The Young Bucks Talk Differentiating AEW From Mainline WWE Television

Matt and Nick Jackson, The Young Bucks, recently spoke to Monsters And Critics about a multitude of topics including differentiating AEW from WWE television.

SEE ALSO: The Young Bucks: Being on TNT ‘Still Feels Like A Dream’

Here are some highlights:

Matt Jackson talks about the differences between AEW and WWE Raw and SmackDown:

“Right off, like right out of the gate for me, I don’t even watch Mondays. That’s a harder question for me to answer, but I can tell you what we are bringing that maybe, from what I’ve seen on Twitter, or people told me that the other show isn’t doing. We have great wrestling matches and, you know, you can watch four to five, even sometimes six matches on the show, and these matches are all going the distance. We’re always going to have a clear victor in these matches there’s no BS finishes. It’s great pro wrestling with a payoff conclusion. And I think it’s crazy because that’s what wrestling really is like, right? You know, historically back in the day, that’s what wrestling always was. And somehow it kind of became this really super soapy thing with these two finishes in every match. And really, it seems crazy, but it’s like we advertise something and then we go ahead and give the people what we advertise. It sounds nuts, right? But, so far, it’s working. But I think that, right out of the gate, that’s one thing we’re doing. And if I can speak for Nick and I — tag team wrestling. You know, I don’t know the last time tag team wrestling has been so prominent on the scene. When was the last time it was the main event on a television show? I don’t know. You know, we did this tournament that was really successful. A lot of people liked it, and it established a lot of teams and it just feels like tag team wrestling is back. I can’t really tell you how the tag wrestling’s been on Mondays and Fridays, but I can tell you that on our show, it’s definitely something that’s featured.”

Nick Jackson on The Young Bucks putting over other talents in AEW:

“I feel like most of the audience that we have, have seen the Young Bucks wrestle and has seen Cody, has seen Kenny, and the acts like that. So, it’s important for us to help out the lesser acts that haven’t been on television at all or the mainstream audience hasn’t seen. Like you mentioned, Matt and I wrestling Private Party. I felt like, and I think the whole company agreed with us, after that match, we got backstage and we felt like we made those guys into stars overnight. It’s funny because we have this argument with Tony all the time. And Tony was right about it. He goes, “if I didn’t have final say on who wins and who loses, you guys would be 0-10 by now.” It’s true because, in a very selfish business, Matt and I have never really been selfish. We’ve always looked out for other talents and other wrestlers because we almost get more out of helping others than helping ourselves at this point. Even before we were in AEW, I just feel like if you could make someone as big as you are, then it only makes the company better.”

Matt Jackson on The Young Bucks feeling like veterans:

“So much. We have a really young roster, you know, and there really aren’t that many, you know, veteran wrestlers in the back. I mean, it’s funny now, someone pointed this out to us the other day, I think it was Jericho. He’s talking to Nick and I and said, “you guys realize you’re like the older wrestlers now right? You guys are the veterans,” and we’re like God, when did this happen? You know, like, it’s so weird you know? We find ourselves being the ones giving the advice and helping out, and at the same time, you know, in wrestling you never stop learning. Like, the other day Dean Malenko ran a seminar before the show, and we all just sat under his learning tree and listened. Some of the stuff I’d heard for the first time and some of the stuff I’ve been hearing my entire career, you know. It’s fun to sit there with younger guys. One of the Private Party kids is 22 or 23. These guys are so young and they’re hearing it for the first time but it’s nice to sit there all as one, we’re all equals, and we all learn together. And I think it’s never bad to ask any question for any of these guys. Like, we’ve also had Tommy Dreamer help out in the back and that guy is a wealth of knowledge. As far as live television goes, I don’t know if anybody’s as experienced as Chris Jericho. So, Nick and I have had learned a lot about what it means to hit your times and when to do a certain spot, and commercial breaks, and how to entertain a live house during those three-minute breaks. Two minutes and 50 seconds could drag on forever but Chris Jericho is the master at selling those times and keeping everybody engaged and how to come back from break and have the people on their feet so it looks like it’s just been an exciting three minutes. So much of that these guys are the masters of because they’ve been working live television for decades. You know, we’ve had a long career. Kenny, myself and Nick, we’ve been doing this close to 16 years now. But, you know, we have very minimal live television experience. So, it’s really been fun, actually, for me to have this new challenge. For a while. It’s like, we’re doing the same thing for so many years on the independents or in Japan, and we kind of mastered it, it felt like for a while. And now it’s this new huge thing that we’re working on, and I can’t wait to say that I mastered this.”