October 21, 2025 • 29 mins
The Young Bucks to talk about the uncertain future of The Elite, and the recent revival of Being the Elite. They also discuss how AEW has elevated tag team wrestling, the legacy they’ve built so far, and what’s still unfinished, including whether they’ll one day own PWG. Don’t forget to like, comment, and subscribe for more exclusive AEW interviews and pro wrestling content every week.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Battleground podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You pro wrestling and exclusive interviews with some of your
favorite wrestlers.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Wound stop being what's up you guys?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Welcome back into iHeartRadio's official wrestling podcast, the Battleground Podcasts,
And man, what an exciting time it is. Ae W
Wrestle Dream right around the corner. And uh, I gotta
tell you, it has been a minute since we've had
these guys on the show. The last time they were
on this show, they were announcing that ae W was
a thing, and it has been a very long time
(00:45):
coming since to get these guys back. Give it up
for the goats of tax tim Wrestling, the young Bucks
joining the show.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Guys, he thanks for coming back. Has it been that long, cheez,
it has been that long.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
It's I went back to listen to the interview because
we were talking about some things and it was right
around the time AW started. We kind of got into
you know, I think you guys started, this is where
the best wrestle and this was years ago and now
all of a sudden, that's kind of the moniker of
ae W. And man, again, you guys are on the
forefront of this thing.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
It's been wild man, it's been a roller coaster and
who knows what's next for the company because I did
not see where we're at now seven years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
How could anyone, I don't say.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I don't think anyone would have predicted what we would
do as a company.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
And it's pretty cool. It's pretty humbling, to be honest.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, you can't really enjoy it while it's happening, but
you know, we try, We're try to be better about it.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Yeah, we celebrate little thing.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, like you have to have little small victories and
you need to kind of step back and look back
and go, wow.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Like this is pretty cool, you know, because in our business,
it's always what's the next town to me, what's next
on the next show, what's the next man.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It's not like, hey, guys, this is pretty sick.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Right because I mean when when you guys first started out,
of course, there's some people critics out there that they're like, oh,
they're not gonna last this long, and they're not gonna
last this long.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And now look at it.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Years later, you're still out here, You're selling out shows.
Some of the biggest names are in the company. I mean,
you're all over the place, and it's it's crazy and
I want to jump right into this because we're here
to talk about wrestle dream and you know, the last
few weeks, you guys have kind of had some issues
with a tag team that recently just got back together,
Jurassic Express. Uh for pro wrestling fans. Some fans are
(02:36):
reading this as more of just a storyline tension, maybe
a statement about where you are in aw right now,
what's going through your heads as this is all unfolding
as we are watching it on TV on social media.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Well, you know, it's been a roller coaster ever since
all In and our characters have been through a roller
coaster of emotions and uh yeah, the highs and lows
of everything that we've been through.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
But you know what, it has been a blast.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
It's been different, Uh, something to sink our teeth in
because we're doing the VP characters for so long, so
this is pretty much the complete opposite of what that was.
But you know, I think it's been fun. I feel
like the fans are into it. They're they're interested in it,
and it's made for good television.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
It's it's it is challenging because you you, like, like
Nick just said, it's one extreme together, right, Like we're
flying in the private jets and writing the limos and
and and you know, wearing suits every week and having
all power and now here we are and we're eating crow.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Every week, and it's it could be embarrassing.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
But you know, that's one thing I don't miss those
buying a suit every single week.
Speaker 6 (03:52):
I can get annoying.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
Holy grat That guy is stressful. I don't know how
soon he's gonna do.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Here we are, you know, being humbled every week, to
the point where like even my my ten year old son, he's.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Like, Dad, like, why why are you doing this yourself
on TVs? This is so embarrassing, Like like.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I'm like, I'm like, I know, buddy, but I have to.
This is part of the deal.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
And he's just like.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
I just feel so bad for you and uncle Nick.
And I'm like, well, it means it's working, you know
what I mean. Our characters really had to, you know,
hit rock bottom in a way.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
I don't even think we're at rock I.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Don't think we are either. I think there's much I
think we do much lower. Yeah, but uh.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Podcast, that's pretty much rock bottom.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, this is the moment, right.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
That's the thing is trying to figure out what could
make us look even worse to the fans.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I think in this business, a lot of the guys
want to look tough and look strong, and and we've
always kind of been the opposite, like we're like, how
do we look weaker?
Speaker 1 (04:54):
How could we? Like? We we know what this is
and we know who we are as characters, and what
I would like if I was watching a movie and
I saw these two degenerates, I'd be like, I would
really like to see them, you know, slip and fall
on a banana, build and do something or whatever.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
So we try to give the audience, you know, what
they want, and yeah, you know, the human side of
you sometimes is like I'm supposed to be a wrestling star,
Like that's how you're trained, like be a star and
get over and do all these things. And we're like
going that opposite directions where it's like, you know what,
we don't even need an entrance, right, we don't we
don't need this or that, and it so it's been challenging.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
It's been really fun though, because it's been something new, weird.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
We've never ever done anything like this, you know, right,
So it's like you know, you talk about sinking lower
and lower and lower than you know, a guy like
Jack Perry, who we you know, worked with for a
year last year, he comes back and turns his back
on us.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So it's like we don't even have any friends anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Okana kind of quietly left field eat and he's in
the don Kells family now, like huh, Like we're all alone.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
In this thing, right.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
And the crazy thing is you could say, oh, yeah,
the young Bucks do deserve this.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, and they deserve a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And maybe because we maybe we did a lot of
dastardly things while being bad guys.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
And we were the most annoying version of the Young
Bucks as possible.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
That we did that on purpose.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
By doing less like cool moves and.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Directing our matches differently to make fans a little more
angry with what we were doing. And we did it
all on purpose.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Here's the thing with that.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Like, so I feel like when we did the EVP stuff,
I loved all of the backstage stuff and I loved
all the skits we did. We would interrupt, you know,
like for example, one week, we interrupted ftr's video that
was playing and like abuse of power, like that stuff
was the greatest. Like to me, I thought it was
like our best character work, like on top of maybe
maybe maybe a slight below what we're doing this year.
(06:47):
One thing that didn't work that we noticed was we tried,
like he just said, we tried to dumb down our
wrestling style and our wrestling moves can it And it
just didn't work because I think fans have seen us
for so long twenty one years now, they're they're used
to seeing a certain quality of match, a crazy match,
and they're used to seeing us hit you know, our
(07:08):
high spots and our double team moves, and we took
all that away, and I think it actually hurt our matches.
And like halfway through the run we understood that.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
We said we need to pivot.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
Yeah, yeah, which is cool because like even though at
the end of the day, it's twenty years.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
In at that point and we got to change it up.
