Even Matt Jackson’s own inner thoughts are very disappointed with him.
The fallout of Matt selling the Hung Bucks IP to The Dark Order was featured this week on BTE. John Silver, Alex Reynolds, and Evil Uno introduced themselves as The Hung Backs and sang jingles for both Wendy’s and Chilli’s. After seeing this, Matt was inundated with intrusive negative thoughts about the poor decisions he’s made in recent weeks. The thoughts finally forced Matt to give himself the finger as so many others have done to him of late.
Footage of a “bonus match” Brandon Cutler had with Johnny TV at last week’s Dynamite was shown. The two had quite the dance-off at one point but ultimately it was the former John Morrison who picked up the win.
Sammy Guevara and Matt Sydal engaged in a heated debate over how to eat cereal, i.e. does the milk or the cereal go in the bowl first? Will Washington appeared and said they could settle things for the BTE Championship, which hasn’t been defended in a year. Sydal and Guevara didn’t seem to know what he was talking about.
The camera panned out to reveal BTE Champion Kip Sabian sitting at a table. Guevara and Sydal will have to beat Sabian’s stand-ins (who are also the stand-ins for The Young Bucks) to get a shot at the title. Later in the show, Guevara, Sydal, the stand-ins, and a few others competed to see who could throw Rolos in a paper cup the best.
Ryan Nemeth was featured this week as well. He was getting blood drawn in a doctor’s office and somehow got a numbing agent on his mouth.
Being the Elite this week featured footage of The Young Bucks and others in Chicago for All Out week.
The show opened up with backstage footage from before Matt & Nick Jackson made their AEW Collision debut on Saturday.
The Elite were later shown backstage following their matches from All Out. Kenny Omega was upset that he’s now lost on six straight pay-per-views. Hangman Page was upset that he had to give away the money he won in the battle royal to “stupid kids” and Matt announced he’s sold the Hung Bucks IP to Long John Silvers.
The Dark Order then interrupted. It turns out that Matt’s deal wasn’t with Long John Silvers, it was with John Silver. Also, Matt didn’t realize the currency used in the contract was Japanese Yen, so it was not nearly as lucrative as he thought. Omega then voiced his concern that he would be unable to put his cat through college.
The storyline is now that The Dark Order owns The Hung Bucks IP.
Ryan Nemeth was featured this week as well. He was shown asking fans to say that he’s their favorite wrestler at an AEW Together meet and greet. Footage from Starrcast was also shown.
An eight-man tag team match has been set for Sunday’s All Out.
The Young Bucks and FTR will team together to take on all four members of Bullet Club Gold (Jay White, Juice Robinson, and The Gunns).
A vignette that aired on Wednesday showed FTR confronting The Young Bucks after All In about not shaking hands after their match. As The Young Bucks were expressing their frustration in losing, Bullet Club Gold appeared and mocked them, leading to Wheeler suggesting an eight-man tag match at All Out, with both teams accepting.
A match for the ROH Television Championship was also announced, with former champion Shane Taylor taking on current champion Samoa Joe. A promo with Taylor aired talking about how he was champion for a long time, and would defeat Joe at All Out.
The ROH Tag Team titles will also be on the line with Adam Cole and MJF defending against the winners of a battle royal that will take place on Rampage this Friday.
After Dynamite ended, another match was added to the card on social media, with Blackpool Combat Club’s Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta teaming up to take on Eddie Kingston and ROH Pure Champion Katsuyori Shibata.
This week’s edition of Being the Elite featured behind-the-scenes footage from AEW All In.
The show did not include any references to the reported physical altercation that took place backstage at the show but footage from London was shown.
Matt & Nick Jackson spoke about finding out Bray Wyatt died last week and said they would be dedicating All In weekend to him and Terry Funk.
Highlights of The Bucks traveling around London were shown as well. The brothers also showed off their gear for the show, which was inspired by Freddie Mercury.
