Update on the Young Bucks Sending "Feelers" to WWE

All Elite Wrestling lost one of its founders earlier this year to WWE, and reports from last week indicated that two more could follow suit. Ryan Frederick of the Wrestling Observer reported that AEW Executive Vice Presidents Matt and Nick Jackson had "sent out feelers" to people within WWE. The Bucks are contracted to AEW until 2024, but this move would be done to gauge potential interest from outside employers for when those deals expire.

In an update from Fightful Select, this is said to have been a rumor among many of its sources "dating back to August." Sources specifically close to the Bucks noted that they "haven't been given that indication whatsoever" in regards to the Jackson brothers sending feelers to WWE. This anonymous source is said to "likely be in a good position to relay that information" and added that they "aren't sure who the Young Bucks would even reach out to" in regard to contacting WWE. The Bucks chatting with WWE management specifically would likely be considered contract tampering, but utilizing a third party to relay interest falls in a gray area.

Within this report, Fightful did confirm that it had heard of people who worked in talent relations "outright" reaching out to AEW talent in August. It was not specified if these talent relations people were actively working for WWE. Another source, who was with WWE in 2018, noted that they had heard the feelers rumor but neglected to ask WWE higher-ups about it because "they weren't sure how that would be received." It's worth noting that the Bucks were in talks with the WWE in 2018, and nearly inked deals there before ultimately helping start AEW. For this reason, this source believes the Bucks "wouldn't even need to gauge interest" about joining WWE since there was such clear interest in years past, and their stock has only increased in the years since. Fightful reported that it was given "no indication" before AEW All Out that the Bucks wanted to leave the company.

While this ultimately kills the feelers rumor, Fightful's report does corroborate multiple reports of alleged contracting tampering from WWE, which was addressed by AEW President Tony Khan at a recent talent meeting. There, Khan notified the roster that AEW Chief Legal Officer Megha Parekh had emailed WWE co-CEOs Stephanie McMahon and Nick Khan to warn them about tampering with AEW talent. Khan also responded to the WWE tampering allegations in an interview ahead of AEW All Out.

"There was one issue, that had come up, that people have seen stuff written about and I don't really want to get into it, but if someone asked me, I guess I would get into it a little more, but there were issues the talent had come to us about and said, 'I think you should probably know about,'" Khan said two weeks ago. "Based on the talent coming to us and telling us that and giving us their feedback and telling us stuff that happened with them, to them, both in the company and things happening outside the company, from other companies even, based on what the talent was saying to us, we thought it was good to have a meeting with everybody. I thought the meeting went really well, certainly this week was really a positive week of television and good energy going into the pay-per-view."

The Young Bucks are currently suspended from AEW for their involvement in the AEW All Out backstage fight.