Though I'm glad we tried. It didn't work.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
It's like the Rock doing this new movie that he
just did, like you have to do it right just
because you want to change things.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yeah. So so we went.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Back, even with the volume up even higher, doing what
we used to do. I think even this year, this
has got to be the craziest year we've ever had
as far as in ring matches, going to eat.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, we went the complete opposite of what we did
last time. Well, all right, let's just do the craziest
matches that we can't physically it works.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Sorry, everybody's like this is but it is hurting me
right right right, more than any.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
Year I think I've ever had.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
Yeah, I do have to say the EVP Rain contributed
to you guys's run of incredible gear. The founding Father's
gear was just just to a t, just perfect.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
That was just incredible. Thank you.
Speaker 6 (08:18):
So you meant you hinted on the Elite currently, and
you know in the Orbit we've got Kenny Omegoff kind
of doing his thing. We've got the world champion hang
Man doing his thing. You kind of mentioned Okata kind
of sort of with Don Kallis. Right now, do you
view the Elite as finished or is it changing into
something new?
Speaker 4 (08:35):
That's an interesting question, great question, because right now it
feels like it is just the two of us. So
why even call it the elite at this point? Right?
Speaker 5 (08:44):
You know what I mean? I think that changes on
a weekly basis.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
We would like it to be a thing, But right now,
it doesn't feel like it fits the character that we're portraying,
like being the center of a group.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
I feel like the two.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Of us, just as the young Bucks, fits better with
what we're doing because we can't have Okata not have
an entferance. He's cool, you know what I mean. So
that's where that's at at this moment. That could change
later on.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
But I think that there's always a chance to bring
it back. It is all Elite Wrestling, and I think
that it's in the DNA, and it would.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Be silly, you know, not to give the audience maybe
one last reunion run.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I'm not saying that's gonna happen, but it would be
I think silly to not do it before we call
it quits, before Kenny calls it quits, before Hangman calls
it quits, or you know whoever, or maybe it would
just be the original Elite, you know, the three. I
think that there's money in it, and I think it
would be ridiculous not to revisit it at least one
(09:50):
more time.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Absolutely, And I know I know a lot of fans,
including myself and Eli. We kind of got excited when
we got the notification on YouTube that new video popped
up here Being the Elite you revived the channel after
a very long pause, kind of walk us through that obviously. Uh,
what prompted the return of Being the Elite, a series
(10:13):
that a lot of wrestling fans grew to love, and
getting that behind the curtains peak.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I think I think that we've been very god
disciplined and not coming out publicly insane.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
It's back.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Being the Elite is back everybody, And you know, I've
even gone to like not even.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Calling them episodes.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I says, hey, new fresh bet content, because we don't
want to over promise publicly and say like it's back
every Monday at twelve o'clock Eastern time.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
And then the next week we just don't feel inspired.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
To put him up, right, you know what I'm saying,
Because this was a show that we did religiously for
eight or seventy eight years, right, Yeah, I'll call it
a loose comeback.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, so right now, like we we I don't know
what it was. We've we've been discussing, you know, putting
out content for a long time, and I don't know
what it was.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Tony has been asking us for months he's been encouraging us.
That was probably number one.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
You know what kind of got into.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
The wrestlers too. To be honest, a lot of that's true.
A lot of the wrestlers would text us or.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Like when are you going to bring it back?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Or tell us like why are you guys not producing
more content? It was too interesting. Yeah, it's good for
the product and right, but there's a lot of reasons
why we didn't do it.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
We were burnt out right right. Number one.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Number one was that we did it for six years straight,
I want to say seven years straight on a weekly
basis like that that kind of burns you out. And
I was doing most of the editing and thinking of
a lot of the stuff, and we were promoting all
of it, and.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
We put our life into the show, like whereas like
like BT was number one and wrestling came to right,
like as far as our wrestling career went, like, BT
was the thing that we put the most energy two
for so many years.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And that's why I think again, like we're being very
careful about, hey, it's back, because we don't want to
do that if this isn't like at the forefront of
what we're doing and it's not gonna be and it's
not a priority or whatever, but like right now it
is like we're having fun again. That's the main thing
is we chose to be like we're having.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Fun again doing these uplads, Like we put the first
thing up and I think we started getting the itch again.
We're like, oh, that was cool, like using that creativity again,
Let's do it again.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
And I think that's just what we've been building off of,
Like every week we're like, hey, I got another funny idea,
you know.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And so it has been interesting and I think what
got it back into my blood was the fact that
I do my own travel on with my wife and
my family, and I think when I started doing that again,
I was like I kind of missed this, Like there's
like a little void in my life that BT used
to feel and now this is kind of doing it
so and I kind of I think I was probably
the one who like started talking to Nick about doing
(12:44):
it again, and I.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Made it forced him to do it a little bit, yeah,
because I was one hundred percent ever bringing it back.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
It's like I'm good.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
I got other things I could be doing during the week.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
So yeah, but it has made a difference. I think
for us as.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I could just feel a difference when I'm out there,
there's maybe there's more of an appreciation for what we're doing.
I don't know what it is, but people like the
content that the fact that it you know, it goes
along and coincides with the television ship.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
It gives people just a little bit of extra and
for us it seems like it works. I mean, as
long as we're having fun, I think we'll continue to
do something with it.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Yeah, well that's good to hear. I mean, something's better
than nothing for us, so.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We'll take it. We appreciate it exactly.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
This is kind of very directly for you guys. Since
you guys are tag teams, how has AW elevated tag
team wrestling? Oh Man, softball question for you.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
I feel like we're probably the premiere promotion that uses
tag teams. We've had many event pay per views that
when we wrestle Stinging Derby for the tag team titles
and like, that's not a thing a lot of other
companies focus on, and here it look at the pay
per view the card has multiple tag matches.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
On the off the show.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Yeah, that's coming up on Saturday. Yeah, so like that's
one thing that we always wanted. That was like the
first thing we promoted, the best division in the world. Yeah,
and I feel like twenty twenty five we are number
one and the division right now it's cooking. It's crazy,
like the kids say, it's cooking, right. I think I
(14:26):
said that right with Drastic back in the full the
FTR one of the best tag teams ever.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
You know us, you can include us in there. Hopefully
I don't sound.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Copy the tag champs.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Those guys are hot right now. Massive, They're having a
one of the best tag runs I could remember with
just two singles. Guys just grouped together and just motiving
so perfectly together with Cod Blend and Christian back as
a team, Like, our division is insane right now.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I think that I give a lot of credit.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
To jets Speed in Brodido for breathing that new life
into the division. Specifically for us, it gave us two
new fresh teams to work with, and you know, right
out of the gates when we came back six months ago,
we got in there with with with Jet Speed and
I was just like, WHOA, these guys are sharp, these
guys are good, And I think That's what's helped motivate
us and keep us sharp every single week now is
(15:29):
working with guys like that, and then the next week
you got you get Brodido, you know, and Bandido working
with him reminds me so much of working back with
we worked with the Lucha Bros.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You know, so there's this chemistry there.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So yeah, it's it feels like I said this earlier,
I said that I would put the twenty twenty five
tag division up with the twenty nineteen division. I think
I think that it's they're right up. They can compete
head to head. So I'm really proud of that. And
you know, like like Nick said, you know, look at
the paper, you look at wrestl Dream, the carts loaded
with tag magees, and these are big matches that are
(16:03):
given time, you know, Like I mean when we wrestled
on All End, I just watched a video highlight match
of that, a video of that last night when we
wrestled with Osprey and Swerve, Like where did we go
thirty minutes that?
