If you’re looking to watch some professional wrestling, but you’re sick of the current WWE product, you’ve probably heard of the Young Bucks. Matt and Nick Massie, known better as Nick and Matt Jackson, have wrestled for everyone from TNA to New Japan Pro Wrestling over the last 12 years. In fact, the only major company they haven’t really wrestled for is WWE.
The Young Bucks are among the most controversial and polarizing acts in pro wrestling today. Some believe they’re nothing more than “vanilla spot monkeys that will never draw a dime”, and others have called them the “best act in indy wrestling”. If you’re not familiar with the Jackson brothers, just go to YouTube. I personally recommend any match the duo have had with the Motor City Machine Guns. The duo is intentionally over the top, they use a ton of fun, albeit unbelievable spots, and they love making fun of the WWE. The Jacksons crotch-chop, “too sweet”, and superkick several time a match, and while the younger, internet audience applauds the way the Young Bucks play jump-rope with kayfabe, older fans and workers don’t appreciate it.
Respected names in pro wrestling like Lance Storm and Jim Cornette have been very vocal about their distaste of the tag team. A few months ago, the Young Bucks did a spot where they had a promoter’s son come in the ring with them and wrestle. The Young Bucks sold the kid’s moves before polishing him off with a superkick, and this infuriated Storm and Cornette, who claimed it was disrespectful to the business. In a way, this brash, self-aware style is part of what has made the Young Bucks so popular in 2016.
So the big question is, when can we expect to see the Young Bucks on WWE television? As Triple H has revolutionized the WWE recruiting style to include smaller independent wrestlers like Fergal Devitt (Finn Balor), AJ Styles, and Austin Aries, it seems like now would be the perfect time for the Young Bucks to sign. Unfortunately, I disagree.
Unlike New Japan, Ring of Honor, and PWG, the WWE only allows a very specific style of wrestling. It’s safe and easily consumed, if a bit stale, but it works for them. It’s hard to imagine the Young Bucks being allowed to bring the “Superkick Party” to the WWE, and they certainly wouldn’t be allowed to use dangerous piledriver moves like the “Meltzer Driver”. On top of that, Raw and Smackdown are rated PG, and it’s unlikely that Vince McMahon would be okay with the Jacksons using the crotch chop as often as they did on the indies.
Not to mention, Vince McMahon still prefers his wrestlers to be body-builders, regardless of how much the industry has changed. It’s hard to imagine the McMahon’s giving a real push to a couple of guys who are only 5’10″ and not very aesthetically built.
It’s irrelevant at the time anyway, as they signed an exclusive contract with Ring of Honor last October that allows them to keep working with New Japan and PWG as well. But down the road, if the Young Bucks did decide to sign with WWE, they may have to completely change their gimmick, the way they wrestle, and everything that made fans of pro wrestling like them in the first place, and then they might not get the push they deserve. While it’s every wrestlers dream to one day wrestle for the WWE, the Young Bucks might be better off where they are.
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