best Friends. AEW has retained many of these teams but the division took a back seat when the trios titles were announced back in 2023. Since then, there’s been a definite resurgence and a team like the Grizzled Young Vets could be just what AEW needs.
H/T: Fightful