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Like where one other.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Company are you allowed like to have that that platform
on a paiview like that, you know, and we had
the chance to have in my opinion, one of our
greatest tag matches of our career, you know. So, aw,
if you go through our portfolio work here, we've had
probably our best matches in our career here. So and
that's all things to Tony Kahan giving us the chance
(16:40):
to show what we do.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
And I know the one thing because me and Eli
have talked about this, it's very awkward when you see
like two people just get thrown together in a tag team.
And you mentioned Brodino, you mentioned Jet Speed and here
recently an aw when you see people get thrown into
a tag team, it's worked, it's not been one of
those Well we're gonna split them up in three weeks,
(17:03):
so I'm just gonna see what happens. But it's like
you have Broddo getting into a tag team and all
of a sudden they win the tag team titles.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Now, that's gotta be a.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Cool thing to show that, Hey, you know what we've
got where the best wrestle, we've got the best single division,
we got the best tag division both men and women.
Because it's gonna be exciting to see what's gonna happen
with that women's tag division once those titles are out there, right,
What do you think it is that AW does very
well when it comes to tag team wrestling compared to
(17:31):
everybody else.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
I think it's just giving us the platform, honestly, like
Matt was saying, a pay per view doesn't give any
company besides us. They're not giving a tag match thirty
minutes on a card. So when you get that opportunity,
you have to hit a home run. And I feel
like we've done that and that helps showcase it.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah, and then the division itself.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Not only are we having these great matches, but a
lot of these matches are given really cool angles and
stories to follow us.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So it's not just some match that you have to
sit through. It's like that's it.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
And once they do the match, that like, no, no,
We're going to take you on a little bit of
a journey from week to week to week, you know,
like you're talking about Broddo, Like it was so fun
seeing them kind of just come together randomly and then
all of a sudden, now they're like.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
This the most beloved babyfaced tag team.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Right, so you do like we I think AW is
good about taking the fans on a journey with them,
and like you said, not after three or four weeks,
just splitting them up, and then they do a few
because such a I think a lot of wrestling companies
fall to those those wrestling traps or tropez where it's like.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
No, no, no, this is what you do. They're the
odd duck pairing and then they split up and then
they have blood feud. You know. It's like, well, you
don't always have to do that, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Like like if anyplace else, me and my brother probably
would have already gone through three different breakups.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
We broke up a TNA with that my year.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah. So it's like I think a lot of wrestling
promoters and writers and bookers they fall into those traps
where they're like, well, this is what happens with tag teams.
Of them goes heal and one of them goes babyface.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
It's like and I think for me and Nick, that's
one thing in our career that we always said, you
know what, let's meet the first tag team that just
never really supermanently split splits up, you know, like, let's
just stick together.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
And I don't even count the gimm thing that doesn't
that doesn't it never happened. So we've always been together.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yeah, absolutely for sure, and of course wrestled Dream this weekend.
Definitely if you're in the area, grab your tickets aew
ticks dot com that is awt i x dot com,
or of course you could watch it on pay per view. Now,
I do want to go back a little bit because Matt,
you did a live Q and A not too long ago,
and you had mentioned maybe buying PWG and also you
(19:39):
guys starting your own independent promotion and some of the
things along those lines. Is there any update to that
or is that still kind of just a pipe dream
at the moment.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Right now, I think the BTWG thing's definitely a pipe dream.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I would love to have further discussions about it. Nick
and I have always talked about doing some type of
independent or something once our career wraps up with with
you know, mainstream wrestling like AW and we have more
time at home. I think that'd be something that we'd
definitely be interested in doing, because there, you know, we
(20:14):
love we love the business, and I think that we
were very creative guys, so it might be weird to
just sit at home and do nothing, So I think
it'd be I think that's something that we've never really
gotten to. I mean, we've done it.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
We used to run an independent way back when, but
I think now we're different, we're different people, We've we
have more experience. Now we actually have money that we
can put into the thing. Back then, it was like,
what was our budget, five hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
So I think that it would It's definitely something that
will probably try out. I don't know when, maybe the
next few years. You specifically have talked about.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Yeah, I think it would be good for the independent scene,
especially southern California. Yeah, so Kell's kind of dried up
as of late, and usually that's like a hot bed.
So I feel like with our influence we could help
the the ndie scene around there. And I would love
to do something like that. I've always talked about doing
(21:10):
something like that, and who knows when, but it is
a pipe dream.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Maybe a couple of even whether it's we call it
PWG or you know, it's a whole different wrestling company name.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I think that we our goal would be to kind
of carry.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
The torch of what PMG started and to have a
company that that that that falls into the spirit of
what Pro Wrestling Gorilla was for all those years. Cause
I think there is an empty void in Southern California
independent wrestlerrate at that I think we can help fill.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Nice, excellent answer.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
As far as your career goes legacy wise, what do
you think you guys have cemented and what's still unfinished
for you guys in your professional wrestling career.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
Jeez, that's a tough, tough question.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
May be hard to talk about yourself like that, but.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
I think for me, it's like every show we go to,
I'm like, all right, let's have another one.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Let's let's try to have the best one on the show.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
And if you could still have that fire inside you
after twenty one years of doing this, that's pretty good.
We're still super competitive. If someone's out there is getting
buzz in the tag division and they're crushing it, I
kind of.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Like give them a side on. I'm like, Okay, you're
all right, cool, you think you're good, And.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
It motivates me to like want to get into better
shape and to and to be the best.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I don't know what that is.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I don't know if that's just my competitive nature, and
I know Nick shares that with me, like we we.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Want to be the best, we want to have the
best match on the show.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
We like when people say, hey, that's the greatest tag
team of all time? You know, is that is that
as far as wrestling legacy goes, that'd be cool. But
I think I think for us, I think that it
goes deeper than that too.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I think a lot of it.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Is most importantly, those are two great guys. They they're
family men. They were always straight with me. They were cool,
backstays or easy to work with, always a joy, good
for the morale. Like that's the more important stuff probably
as far as like how I feel like I, oh, personally,
(23:06):
if I've worked with you, you've enjoyed working with me.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Yeah, that's probably more important than being known as like
the goats or whatever you would.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Like to call it. That's still pretty cool though, too.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Oh yeah, that'd be awesome. Early on in my career,
I've always told Matt, let's be the best entering tag
team of all time. That was like the goal probably
ten and fifteen years ago.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
Let's be known as that.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
I don't know if that's the goal anymore and changes, Yeah,
it kind of changes.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
Year by a year.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
But like Matt said, the more important things would be,
like man, the young Bucks were such good human beings.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
They're good dudes. They they're family men. They got out
in one piece, you know, healthy, happy, and I hope.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
People about what happened to them. They disappeared.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I heard Matt lives on an island. He has a
giant beard now and he doesn't speak to anyone anymore.
