The Young Bucks spent 2016 spreading their time between Ring of Honor and PWG in the United States and NJPW in Japan. Additionally, their contracts with ROH and NJPW also allowed them to wrestle in other countries as well. When their dual ROH-NJPW contracts were set to expire this year, the WWE expressed interest in the Young Bucks.
However, while other indie stars jumped to the WWE or NXT when they learned of the WWE interest, the Young Bucks chose to remain an indie tag team. In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated, the Young Bucks said that there were a number of reasons they avoided the WWE, and money was at the top of the list.
According to Nick Jackson, the brothers prefer to keep control of the Young Bucks brand. They make enough money selling their own merchandise to allow them to do what they want to do without selling out to the WWE to make a good living.
“The schedule was perfect for us and the family and we still have rights to sell the Young Buck brand, as well as a lot of freedom. We also have a lot of input in what we do, and that is priceless.”
Nick also said that he understands that a lot of fans want to see the Young Bucks in the WWE, and he understands that. However, he said that commitments to their family and enjoying spending time with their family is more important to them.
The Young Bucks had a chance to join the WWE before and worked dark matches for the company. However, the only thing that resulted from that was controversy when Booker T publicly called the Young Bucks out for being disrespectful when they refused to shake his hand backstage at the show they worked.
Now, with the Young Bucks resigning with Ring of Honor and NJPW, there is little to no chance of them jumping to the WWE in the near future. They did say never to say never about making the move but they are happy in ROH and NJPW right now, with the ability to still show up in PWG when they can.
There have also been some rumors about the Young Bucks making some appearances for TNA Impact Wrestling while the Hardy Boyz might appear in Ring of Honor for the two to work a feud together. Wrestling Inc. reported that Anthem Sports and Entertainment will take control of TNA when 2017 rolls around and they have seemed willing to work with Ring of Honor.
Nick Jackson said the Young Bucks were not on Total Nonstop Deletion because they were in Japan while TNA was filming it. However, Matt Jackson said that this match between the Young Bucks and Hardy Boyz is one of the last money matches remaining and Nick said that he can’t wait for it.
“This feud is just an organic, natural thing. Our career paths are very similar and we always get compared to them. It’s the one feud we’ve always wanted and I am happy that it’s happening.”
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According to the Young Bucks, they are happy to be in Ring of Honor and NJPW and have no regrets about not making the jump to WWE or NXT. While they said they would love to face New Day in the future, they still have great tag teams to wrestle where they are, reminding the fans that the Briscoe Brothers are still one of the best tag teams of all time.
[Featured Image by Wikimedia Commons]