Colt Cabana debuted “The Cabana Cam” this week. Clips he filmed of Brandon Cutler’s match on ROH were shown.
Clips of Ryan Nemeth’s recent ROH performance were also shown. Nemeth attended a Cleveland Guardians game on this week’s show as well and promoted his appearance at Starrcast.
Will Washington was back this week. He continued to play the role of the guy who remembers what happened in previous episodes of BTE.
The biggest wrestling show of the year has to be just that. Sunday’s All In (1 PM Eastern from London’s Wembley Stadium), the most important show since AEW became a proper company, needs to be can’t miss (sports) entertainment. This should be a card full of massive feuds, dream matches, and worthwhile conclusions to long-simmering stories.
Not having Kenny Omega in a singles match or CM Punk trying to regain the title he never lost are just some of the more egregious misses.
The lead-up to what should be AEW’s magnum opus has unfolded with a lamentable lack of finesse, leaving even their most ardent supporters with shrugged shoulders. This is a haphazardly constructed card, devoid of any narrative finesse that defines the truly historic shows.
But what am I even saying? When the bell rings, all of this will probably be forgotten, and the performers will deliver like they always do. Consistently relying on high-quality in-ring performances to make up for subpar builds is a dangerous rope to walk and it’s become a rope AEW increasingly finds themselves crossing.
These misses won’t be felt in this particular box office, but you only get one chance to run “the biggest wrestling show of all time.” You can’t just slap a “part 2’ or an ‘Again’ at the end of that moniker and expect folks to buy in. By running a second major show the following week, they put themselves in an unwinnable position. They have to try and book for two shows at the same time when the focus should be entirely on All In.
Fans will forgive a subpar All Out card and Chicago will get over it if they run a B-show. Book for the show that people could remember forever, not the one they will forget by the following Dynamite. The lineup for All Out somehow being better than All In will be my Joker origin story.
AEW is in desperate need of good news and solid momentum. This is the biggest two-week stretch in the short promotion’s history. Sunday in sunny London town will, for better or worse, define the future of AEW.
Now, as always, let’s preview the action.
AEW Trios Champions House of Black (Buddy Matthews, Brody King & Malakai Black) defend against The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens & Max Caster) and Billy Gunn
I don’t even care that this got announced four days before the show. I was smiling like a goon when Gunn came out on Wednesday night. Getting The Acclaimed on the Wembley card is a great call. They aren’t as popular as they were at their peak, but the crowd still loves them and is really going to love Gunn being back. The number one thing a wrestling show should do is make the crowd happy and few things make a crowd happier than an Acclaimed live entrance.
I love The House of Black. They have been workhorses on Collision and the individual styles of King, Matthews and Black fit so well together. Their presentation is top-notch and they never disappoint in the ring. But this is really about giving the fans what they want and Daddy Ass/Bad Ass getting some gold will do exactly that.
Prediction: The Acclaimed and Billy Gunn win the titles
Darby Allin & Sting vs. Christian Cage & Swerve Strickland
I had a wonderful preview written about this match. The booking wasn’t complicated; it was straightforward and simple. Strickland and Allin are rivals from the same area, Fox and Allin have a long history, and Sting is Sting. Throw in some Nick Wayne-related assault, and folks, that was a story worth telling. No winks and nods to the internet, no meta commentary about the state of wrestling just paint-by-numbers storytelling. It was the best-booked match on the card.
For reasons that remain unclear, Fox was replaced with Christian Cage. (At least it wasn’t Brian Cage!) Even if this was done because Fox had visa issues, is injured, or whatever, this is such a confusing mess. At best, it’s another example of sloppy decision-making with little foresight. If there was even a risk that he might not be able to make the trip, why have him there in the first place? It’s a shame, because Fox was a great fit with Swerve, and someone who grinded on the indies as long as he did deserved a spot on the card.