He doesn't even do conventions.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
That's like the fantasy, right, Like you kind of just
disappear quietly into the night, and and everybody's.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Just like, whatever happened to those guys? They were just
so cool? You know, I don't know. I think the
goal is just to keep having fun. Yep. And you know,
because you go, you've won this many titles, you've had
these many matches, these many guys. Obviously there's little there's
little things you want to check off your bucket list
before you wrap it up.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
One thing I would say would be like we wrestled
like it was our last match every single time.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
If you see that on the screen and it shows
then that that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
And I gotta tell you, as a family man myself,
I've got two kids, my youngest, my oldest kid. He's
he doesn't care about wrestling more. He's more concerned about
his girlfriend and his truck and everything else. But my
eight year old he's all into wrestling, and so uh
he every time you guys are in town, he always
goes with me. And his first in person Young Bucks
match that he ever saw was Blood and Guts here
(24:57):
in Nashville.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
Oh boy.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
And so having to explain to my wife a couple
of days later, why is why is our son putting
thumbtacks on the bottom of his shoe?
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I had to try to explain that to her. Oh God,
bless you.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
But it just goes to show that that wrestling is
such a great thing and it's influencing kids whether they
want to put thumb tacks on their.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Shoes or not.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
But speaking of the thumbtacks on shoes, whose idea was it?
Also the fact that you put them on Travis Scott's
and some really expensive shoes. As I'm a shoe guy myself,
whose idea was that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So I really did it at P two BG, and
I might have done it on like a pair of
cheaper like Nikes like air Force oness. I couldn't remember
what it worked.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
I think they're antals.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
No, they're nikes. They're brown nikes with I just looked
at them recently.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I think they were like cheap ones that I probably
found it ross or something, though, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Like I'm like, how do you make a super kick hardcore?
I remember thinking of that, like, what if I put
thumb tacks on the bottom of how did I get
him there?
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (25:58):
I can grilla glue them to there with you know,
super glue. Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
And it was it was a spot that you know,
became pretty viral on the Internet, and I know it
was just a matter of time.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I knew I was going to bring it back.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
And uh, I feel like that cage match at all
out that was like I remember telling Nick, I think
tonight's the night be pulled the trigger on this thing again.
And uh yeah, the fact that it was that Travis Scott,
I think really helped it kind of move through the
internet a little bit, probably go a little bit more
viral than what it what have otherwise.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
But yeah, that was my brilliant idea.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Now it's a reoccurring spot for when we need to
pull out something crazy.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, but I feel like it's really inspired a lot
of people to just start gluing tax on the things
like we've seen Darby with the skateboard, and we've seen
people do it with their elbow and ee pads and stuff.
So if that's one trend I said that, I'm very
I'm very happy with that.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Well, it's obviously a trend that's catching on with my
eight year old. So I will explain to my wife
about why and where he learned that from, and I
will point to you guys.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Uh it's I gotta tell you, man.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
It such an honor and a privilege to have you
guys back here on the show. I know you got
a lot of other things to get ready for, especially
with Wrestle Dream this weekend.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Before we let you go.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Is there anything you want to say to the fans
watching or listening to this right now?
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Well, just thanks for the continued support for making AEW
what it is today. Because we have the most hardcore
fans that I think I've ever seen in our twenty
one years of wrestling. The AEW fandom is growing and
they continue to support. They buy every single pay per
view and we know it and we love it, and
(27:35):
that's why us wrestlers go crazy every single pay per
view and every single night.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
So yeah, and our young Buck fans specifically, like they
the ones who have been you know, through it all
with us, the ups and the downs, the highs and
the lows, been so supportive to.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Be watching and cheering or booing or whatever you do,
but just to support what we do all these years later,
it means the world. It doesn't go unnoticed, so appreciative.
So so many Sweetheart fans out there, and I don't
think we get out there and get just meet them
and see them enough like we used to when we
were doing you know, these meet greets every week. But
we did one recently and it was really nice because
(28:12):
I think I.
Speaker 6 (28:12):
Saw that Yeah, yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
May have been a forced beat greet, but no, it was.
It was cool though, because we don't get to do
that very often. So it's a nice reminder that there
are a lot of people out there that do love
us and and you know, enjoy our work. And again,
like bringing back the bet content, it's been really fun
to see the reaction for that. It's been got ninety
nine point five percent positive and uh and this is
(28:38):
this could be a very tribalistic business and industry, and
all you do see is.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
A lot of negative. But uh, you know, if you
create these little communities like a BTE community, it's it's
almost like its own little positive neighborhood. It's like, oh,
like everyone here is really nice. Like maybe this is
the real.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
World, you know, because you get out there, do you
go on something like like you know, Twitter or something,
and it.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Could be really nasty on there, you know, or even
in the Instagram comments. So it's like I have seen
a lot more positive lately.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Maybe I've trained my mind to just try to see
the good again and I've seen a lot of it.
And I just wanted to say thanks to those people
because it means the.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
World absolutely well.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
The Young Bucks, the Goats of Tag Team Wrestling again,
thank you so much for coming on the show today.
And it's an honor and a privilege. And when you
roll through Nashville, we'll have to get you in the studio.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
That was good man. Thanks guys, Thank you,
Welcome to the Battleground podcast.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You pro wrestling and exclusive interviews with some of your
favorite wrestlers.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Wound stop being what's up you guys?
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Welcome back into iHeartRadio's official wrestling podcast, the Battleground Podcasts,
And man, what an exciting time it is. Ae W
Wrestle Dream right around the corner. And uh, I gotta
tell you, it has been a minute since we've had
these guys on the show. The last time they were
on this show, they were announcing that ae W was
a thing, and it has been a very long time
(00:45):
coming since to get these guys back. Give it up
for the goats of tax tim Wrestling, the young Bucks
joining the show.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
Guys, he thanks for coming back. Has it been that long, cheez,
it has been that long.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
It's I went back to listen to the interview because
we were talking about some things and it was right
around the time AW started. We kind of got into
you know, I think you guys started, this is where
the best wrestle and this was years ago and now
all of a sudden, that's kind of the moniker of
ae W. And man, again, you guys are on the
forefront of this thing.
Speaker 4 (01:17):
It's been wild man, it's been a roller coaster and
who knows what's next for the company because I did
not see where we're at now seven years ago.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
How could anyone, I don't say.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
I don't think anyone would have predicted what we would
do as a company.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
And it's pretty cool. It's pretty humbling, to be honest.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Yeah, you can't really enjoy it while it's happening, but
you know, we try, We're try to be better about it.
