The Young Bucks discuss the formation of AEW, whether they ever feared Kenny Omega would sign elsewhere, Cody’s initial hesitation to join AEW

By Jason Powell, ProWrestling.net Editor (@prowrestlingnet)

“The Young Bucks” Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson spoke with Brian Fritz of SportingNews.com and discussed the formation of All Elite Wrestling and what sold them on the startup company. “Clearly what we were offered was everything,” Matt Jackson said. “Since day one … day one, AEW wasn’t even going to be called AEW. It was going to be called something else. This thing that’s called AEW now was simply just a conversation between me and Tony (Khan). I was the first person who picked up the phone for Tony. This entire thing was a conversation that I had with him on my back porch on the phone with him [laughs]. We didn’t know it was going to be a thing — it was all hypothetical.

“I remember talking to him and saying if we do this thing, we’re going to have to have ‘elite’ in the title and we’re going to have to have a lot of control and he completely understood that. He knew that ‘The Elite’ brand was a winning brand and we were just coming off the success of ‘All In’ and he knew how important that was. Right there, we pretty much committed to it. Like Nick said, he basically said ‘Listen, hire who you want to hire and you’re in charge.’ Nobody else can compete with that. A dollar figure can’t compete with that. We’re artists and we’re creative.”

The Bucks were also asked if there was ever a point where they were concerned that Kenny Omega would not sign with AEW. “Nah, we knew the whole time,” Nick Jackson replied. Matt Jackson added: “I’ll tell you this right now: Kenny was the missing piece. I talked earlier about how Tony called me originally and got on the phone with him and he told me we need Kenny. We need The Elite. I need the best wrestler in the world and I need the best tag team in the world. That was it. Originally, it started as the three of us and then Cody later came on board. We kind of had to sell him on it because, in wresting, and he’s probably heard a million stories about startups and billionaires investing in wrestling and we all have. We finally, the three of us, got him on board and once he was on board, he was all in and here we are.”

Powell’s POV: The Bucks were also asked what is the ideal length for a pro wrestling show. “Definitely not three hours, that’s for sure,” Nick said. Amen. It’s a must read interview with the Bucks also discussing how they want to make AEW stand out, non-scripted promos, what they learned from the All In event, and more. I continue to like what Matt has to say about the writing of the show in terms of avoid plot holes.

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