If nothing else, All In will do one thing that fans should remember forever: give Sting a massive, well-deserved platform. 80,000+ people going absolute nuts for the 64-year-old Stinger is going to be incredible. He spent much of the internet age of wrestling in TNA before his far too brief WWE run. His one WrestleMania moment was nowhere near good enough for a performer of his caliber. Few things are worse booking decisions than having HHH beat Sting at WrestleMania. On Saturday, The Icon will get to cap his career on the biggest stage, a stage he so deeply deserves.
Prediction: Sting & Allin
The Golden Elite (Hangman Page, Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) vs. Bullet Club Gold (Juice Robinson & Jay White) and Konosuke Takeshita
Again, if this is truly the biggest wrestling show in history, having Omega in a multi-man match is a huge miss. No slight to anyone in the match, but there are levels to this. Omega is a man who broke and rebroke the star rating system that this site popularized. This is also a man held together by KT tape and positive thoughts. He doesn’t have a ton of big matches left in him. If this isn’t the place to use one of the bullets left in that chamber, what is? Maybe they are saving the big singles match with Takeshita for All Out, but that should happen in London, not Chicago.
Collision has become the best weekly wrestling show due in large part to Bullet Club Gold aka The Bang Bang Gang which is one of the silliest and best monikers in wrestling. They should lose the Bullet Club part completely and just go by that. White’s sense of humor and timing has been a revelation. Collision puts all of its talents in positions to succeed and gives them time do to so. It is consistently the best weekly wrestling show.
Prediction: The Golden Elite
Blackpool Combat Club (Jon Moxley, Claudio Castagnoli & Wheeler Yuta) & Santana and Ortiz vs. Eddie Kingston, Penta El Zero Miedo, Orange Cassidy & Best Friends (Trent Beretta & Chuck Taylor) in a Stadium Stampede match
It broke my heart to delete “and Rey Fenix” rom the match listing. Fenix is one of the best wrestlers in the world, and there are very few people who can replace him and what he is capable of doing in the ring. It’s a huge bummer he’s missing the show, but it is a delight seeing Santana and Ortiz back together in AEW. Santana, with his hair looking straight-up delicious, is the goods. Look for him to show out on Sunday. Hopefully he and Ortiz put any issues they had to bed because they are such a good team.
I’m never going to turn my nose up at a Stadium Stampede match, but this is not a feud that warrants a spectacle like this. More than most matches on the card, this seems like a way to clearly set up matches at All Out like Moxley vs. Cassidy and Kingston vs. Castagnoli. Both will be great, but using one of AEW’s signature spectacles to get there is backward. This should be the blow-off to a program, not a transition into the next stage.
Prediction: Blackpool Combat Club & Santana and Ortiz
Will Ospreay vs. Chris Jericho
Another match that came out of nowhere and a match that would have been better served by more than one week of build. Can Jericho even work a Ospreay match now? I’m a bit worried that he will try to keep up with one of the more insane people in modern wrestling who wrestles such a physical, taxing style. Not only that, he has to wrestle Ospreay after a live performance of Judas. Brother is going to be gasping for air before the bell even rings.
Who are we supposed to root for here? Is Jericho supposed to be the sympathetic babyface after being so terrible to his friends that they all left him? How is the audience supposed to root for him when he just tried to link up with someone well-established as the most loathsome character on AEW programming? Not only that, but Ospreay is the hometown boy. There is a zero percent chance he’s getting booed no matter how hard he tries.
Ospreay beat Omega in a match that’s on the shortlist for match of the year. He finally beat Okada. There is no chance he loses in a home game.
Prediction: Will Ospreay
AEW Women’s Champion Hikaru Shida defends against Toni Storm, Saraya and Britt Baker in a four-way
Each wrestler brings something unique to this match and AEW in general. Shida is a well-deserving, wholesome champion. Storm is the best overall talent in the division and is doing incredible work with her failed Hollywood glamour character who throws footwear at backstage interviewers. Saraya brings, by far, the most notoriety, name recognition, and Britishness. Baker is the homegrown talent conspicuously absent from the main stage and premier spotlight. Four great talents who should be able to create something lasting and meaningful on Saturday.