Speaker 5 (01:45):
Yeah, we celebrate little thing.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
Yeah, like you have to have little small victories and
you need to kind of step back and look back
and go, wow.
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Like this is pretty cool, you know, because in our business,
it's always what's the next town to me, what's next
on the next show, what's the next man.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It's not like, hey, guys, this is pretty sick.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
Right because I mean when when you guys first started out,
of course, there's some people critics out there that they're like, oh,
they're not gonna last this long, and they're not gonna
last this long.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
And now look at it.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Years later, you're still out here, You're selling out shows.
Some of the biggest names are in the company. I mean,
you're all over the place, and it's it's crazy and
I want to jump right into this because we're here
to talk about wrestle dream and you know, the last
few weeks, you guys have kind of had some issues
with a tag team that recently just got back together,
Jurassic Express. Uh for pro wrestling fans. Some fans are
(02:36):
reading this as more of just a storyline tension, maybe
a statement about where you are in aw right now,
what's going through your heads as this is all unfolding
as we are watching it on TV on social media.
Speaker 4 (02:51):
Well, you know, it's been a roller coaster ever since
all In and our characters have been through a roller
coaster of emotions and uh yeah, the highs and lows
of everything that we've been through.
Speaker 5 (03:05):
But you know what, it has been a blast.
Speaker 4 (03:08):
It's been different, Uh, something to sink our teeth in
because we're doing the VP characters for so long, so
this is pretty much the complete opposite of what that was.
But you know, I think it's been fun. I feel
like the fans are into it. They're they're interested in it,
and it's made for good television.
Speaker 2 (03:29):
It's it's it is challenging because you you, like, like
Nick just said, it's one extreme together, right, Like we're
flying in the private jets and writing the limos and
and and you know, wearing suits every week and having
all power and now here we are and we're eating crow.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
Every week, and it's it could be embarrassing.
Speaker 4 (03:46):
But you know, that's one thing I don't miss those
buying a suit every single week.
Speaker 6 (03:52):
I can get annoying.
Speaker 5 (03:52):
Holy grat That guy is stressful. I don't know how
soon he's gonna do.
Speaker 1 (03:58):
Here we are, you know, being humbled every week, to
the point where like even my my ten year old son, he's.
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Like, Dad, like, why why are you doing this yourself
on TVs? This is so embarrassing, Like like.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
I'm like, I'm like, I know, buddy, but I have to.
This is part of the deal.
Speaker 5 (04:14):
And he's just like.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
I just feel so bad for you and uncle Nick.
And I'm like, well, it means it's working, you know
what I mean. Our characters really had to, you know,
hit rock bottom in a way.
Speaker 5 (04:25):
I don't even think we're at rock I.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Don't think we are either. I think there's much I
think we do much lower. Yeah, but uh.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
Podcast, that's pretty much rock bottom.
Speaker 1 (04:36):
Yeah, this is the moment, right.
Speaker 4 (04:38):
That's the thing is trying to figure out what could
make us look even worse to the fans.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
I think in this business, a lot of the guys
want to look tough and look strong, and and we've
always kind of been the opposite, like we're like, how
do we look weaker?
Speaker 1 (04:54):
How could we? Like? We we know what this is
and we know who we are as characters, and what
I would like if I was watching a movie and
I saw these two degenerates, I'd be like, I would
really like to see them, you know, slip and fall
on a banana, build and do something or whatever.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
So we try to give the audience, you know, what
they want, and yeah, you know, the human side of
you sometimes is like I'm supposed to be a wrestling star,
Like that's how you're trained, like be a star and
get over and do all these things. And we're like
going that opposite directions where it's like, you know what,
we don't even need an entrance, right, we don't we
don't need this or that, and it so it's been challenging.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
It's been really fun though, because it's been something new, weird.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
We've never ever done anything like this, you know, right,
So it's like you know, you talk about sinking lower
and lower and lower than you know, a guy like
Jack Perry, who we you know, worked with for a
year last year, he comes back and turns his back
on us.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So it's like we don't even have any friends anymore.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
Okana kind of quietly left field eat and he's in
the don Kells family now, like huh, Like we're all alone.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
In this thing, right.
Speaker 4 (05:52):
And the crazy thing is you could say, oh, yeah,
the young Bucks do deserve this.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Yeah, and they deserve a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
And maybe because we maybe we did a lot of
dastardly things while being bad guys.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
And we were the most annoying version of the Young
Bucks as possible.
Speaker 5 (06:09):
That we did that on purpose.
Speaker 1 (06:11):
By doing less like cool moves and.
Speaker 4 (06:17):
Directing our matches differently to make fans a little more
angry with what we were doing. And we did it
all on purpose.
Speaker 1 (06:25):
Here's the thing with that.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
Like, so I feel like when we did the EVP stuff,
I loved all of the backstage stuff and I loved
all the skits we did. We would interrupt, you know,
like for example, one week, we interrupted ftr's video that
was playing and like abuse of power, like that stuff
was the greatest. Like to me, I thought it was
like our best character work, like on top of maybe
maybe maybe a slight below what we're doing this year.
(06:47):
One thing that didn't work that we noticed was we tried,
like he just said, we tried to dumb down our
wrestling style and our wrestling moves can it And it
just didn't work because I think fans have seen us
for so long twenty one years now, they're they're used
to seeing a certain quality of match, a crazy match,
and they're used to seeing us hit you know, our
(07:08):
high spots and our double team moves, and we took
all that away, and I think it actually hurt our matches.
And like halfway through the run we understood that.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
We said we need to pivot.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
Yeah, yeah, which is cool because like even though at
the end of the day, it's twenty years.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
In at that point and we got to change it up.
Though I'm glad we tried. It didn't work.
Speaker 4 (07:30):
It's like the Rock doing this new movie that he
just did, like you have to do it right just
because you want to change things.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
Yeah. So so we went.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
Back, even with the volume up even higher, doing what
we used to do. I think even this year, this
has got to be the craziest year we've ever had
as far as in ring matches, going to eat.
Speaker 4 (07:48):
Yeah, we went the complete opposite of what we did
last time. Well, all right, let's just do the craziest
matches that we can't physically it works.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
Sorry, everybody's like this is but it is hurting me
right right right, more than any.
Speaker 5 (08:02):
Year I think I've ever had.
Speaker 6 (08:05):
Yeah, I do have to say the EVP Rain contributed
to you guys's run of incredible gear. The founding Father's
gear was just just to a t, just perfect.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
That was just incredible. Thank you.
Speaker 6 (08:18):
So you meant you hinted on the Elite currently, and
you know in the Orbit we've got Kenny Omegoff kind
of doing his thing. We've got the world champion hang
Man doing his thing. You kind of mentioned Okata kind
of sort of with Don Kallis. Right now, do you
view the Elite as finished or is it changing into
something new?
Speaker 4 (08:35):
That's an interesting question, great question, because right now it
feels like it is just the two of us. So
why even call it the elite at this point? Right?
