The Young Bucks, Nick and Matt Jackson, spoke to Sports Illustrated ahead of their seventh and deciding match against Death Triangle tonight.
While the Best of Seven series against Pac and The Lucha Brothers was a main topic of conversation, The Bucks also commented on the incident involving CM Punk, Kenny Omega, and themselves following the 2022 All Out 2022 media scrum.
You can check out some highlights from the interview below:
Nick on the proposal for the Best of Seven series: “At first, we kind of hesitated. That changed when we talked. We might not ever get this opportunity again to wrestle three of the best wrestlers in the world, and this will be the seventh time on TV. I guess we were all a little worried that fans might think it’s repetitive, but that was the challenge, and it excited us to make every match a little bit different from one another.”
Matt on their rivalry with the Lucha Bros: “Wrestling the Lucha Bros. just feels like home. When I started training to become a professional wrestler, I was first taught the style of lucha libre in the beginning, so bracing for intricate arm-drags, head scissors, fast-paced sequences is second nature. We’ve been consistently wrestling them for years now, and have trust in each other. I feel safe when I work with them—like I can do anything. No idea is too crazy. Nothing is impossible or too ambitious. With them, I can do anything and the impossible is possible. They’re our current greatest opponents.
“So our goal quickly became: How can we top every match from before? How can we tell different stories every time? Can we keep fans’ interest? Every wrestling fan assumes it’ll go seven matches, so how do we keep the suspense? At this point in our career, the most fun part of wrestling is a good challenge. And I think we’ve all collectively done a fine job at answering the challenge that came with this.”
Nick on their chemistry with the team: “It definitely has something to do with being siblings. They’re our greatest rivals of our career and my personal favorites. It’s funny, we always compare each other and say Penta and Matt are the ones who love psychology, and Fénix and I love the crazy moves. They have a very similar story to us, and I think the chemistry comes from a lot of those things.”
Nick on staying quiet over the All Out situation: “We’ve always had controversy surround us, so it’s nothing new. But it does get frustrating when you publicly can’t defend yourself with things you see online that just aren’t true. I guess it just comes with the territory. All I care about is being a good person, and I know who I am. I know deep down inside the type of person I am, and if the internet wants to think differently because of all these narratives that tell you otherwise, then so be it.”
Matt on dealing with the frustrations after the incident: “I remembered a time when it would be so frustrating to me, wanting to clear the air and win over the people who criticized our work, or even worse: those who attacked us personally. I think I finally came to the conclusion, after years of ‘Young Bucks’ being a dirty word in this business, and being dragged through the mud over false narratives, rumors and speculation, that we were simply cast as a certain role in this movie. These are our roles. There is no changing that, and it’s a fool’s errand to try to change it, because it’ll drive you mad and destroy your mental health if you worry about it too much.
“Personally, you just have to keep on going and only concern yourself with the ones who truly matter in your life. I now only value the opinion of the people who know me best. Professionally, how do I fight off a career full of never-ending criticism? With great content.”
You can keep up with all your wrestling news right here on eWrestlingNews.com. Or you can follow us over on our Twitter and Facebook pages.