Rather than put together a cohesive story, AEW fell back on hastily spinning up a tournament to get the Women’s title match on the card: a crutch they too often lean on. The song remains the same, no matter how many times the record gets spun. There had been such little interaction between the four of them that I had to double-check this match was happening. Dynamite had an Adam Cole and MJF sit-down but this only got a 60 second pretape, a Ruby Soho singles match, and a tag team main event on Rampage.
Shida just won the title three weeks ago and AEW rarely hot potatoes their World championships. I’ve seen some talk of crowning Saraya because of where the show is, but I can’t see that happening
Prediction: Shida retains
AEW Tag Team Champions FTR (Cash Wheeler & Dax Harwood) defend against the Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson)
As is federally mandated (attention FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, etc.), no major wrestling show can exist without someone, somewhere claiming to be the greatest of all time.
Exhausting in a vacuum, the claims and subsequent discussions are completely warranted here. I don’t write much about WWE on this site, nor do I have any real desire to, but it’s these two teams along with The Usos that make up the conversation for the greatest tag team of the modern generation and perhaps all-time. The main difference between The Usos, who are legitimately great, and these two teams, is that both the brothers Jackson and FTR have had enough memorable, historic matches that I don’t even need to list them here. Naming a memorable Usos match? That’s a much bigger challenge. They have had countless matches with The New Day, but how many stand out? How many compare to The Bucks Ladder Wars with The Briscoes or FTR’s trilogy with those same Briscoes? The answer is they don’t. That’s why these are the two best tag teams of the modern era and two of the best in history.
Both teams have proven themselves across multiple companies and wildly different match types. A complaint directed towards a lot of Young Bucks matches is they all follow the same formula with the same moves, and sure, I’ll somewhat allow for that. You can’t say that about FTR. They have proven (actually, beyond proven) that they can wrestle any style, against any opponent, in any match type. That’s true greatness, and that’s why they are the best to ever do it. They had people in a full lather about a tag team match on a Saturday night in the middle of the summer. If that’s not greatness, I don’t know what is.
Bell-to-bell, this should be the best match on the card as no one does high-stakes tag team wrestling like AEW. Before Cash Wheeler’s legal situation, I thought it was Top Guys, over. The last thing AEW needs right now is more uncertainty and putting the title on The Bucks is the safer, more stable move
Prediction: The Young Bucks win the titles
CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe
Punk’s gravitational pull is unlike anything else in this industry. Like him or not, he is the sun that everything in AEW orbits around. When he’s on screen, he commands our eyes and ears. He demands we put down our phones and pay attention. When he’s not on screen, we’re wondering where he is. In a world increasingly full of NPCs – non-playable characters if you’re nasty – he is the Main Character, the star attraction. Of course, drama and intrigue follow him wherever he goes; it’s what makes him special. It made him special in WWE, it made him special in his unfortunate attempt at MMA, and keeps him special today in AEW. Historical greatness is frequently divisive, so why should he be any different?
At risk of being lost in this gravity, is Joe from Samoa. The only reason he hasn’t been swallowed by it completely is through his sheer force of will and talent. The true king of television is exactly that. He is appointment viewing no matter how long (or short) the match may be. Bar for bar, he is the most consistently excellent promo in the company (full apologies to Eddie Kingston, Jon Moxley, etc.) and remains their most believable mic artist. Like so many of our favorites, he’s closer to the end than the beginning and his current run is as good as anything he’s ever done. Long may he reign.
Even though I’d love to see Joe take this, there are so many other stories to be told and money to be made with Punk as the uncrowned champion. He keeps his belt.