Speaker 5 (08:44):
You know what I mean? I think that changes on
a weekly basis.
Speaker 4 (08:49):
We would like it to be a thing, But right now,
it doesn't feel like it fits the character that we're portraying,
like being the center of a group.
Speaker 5 (09:01):
I feel like the two.
Speaker 4 (09:02):
Of us, just as the young Bucks, fits better with
what we're doing because we can't have Okata not have
an entferance. He's cool, you know what I mean. So
that's where that's at at this moment. That could change
later on.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
But I think that there's always a chance to bring
it back. It is all Elite Wrestling, and I think
that it's in the DNA, and it would.
Speaker 1 (09:24):
Be silly, you know, not to give the audience maybe
one last reunion run.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
I'm not saying that's gonna happen, but it would be
I think silly to not do it before we call
it quits, before Kenny calls it quits, before Hangman calls
it quits, or you know whoever, or maybe it would
just be the original Elite, you know, the three. I
think that there's money in it, and I think it
would be ridiculous not to revisit it at least one
(09:50):
more time.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:52):
Absolutely, And I know I know a lot of fans,
including myself and Eli. We kind of got excited when
we got the notification on YouTube that new video popped
up here Being the Elite you revived the channel after
a very long pause, kind of walk us through that obviously. Uh,
what prompted the return of Being the Elite, a series
(10:13):
that a lot of wrestling fans grew to love, and
getting that behind the curtains peak.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Yeah, I think I think that we've been very god
disciplined and not coming out publicly insane.
Speaker 1 (10:26):
It's back.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Being the Elite is back everybody, And you know, I've
even gone to like not even.
Speaker 1 (10:31):
Calling them episodes.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I says, hey, new fresh bet content, because we don't
want to over promise publicly and say like it's back
every Monday at twelve o'clock Eastern time.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
And then the next week we just don't feel inspired.
Speaker 2 (10:42):
To put him up, right, you know what I'm saying,
Because this was a show that we did religiously for
eight or seventy eight years, right, Yeah, I'll call it
a loose comeback.
Speaker 1 (10:49):
Yeah, so right now, like we we I don't know
what it was. We've we've been discussing, you know, putting
out content for a long time, and I don't know
what it was.
Speaker 4 (10:58):
Tony has been asking us for months he's been encouraging us.
That was probably number one.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
You know what kind of got into.
Speaker 5 (11:04):
The wrestlers too. To be honest, a lot of that's true.
A lot of the wrestlers would text us or.
Speaker 1 (11:09):
Like when are you going to bring it back?
Speaker 4 (11:10):
Or tell us like why are you guys not producing
more content? It was too interesting. Yeah, it's good for
the product and right, but there's a lot of reasons
why we didn't do it.
Speaker 5 (11:20):
We were burnt out right right. Number one.
Speaker 4 (11:23):
Number one was that we did it for six years straight,
I want to say seven years straight on a weekly
basis like that that kind of burns you out. And
I was doing most of the editing and thinking of
a lot of the stuff, and we were promoting all
of it, and.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
We put our life into the show, like whereas like
like BT was number one and wrestling came to right,
like as far as our wrestling career went, like, BT
was the thing that we put the most energy two
for so many years.
Speaker 2 (11:53):
And that's why I think again, like we're being very
careful about, hey, it's back, because we don't want to
do that if this isn't like at the forefront of
what we're doing and it's not gonna be and it's
not a priority or whatever, but like right now it
is like we're having fun again. That's the main thing
is we chose to be like we're having.
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Fun again doing these uplads, Like we put the first
thing up and I think we started getting the itch again.
We're like, oh, that was cool, like using that creativity again,
Let's do it again.
Speaker 2 (12:18):
And I think that's just what we've been building off of,
Like every week we're like, hey, I got another funny idea,
you know.
Speaker 1 (12:22):
And so it has been interesting and I think what
got it back into my blood was the fact that
I do my own travel on with my wife and
my family, and I think when I started doing that again,
I was like I kind of missed this, Like there's
like a little void in my life that BT used
to feel and now this is kind of doing it
so and I kind of I think I was probably
the one who like started talking to Nick about doing
(12:44):
it again, and I.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Made it forced him to do it a little bit, yeah,
because I was one hundred percent ever bringing it back.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
It's like I'm good.
Speaker 3 (12:53):
I got other things I could be doing during the week.
Speaker 1 (12:56):
So yeah, but it has made a difference. I think
for us as.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
I could just feel a difference when I'm out there,
there's maybe there's more of an appreciation for what we're doing.
I don't know what it is, but people like the
content that the fact that it you know, it goes
along and coincides with the television ship.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
It gives people just a little bit of extra and
for us it seems like it works. I mean, as
long as we're having fun, I think we'll continue to
do something with it.
Speaker 6 (13:22):
Yeah, well that's good to hear. I mean, something's better
than nothing for us, so.
Speaker 1 (13:26):
We'll take it. We appreciate it exactly.
Speaker 6 (13:28):
This is kind of very directly for you guys. Since
you guys are tag teams, how has AW elevated tag
team wrestling? Oh Man, softball question for you.
Speaker 4 (13:40):
I feel like we're probably the premiere promotion that uses
tag teams. We've had many event pay per views that
when we wrestle Stinging Derby for the tag team titles
and like, that's not a thing a lot of other
companies focus on, and here it look at the pay
per view the card has multiple tag matches.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
On the off the show.
Speaker 4 (14:05):
Yeah, that's coming up on Saturday. Yeah, so like that's
one thing that we always wanted. That was like the
first thing we promoted, the best division in the world. Yeah,
and I feel like twenty twenty five we are number
one and the division right now it's cooking. It's crazy,
like the kids say, it's cooking, right. I think I
(14:26):
said that right with Drastic back in the full the
FTR one of the best tag teams ever.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
You know us, you can include us in there. Hopefully
I don't sound.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Copy the tag champs.
Speaker 4 (14:43):
Those guys are hot right now. Massive, They're having a
one of the best tag runs I could remember with
just two singles. Guys just grouped together and just motiving
so perfectly together with Cod Blend and Christian back as
a team, Like, our division is insane right now.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
I think that I give a lot of credit.
Speaker 2 (15:07):
To jets Speed in Brodido for breathing that new life
into the division. Specifically for us, it gave us two
new fresh teams to work with, and you know, right
out of the gates when we came back six months ago,
we got in there with with with Jet Speed and
I was just like, WHOA, these guys are sharp, these
guys are good, And I think That's what's helped motivate
us and keep us sharp every single week now is
(15:29):
working with guys like that, and then the next week
you got you get Brodido, you know, and Bandido working
with him reminds me so much of working back with
we worked with the Lucha Bros.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
You know, so there's this chemistry there.
