After taking a few months off of television after being bested inside the ring and tactically by their long-time The Elite friend Kenny Omega alongside his short-lived tag team partner Chris Jericho at Full Gear, the Young Bucks returned in a big way on the second AEW Dynamite of 2024, interrupting the post-match celebration between Sting and Darby Alin with what many considered an unofficial challenge for Sting's final match at Revolution.
Sporting fancy suits, small mustaches, and a playboy style, social media was instantly flooded with a number of questions about the future of the Jackson Brothers. Are they challenging Sting and Allin? Are the brothers leaving their traditional gimmick behind for a new look? Is this a sign of maturity or just a new way to work heel, taking advantage of public perception to upset folks even more?
Sitting down for an interview with Renee Paquette on the subsequent episode of AEW Dynamite, the Young Bucks decided to set the record straight, including the names they should be referred by to moving forward.
“I’m sorry to cut you off, but can you show a little more respect next time and call us by our God-given names of Nicholas and Matthew Jackson?” Nicholas Jackson told the AEW audience. “You see, we’re Executive Vice Presidents around here, and it’s time to take this job a little more seriously.”
Asked by Paquette about the rumors surrounding the brothers, though non specifically, due to Mattew's quick trigger reaction, the elder Jackson cut in, letting it be known that they will be taking a more hands-on approach to their EVP jobs moving forward to ensure everyone, even Paquette can cash her paycheck each week.
“Rumors?! Rumors? Okay, I’m gonna go there. I think I know which rumors you’re talking about. You don’t believe any of that is true now, Renee? The things they say about us, things they write about us, right? Okay, none of those are true, okay, those are all fake. Let’s say hypothetically, some of that was true, right? Some of the stuff you read was true, right? Let me ask you a question: what would you do to preserve and protect your life’s work? What would you do to preserve and protect your baby? You and Jon have a beautiful daughter, right? What would you do? I know what I would do, right? So just think about that when you come at us with rumors again, but again, this is all hypotheticals. Okay,” Matthew Jackson said.
“And what would you be wiling to lose? Would you be willing to lose your relationship with coworkers and your friends? And how about your reputation or your legacy out the window? You know what? If you knew all that in hindsight, would you still do it if it meant that there’d be a healthy, sustainable, thriving wrestling company called AEW? Yeah. You know what? I know my answer. The answer is: H*ll yeah. I’d go back and do it all over again. And speaking of there being a company around, you got your paycheck this week, right? You’re welcome.”
Whoa, pretty contentious, right? Well, wait, it gets even better, or worse, depending on your opinion, as Paquette would go on to ask about Sting's final match, and the brothers let it be known that they aren't putting up with outside BS anymore.
“The Young Bucks aren't putting up with cancerous Superstar BS.”
So, with one of the biggest questions in professional wrestling now broached, Renee Paquette was met with a mouthful by the Young Bucks, who are looking to bring AEW back to its roots instead of relying on “yesterday’s self-serving, superficial, cancerous Superstars.”
“When we started AEW – you weren’t there in the beginning, so you don’t know – but we used to say ‘Change the World.’ That was the slogan, ‘Change the World.’ And we did. We were disruptors, we were rebels, we spat in the face of tradition. It was out with the old and in with the new. And for a while, we were doing that. We were changing the world, and somewhere along the way, we did lose our way. It was like the culture shifted, toxicity creeped into the locker rooms, and the perception of the company was just, it was just different. It was just different, okay? I think I know why. I think it’s because we started to lean on yesterday’s self-serving, superficial, cancerous Superstars,” Matthew Jackson told Renee Paquette.
“And you mention Sting. This isn’t about, this isn’t about Sting. Sting’s none of those things. Sting’s great. He’s a role model employee. He’s awesome. The conversation for one of the greatest of all time. I’m actually envious of the way that people talk about him. Maybe they’ll talk about us one day, okay? However, it’s about what Sting represents. Sting is the last of that dying breed, and the image of Sting, it isn’t in line with what we wanted to do here at AEW. We wanted to change the world. So unfortunately for Sting, we’re gonna have to say goodbye to Sting and everybody like Sting. And we would never ask anybody to do something that we weren’t willing to do ourselves, Renee.”
“Well, (shows Matt his phone) see that?” Nicholas Jackson noted. “As EVPs, we’ll pull some strings.”
Dang, after watching CM Punk mockingly run around the ring after a RAW promo late last year, it looks like the Jacksons are firing back at the “Best in the World” in a big way, too, with fans already quoting the line and clipping it out on social media. If you were hoping for a more serious version of the Young Bucks in their return to AEW, then you might be in luck, but if you wanted to see a turn back to being babyfaces, then you might be disappointed, as it's clear these are the same old heels just in some new, more expansive clothing.