During a recent interview with TSN, The Young Bucks’ Matt Jackson commented on his change in attitude, the Bucks’ storyline with Kenny Omega and Don Callis, and more. You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
On his thoughts on multi-faceted storytelling: “I always want to be involved in weird, nuanced, multi-layered stories and maybe sometimes the subtleties that I like to have in my storylines won’t translate with a pro wrestling audience. Pro wrestling audiences are so conditioned to [the idea] that it’s good or it’s bad. It’s babyface or it’s heel, and that’s the way it’s been historically forever and how dare you change that or try something differently because it’s like you’re breaking the laws of wrestling. It’s one of those things where you have to try to find a balance, where you want to tell compelling stories, but at the same time, you don’t want people to miss the things you’re trying to do.”
On how the view of The Young Bucks has changed with the fans: “Maybe this is a little bit of reality and maybe this is a little bit of character, but it’s like when you’re that unsigned band and you’re working hard on the underground scene and you’ve got this great cult following and then finally that band that everybody is rooting for, they get picked up and they sign to that major label. While they’re still putting out great music and probably selling more music than ever, I feel like sometimes those bands feel fraudulent and don’t feel like their former selves. Maybe they’ve lost that edge or maybe they’ve lost that confidence – that feeling of people rooting for you because you’re no longer the underdog.
“Especially with us, because we’re executives at this company – we’re executive vice-presidents of AEW – and we told everybody that we helped put together the tag-team division, so it’s really hard for people to look at us as those same punk-rock Young Bucks that we were years ago, the ones that spat in the face of tradition – the ones that broke all the rules. It’s hard to break the rules when you’re the ones making the rules now.”
On Don Callis: “I think Don, what he’s trying to do is he wants to bring out those old guys – the ones with the attitude, the ones that would superkick anything living and breathing – the renegade Young Bucks. Maybe now we see more of a commercial, Mickey Mouse Young Bucks with smiles on our faces and we’re not as edgy. At times it felt like those characters wanted to peak out and come out, but as soon as we felt like we were going to, we retreated. We never really committed to it. I think if you watch Dynamite on Wednesday, you’re going to see a full commitment. You’re going to see the Young Bucks that you might have seen 10 years ago or even a newer version of those guys.”