Speaker 2 (15:41):
So yeah, it's it feels like I said this earlier,
I said that I would put the twenty twenty five
tag division up with the twenty nineteen division. I think
I think that it's they're right up. They can compete
head to head. So I'm really proud of that. And
you know, like like Nick said, you know, look at
the paper, you look at wrestl Dream, the carts loaded
with tag magees, and these are big matches that are
(16:03):
given time, you know, Like I mean when we wrestled
on All End, I just watched a video highlight match
of that, a video of that last night when we
wrestled with Osprey and Swerve, Like where did we go
thirty minutes that?
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Like where one other.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Company are you allowed like to have that that platform
on a paiview like that, you know, and we had
the chance to have in my opinion, one of our
greatest tag matches of our career, you know. So, aw,
if you go through our portfolio work here, we've had
probably our best matches in our career here. So and
that's all things to Tony Kahan giving us the chance
(16:40):
to show what we do.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
And I know the one thing because me and Eli
have talked about this, it's very awkward when you see
like two people just get thrown together in a tag team.
And you mentioned Brodino, you mentioned Jet Speed and here
recently an aw when you see people get thrown into
a tag team, it's worked, it's not been one of
those Well we're gonna split them up in three weeks,
(17:03):
so I'm just gonna see what happens. But it's like
you have Broddo getting into a tag team and all
of a sudden they win the tag team titles.
Speaker 1 (17:10):
Now, that's gotta be a.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
Cool thing to show that, Hey, you know what we've
got where the best wrestle, we've got the best single division,
we got the best tag division both men and women.
Because it's gonna be exciting to see what's gonna happen
with that women's tag division once those titles are out there, right,
What do you think it is that AW does very
well when it comes to tag team wrestling compared to
(17:31):
everybody else.
Speaker 4 (17:33):
I think it's just giving us the platform, honestly, like
Matt was saying, a pay per view doesn't give any
company besides us. They're not giving a tag match thirty
minutes on a card. So when you get that opportunity,
you have to hit a home run. And I feel
like we've done that and that helps showcase it.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Yeah, and then the division itself.
Speaker 2 (17:56):
Not only are we having these great matches, but a
lot of these matches are given really cool angles and
stories to follow us.
Speaker 1 (18:03):
So it's not just some match that you have to
sit through. It's like that's it.
Speaker 2 (18:07):
And once they do the match, that like, no, no,
We're going to take you on a little bit of
a journey from week to week to week, you know,
like you're talking about Broddo, Like it was so fun
seeing them kind of just come together randomly and then
all of a sudden, now they're like.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
This the most beloved babyfaced tag team.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Right, so you do like we I think AW is
good about taking the fans on a journey with them,
and like you said, not after three or four weeks,
just splitting them up, and then they do a few
because such a I think a lot of wrestling companies
fall to those those wrestling traps or tropez where it's like.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
No, no, no, this is what you do. They're the
odd duck pairing and then they split up and then
they have blood feud. You know. It's like, well, you
don't always have to do that, you know.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Like like if anyplace else, me and my brother probably
would have already gone through three different breakups.
Speaker 5 (18:49):
We broke up a TNA with that my year.
Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah. So it's like I think a lot of wrestling
promoters and writers and bookers they fall into those traps
where they're like, well, this is what happens with tag teams.
Of them goes heal and one of them goes babyface.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
It's like and I think for me and Nick, that's
one thing in our career that we always said, you
know what, let's meet the first tag team that just
never really supermanently split splits up, you know, like, let's
just stick together.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
And I don't even count the gimm thing that doesn't
that doesn't it never happened. So we've always been together.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yeah, absolutely for sure, and of course wrestled Dream this weekend.
Definitely if you're in the area, grab your tickets aew
ticks dot com that is awt i x dot com,
or of course you could watch it on pay per view. Now,
I do want to go back a little bit because Matt,
you did a live Q and A not too long ago,
and you had mentioned maybe buying PWG and also you
(19:39):
guys starting your own independent promotion and some of the
things along those lines. Is there any update to that
or is that still kind of just a pipe dream
at the moment.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
Right now, I think the BTWG thing's definitely a pipe dream.
Speaker 1 (19:53):
I would love to have further discussions about it. Nick
and I have always talked about doing some type of
independent or something once our career wraps up with with
you know, mainstream wrestling like AW and we have more
time at home. I think that'd be something that we'd
definitely be interested in doing, because there, you know, we
(20:14):
love we love the business, and I think that we
were very creative guys, so it might be weird to
just sit at home and do nothing, So I think
it'd be I think that's something that we've never really
gotten to. I mean, we've done it.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
We used to run an independent way back when, but
I think now we're different, we're different people, We've we
have more experience. Now we actually have money that we
can put into the thing. Back then, it was like,
what was our budget, five hundred dollars.
Speaker 1 (20:39):
So I think that it would It's definitely something that
will probably try out. I don't know when, maybe the
next few years. You specifically have talked about.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Yeah, I think it would be good for the independent scene,
especially southern California. Yeah, so Kell's kind of dried up
as of late, and usually that's like a hot bed.
So I feel like with our influence we could help
the the ndie scene around there. And I would love
to do something like that. I've always talked about doing
(21:10):
something like that, and who knows when, but it is
a pipe dream.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Maybe a couple of even whether it's we call it
PWG or you know, it's a whole different wrestling company name.
Speaker 1 (21:22):
I think that we our goal would be to kind
of carry.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
The torch of what PMG started and to have a
company that that that that falls into the spirit of
what Pro Wrestling Gorilla was for all those years. Cause
I think there is an empty void in Southern California
independent wrestlerrate at that I think we can help fill.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
Nice, excellent answer.
Speaker 6 (21:41):
As far as your career goes legacy wise, what do
you think you guys have cemented and what's still unfinished
for you guys in your professional wrestling career.
Speaker 5 (21:49):
Jeez, that's a tough, tough question.
Speaker 6 (21:54):
May be hard to talk about yourself like that, but.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
I think for me, it's like every show we go to,
I'm like, all right, let's have another one.
Speaker 1 (22:03):
Let's let's try to have the best one on the show.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
And if you could still have that fire inside you
after twenty one years of doing this, that's pretty good.
We're still super competitive. If someone's out there is getting
buzz in the tag division and they're crushing it, I
kind of.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
Like give them a side on. I'm like, Okay, you're
all right, cool, you think you're good, And.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
It motivates me to like want to get into better
shape and to and to be the best.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
I don't know what that is.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I don't know if that's just my competitive nature, and
I know Nick shares that with me, like we we.
Speaker 1 (22:31):
Want to be the best, we want to have the
best match on the show.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
We like when people say, hey, that's the greatest tag
team of all time? You know, is that is that
as far as wrestling legacy goes, that'd be cool. But
I think I think for us, I think that it
goes deeper than that too.
Speaker 1 (22:45):
I think a lot of it.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Is most importantly, those are two great guys. They they're
family men. They were always straight with me. They were cool,
backstays or easy to work with, always a joy, good
for the morale. Like that's the more important stuff probably
as far as like how I feel like I, oh, personally,
(23:06):
if I've worked with you, you've enjoyed working with me.
