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There are lots of different ways to succeed in professional wrestling. Talent contracted to a company with the stature of ROH or who get flown into Japan for featured performances can hold their heads up high as success stories.
But there’s nothing quite like WWE.
WWE reaches a larger global audience than any other wrestling promotion, and it’s not even close. Particularly in the US, the WWE brand is synonymous with wrestling the way the NBA is associated with pro basketball, or Kleenex is used interchangeably with facial tissues.
It’s the big show, and while hardcore fans may prefer other promotions, there’s a significant segment of serious fans who watch nothing but WWE (and may not even recognize that other companies exist).
The Young Bucks are on a very short list of the most talented and popular acts of their generation not to have signed with WWE. In this day and age, to truly cement their legacy, they could really benefit from a WWE run.
WWE reportedly made the Bucks a big money offer to come on over. The courtship was in part to cash in on how over the Bullet Club and the Elite have been, and in part to head off All Elite Wrestling, back when the startup promotion was more rumor than reality.
The Bucks choosing to go into business for themselves, alongside Cody Rhodes, honors a certain entrepreneurial spirit, and pays back WWE for not being interested in them earlier in their careers.
However, Nick and Matt Jackson are gambling with their wrestling legacies in a very real way.
Maybe AEW succeeds and they emerge legit top businessmen in wrestling, besides their strong careers as wrestlers. In trying to compete with WWE though, they may have sealed off not only their best, but their last chance at a WWE run.
It will likely be good for not only the brothers, but all of wrestling if AEW succeeds. If it doesn’t, that’s a regret they’ll have to live with the rest of their lives.
