Matt and Nick Jackson, better known as The Young Bucks, sat down with Chris Van Vliet this week for an in-depth interview on the future of All Elite Wrestling. Midway through the interview the pair were asked what would happen if they had not been approached by Tony Khan to launch AEW, and the two revealed that they and fellow Elite member Kenny Omega were on the verge of signing very lucrative deals with WWE.
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“The last options we had before AEW became a thing was going to WWE or starting our own thing,” Nick said. “And we were probably going to start our own thing.”
“It was hard though because we had some great offers on the table,” Matt added. “We talked to them [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, and we got off the phone one day and said, ‘Hey, I think we’re going to WWE.’ It was that close. And Tony came to us at the right time and he just made the better offer.”
“And I’m not talking financially, I’m talking, ‘Hey, you guy could run this thing.’ And that’s not something we could get elsewhere. [He said] ‘And I want you guys to hire your people,’” he added.
“You can’t put a dollar amount on any of that,” Nick said.
The brothers went on to say one of the biggest things that kept the trio from signing on the dotted line was the travel.
“You can’t put a price tag on mental health,” Matt said. “And being around all of the people you love and actually being able to be creative, you can’t put a price tag on that.”
“And one thing that took us out of the race for going to WWE was the amount of dates they wanted us to do,” Nick said, before Matt interjected by adding that WWE was offering them a limited schedule. “But we have young families. Even with the limited schedule it was like, ‘god, I can’t imagine being home for two days for my kids.’”
The two stated that the plan was for the group to jump right to the main roster, with Matt saying they had “big, big plans” for them.
Nick said one thing that made the pair sour on WWE very early on was working as extras for WWE in the late 2000s. Many will recall the two dressed as imitators of Shawn Michaels and Triple H for a segment involving The Miz and John Morrison.
“You know what’s funny is when we were doing extra work for them in like 2008, maybe, we would be backstage and be like, ‘god, this environment sucks!’ It’s like why are we walking on eggshells when we’re trying to get a job? Imagine when we have a job a here how it’s going to feel. And I always remembered that a a young adult. I was like, I don’t think I could do that. I don’t think I could live that life.”
The Bucks will take on Cody Rhodes and Dustin Rhodes in a tag match at the Fight for the Fallen event on Saturday in Jacksonville.
