When the Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson & Nicholas Jackson) returned to AEW in January 2024, they leaned into their status as Executive Vice Presidents, and started using and abusing their power to get things for themselves and their friends.
The Bucks changed up their look and style, including how they wrestled.
"I like the idea of feeling uncomfortable and trying new things. Sometimes, it doesn’t work out but most of the time, in our career, the things we have bet most on have usually worked out. I like to take those big risks and try new things. If we fall flat on our faces… at this point, who cares?" Matt told Tunnel Talk on Social Suplex.
Nick added, "I think part of it is [after] doing it for twenty plus years now, sometimes the normal gets boring and you just want to think outside the box."
Matt continued, "You want to entertain yourself but, to Nick’s point, you go to a rock show and you want to hear the songs that you know. Whenever they play the new stuff, everyone is just like ‘Oh come on, the new stuff? This sucks!’ I get that, but as a performer – as a creative person – I always want to come up with something fresh."
When asked how to keep continuity, but also switch things up, Matt cited the change with their in-ring style.
"Sure. Here is a good example: When we did the EVPs thing, we were like: ‘Let’s just have really boring matches. Let’s stop doing all the super athletic moves that get the big reactions,'" said Matt.
Nick said that was hard for him.
Matt continued, "It is hard because one of the things in general is that most of our stuff is pretty exciting, it’s highspots. We did it."
Nick added, "I stopped doing dives for, maybe, eight months. I didn’t do a tumble out to the floor for about eight months and that was on purpose. We literally wanted people to think ‘Are these guys not athletic anymore? Are they just boring wrestlers now?’"
Speaking about the fan reaction online to the change, Nick stated, "I see some of it. I stay off most of social media but one thing that really pissed me off was someone said ‘I thought the Young Bucks were washed’ and I was thinking: ‘Oh, come on! You guys fell for the gimmick that we were doing? We didn’t forget how to wrestle out of nowhere. Come on, don’t be dumb.’
Matt concluded by saying, "You know what, though? It worked because if we had continued to just wrestle the same style then people would be like, ‘they are just doing the same stuff.’ Then, when you switch it up and you dial it down a lot… when you bring it back, there is a huge reaction. It’s like, ‘Woah! They can still go!’ And it’s like, yes, that was all on purpose!
"Everything we do is on purpose. We put a lot of thought into every little thing. If you see us having a match where we are not leaving our feet much, we are just trying something new. Sometimes, it doesn’t always work out. I feel like, maybe, it hurt our matches a little bit and our matches, at some point in the year, were not as exciting as people normally think our matches are.
"I remember Nick just going, ‘Matt, let’s just go freakin’ kill it like we always do. We know how to kill it, let’s just go kill it again.’ I said, ‘OK.’"
The Bucks last wrestled on the October 30th episode of AEW Dynamite, losing the AEW Tag Team Titles to Private Party (Zay & Quen).
Fans can read how plans changed regarding their AEW Tag Team Title run by clicking here.
