The Young Bucks and FTR are AEW's oil and water; the former are fun, flashy, and frantic in the ring, with occasionally over-choreographed maneuvers, high-flying antics, and enough Superkicks to garner a cease and desist from HBK himself, whereas their formerly WWE foils represent tradition, legacy, and the old-school way of doing things. They like tag ropes, almost never go over the top rope, and even design much of their offense around tag teams of yore, many of which had the word “Express” in their title.
While the two teams have worked matches together in the past, with both of their previous offerings earning five and a quarter and four and three-quarters stars from Dave Meltzer, respectively, it seems unlikely that the two teams will become prolific foes in the same way as the former have working with the Lucha Bros or the latter have wrestling The Briscoes. Still, game respects game, and when Dax Harwood was asked about which wrestlers would be on his tag team Mount Rushmore by his FTR Podcast co-host, he included the Bucks on that list.
“There’s no taking away if I were going to put together a Mount Rushmore of tag teams, I would put The Young Bucks on there,” Harwood said via Wrestling News. “I would have them right up there because they have defined a generation of tag team wrestling. They also completely changed a style of tag team wrestling too. Not a style that Cash and I adopted just because that is not my cup of tea. Also not my forte. I couldn’t do half the sh*t, a quarter of the sh*t they do. They’re incredible at what they do, but they did change the perception of tag team wrestling. They changed the way tag team wrestling is formatted. All the differences that we may have had in the past from 2016 through 2022, I can’t take away the fact that they should be on a Mount Rushmore of tag team wrestling, and that’s going to get some people mad at me, but let’s just hope they keep downloading.”
As surprising as Harwood's complement may be, it makes sense; AEW has about a dozen tag teams on their roster who were directly influenced by the Bucks' wrestling style, and that number will only continue to grow across the industry as the team continues to deliver banger, after banger, after banger, to steal a phrase from The Brawling Brutes. Even if FTR aren't going to add Northern Lights Suplexes or Top Rope Suicidas to their moves set any time soon, it's nice to know that they respect the innovative AEW tag team nonetheless.
Dax Harwood says he thought FTR vs Young Bucks for all the titles was supposed to happen at All Out. Despite their professional/personal differences, he says The Bucks should be on the Mt. Rushmore of tag teams. Podcast drops on Thursday. pic.twitter.com/Xe5GxI8gbc
— Wrestling News (@WrestlingNewsCo) January 3, 2023
FTR know their maybe AEW coworker is a serious difference maker.
Elsewhere in his podcast, Harwood was asked about Mercedes Moné, his fellow former WWE performer who also made an appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 17, and how he feels about her place in professional wrestling. Unsurprisingly, especially considering his past comments, Harwood is a fan.
“She did take the tag team titles very seriously, but she took wrestling very seriously too,” Punk said via Fightful. “She didn't get into wrestling just to get into wrestling. She got into wrestling to make a difference. Not just women's wrestling, but for all of wrestling. She wanted to be looked at in the same light as Stone Cold Steve Austin or Hulk Hogan or The Rock. She wanted to be looked at that way and she wanted to make a difference in wrestling that way. She's very prideful. Sometimes, speaking from experience, pride can rub people the wrong way because you do stand up for what you believe in and you don't take no for an answer because you want the best for yourself and you want the best for your craft and your art, as corny as ‘art' sounds, that word is too cliche now, but when you take it so seriously, it's a recipe for success, but a lot of people aren't going to like you because of it. I think that's maybe what happened to her.”
Can Moné actually elevate her game to the same pantheon as “Stone Cold,” The Rock, or the Hulkster? Only time will tell, but her appearance at Wrestle Kingdom certainly got fans talking, her match at Battle in the Valley against Kairi is going to be must-see, and if, one way or another, she ends up working the forthcoming edition of AEW Dynamite as Saraya or Hikaru Shida's partner, it will only grow the hype surrounding the newest chapter in the performer formerly known as Sasha Banks' career.
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