Speaker 4 (23:10):
Yeah, that's probably more important than being known as like
the goats or whatever you would.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Like to call it. That's still pretty cool though, too.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Oh yeah, that'd be awesome. Early on in my career,
I've always told Matt, let's be the best entering tag
team of all time. That was like the goal probably
ten and fifteen years ago.
Speaker 5 (23:30):
Let's be known as that.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
I don't know if that's the goal anymore and changes, Yeah,
it kind of changes.
Speaker 5 (23:36):
Year by a year.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
But like Matt said, the more important things would be,
like man, the young Bucks were such good human beings.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
They're good dudes. They they're family men. They got out
in one piece, you know, healthy, happy, and I hope.
Speaker 5 (23:52):
People about what happened to them. They disappeared.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
I heard Matt lives on an island. He has a
giant beard now and he doesn't speak to anyone anymore.
He doesn't even do conventions.
Speaker 2 (24:02):
That's like the fantasy, right, Like you kind of just
disappear quietly into the night, and and everybody's.
Speaker 1 (24:06):
Just like, whatever happened to those guys? They were just
so cool? You know, I don't know. I think the
goal is just to keep having fun. Yep. And you know,
because you go, you've won this many titles, you've had
these many matches, these many guys. Obviously there's little there's
little things you want to check off your bucket list
before you wrap it up.
Speaker 4 (24:23):
One thing I would say would be like we wrestled
like it was our last match every single time.
Speaker 1 (24:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (24:30):
If you see that on the screen and it shows
then that that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
And I gotta tell you, as a family man myself,
I've got two kids, my youngest, my oldest kid. He's
he doesn't care about wrestling more. He's more concerned about
his girlfriend and his truck and everything else. But my
eight year old he's all into wrestling, and so uh
he every time you guys are in town, he always
goes with me. And his first in person Young Bucks
match that he ever saw was Blood and Guts here
(24:57):
in Nashville.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
Oh boy.
Speaker 3 (25:00):
And so having to explain to my wife a couple
of days later, why is why is our son putting
thumbtacks on the bottom of his shoe?
Speaker 1 (25:09):
I had to try to explain that to her. Oh God,
bless you.
Speaker 3 (25:13):
But it just goes to show that that wrestling is
such a great thing and it's influencing kids whether they
want to put thumb tacks on their.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Shoes or not.
Speaker 3 (25:21):
But speaking of the thumbtacks on shoes, whose idea was it?
Also the fact that you put them on Travis Scott's
and some really expensive shoes. As I'm a shoe guy myself,
whose idea was that? Yeah?
Speaker 1 (25:34):
So I really did it at P two BG, and
I might have done it on like a pair of
cheaper like Nikes like air Force oness. I couldn't remember
what it worked.
Speaker 5 (25:42):
I think they're antals.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
No, they're nikes. They're brown nikes with I just looked
at them recently.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
I think they were like cheap ones that I probably
found it ross or something, though, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:53):
Like I'm like, how do you make a super kick hardcore?
I remember thinking of that, like, what if I put
thumb tacks on the bottom of how did I get
him there?
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Oh?
Speaker 1 (25:58):
I can grilla glue them to there with you know,
super glue. Uh.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
And it was it was a spot that you know,
became pretty viral on the Internet, and I know it
was just a matter of time.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
I knew I was going to bring it back.
Speaker 2 (26:10):
And uh, I feel like that cage match at all
out that was like I remember telling Nick, I think
tonight's the night be pulled the trigger on this thing again.
And uh yeah, the fact that it was that Travis Scott,
I think really helped it kind of move through the
internet a little bit, probably go a little bit more
viral than what it what have otherwise.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
But yeah, that was my brilliant idea.
Speaker 4 (26:28):
Now it's a reoccurring spot for when we need to
pull out something crazy.
Speaker 1 (26:33):
Yeah, but I feel like it's really inspired a lot
of people to just start gluing tax on the things
like we've seen Darby with the skateboard, and we've seen
people do it with their elbow and ee pads and stuff.
So if that's one trend I said that, I'm very
I'm very happy with that.
Speaker 3 (26:49):
Well, it's obviously a trend that's catching on with my
eight year old. So I will explain to my wife
about why and where he learned that from, and I
will point to you guys.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Uh it's I gotta tell you, man.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
It such an honor and a privilege to have you
guys back here on the show. I know you got
a lot of other things to get ready for, especially
with Wrestle Dream this weekend.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Before we let you go.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Is there anything you want to say to the fans
watching or listening to this right now?
Speaker 4 (27:13):
Well, just thanks for the continued support for making AEW
what it is today. Because we have the most hardcore
fans that I think I've ever seen in our twenty
one years of wrestling. The AEW fandom is growing and
they continue to support. They buy every single pay per
view and we know it and we love it, and
(27:35):
that's why us wrestlers go crazy every single pay per
view and every single night.
Speaker 1 (27:41):
So yeah, and our young Buck fans specifically, like they
the ones who have been you know, through it all
with us, the ups and the downs, the highs and
the lows, been so supportive to.
Speaker 2 (27:52):
Be watching and cheering or booing or whatever you do,
but just to support what we do all these years later,
it means the world. It doesn't go unnoticed, so appreciative.
So so many Sweetheart fans out there, and I don't
think we get out there and get just meet them
and see them enough like we used to when we
were doing you know, these meet greets every week. But
we did one recently and it was really nice because
(28:12):
I think I.
Speaker 6 (28:12):
Saw that Yeah, yeah, it.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
May have been a forced beat greet, but no, it was.
It was cool though, because we don't get to do
that very often. So it's a nice reminder that there
are a lot of people out there that do love
us and and you know, enjoy our work. And again,
like bringing back the bet content, it's been really fun
to see the reaction for that. It's been got ninety
nine point five percent positive and uh and this is
(28:38):
this could be a very tribalistic business and industry, and
all you do see is.
Speaker 1 (28:42):
A lot of negative. But uh, you know, if you
create these little communities like a BTE community, it's it's
almost like its own little positive neighborhood. It's like, oh,
like everyone here is really nice. Like maybe this is
the real.
Speaker 2 (28:55):
World, you know, because you get out there, do you
go on something like like you know, Twitter or something,
and it.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Could be really nasty on there, you know, or even
in the Instagram comments. So it's like I have seen
a lot more positive lately.
Speaker 2 (29:08):
Maybe I've trained my mind to just try to see
the good again and I've seen a lot of it.
And I just wanted to say thanks to those people
because it means the.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
World absolutely well.
Speaker 3 (29:20):
The Young Bucks, the Goats of Tag Team Wrestling again,
thank you so much for coming on the show today.
And it's an honor and a privilege. And when you
roll through Nashville, we'll have to get you in the studio.
Speaker 1 (29:30):
That was good man. Thanks guys, Thank you,
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