Prediction: CM Punk
AEW World Champion MJF defends against Adam Cole
Even though this is not for me, I’ll still admit this pairing has been a shocking delight. Even though this is the most WWE thing AEW has ever done, the charisma and chemistry between the two carries the day. From the pre-taped vignettes to the live promos and everything in between, it all works far better than an enemy-turned-friend program should which is a testament to the singular talents of Cole and MJF.
The major issue with all of this is that it isn’t big enough for the main event of the biggest show in company history. It lacks the gravitas. Like everything else on the card, it needed more time — more time to establish them as a team and more time to make the inevitable turn that much more powerful.
The easy booking here is in the Cole turn, not MJF. MJF getting screwed over by Cole (and maybe big Rod Strong) sets MJF up for the chance to work as a true face for the first time. And it’s not like the audience can hate him more than they usually do. His turning on Cole won’t add to his character; it would just be more of the same. But Cole — fresh off a long absence and joyous return — turning on MJF would give this program legs and establish a new top-of-the-card heel for the babyfaces to feud with. Allowing MJF to have the crowd fully behind him would be something new and exciting. However, there is a huge Punk-related ‘BUT’ here.
Regardless of who wins, it would be inexcusable for the show to end without Punk coming out to confront the winner. If that’s the case, it makes more sense for him to confront MJF than Cole. Closing the show with the two biggest stars in the company setting up the next big title program will give AEW some needed momentum heading into 2024.
The Young Bucks, Brandon Cutler, Colt Cabana and Ryan Nemeth were all featured on Being The Elite this week.
The Bucks were shown backstage after their win over The Gunn Club on Dynamite and Matt Jackson revealed that somebody has purchased the rights to the Hung Bucks merchandise. However, he doesn’t know who the mystery buyer is.
Nick Jackson was upset with this news but was appeased when Matt said he would take him out for pizza. Will Washington continued his role on the show as the guy who remembers things from previous episodes. He reminded The Bucks that having pizza is how they made up with Cody Rhodes on episode 161.
Ryan Nemeth was also back on the show this week. Nemeth appeared to be taking a break from the SAG AFTRA strike as he was seen visiting a petting zoo in the episode. He asked several animals if they would be going to Wembley for All In and if they feel Adam Cole and MJF can co-exist. At the end of his segment, Nemeth then decided that he is going to begin smoking cigarettes as a way to deal with the stress of the strike. Since he doesn’t really know how to smoke them, however, he just put the cigarette behind his ear to look cool.
Matt Jackson, who recently vacationed with his family in Hawaii, sent out a heartfelt message to all the victims of the recent wildfires in the area near the end of the episode. 100% of the royalties from a special edition Young Bucks t-shirt will go to the Maui Strong Fund.
Matt Jackson apologized to The Elite for the poor financial decisions he has made of late.
Jackson issued his apology to the group on this week’s edition of Being the Elite. He had previously promised Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, and his brother Nick that a huge sponsorship deal with Chili’s or Wendy’s was all but signed and that they should all spend as much money as they can. Now that they are all in debt, they have begun giving Matt the middle finger as often as they can.
Ryan Nemeth was also featured on this week’s episode. Nemeth hasn’t wrestled since the Ring of Honor tapings from Universal Studios in May, although reports are he was booked for some recent tapings but didn’t end up performing on the shows. He explained what he has been doing with his “summer vacation” on this week’s BTE. Nemeth appeared later in the episode along with Johnny TV as well.
Highlights from The Young Bucks vs. The Hardys from Dynamite last week also aired on the show.
It was announced on Saturday’s Collision that The Young Bucks will be wrestling The Gunn Club this coming Wednesday on Dynamite. Bullet Club Gold cut a promo on Saturday saying that The Young Bucks can’t make the claim to be the best brother tag team in wrestling, because they aren’t The Gunn Club. The Young Bucks are set to challenge FTR for the AEW Tag Team titles at All In on August 27.
The Acclaimed will also be in action this Wednesday. After defeating The Iron Savages on Collision, Anthony Bowens and Max Caster said they would continue to climb back up the ranks in the AEW Tag Team division to get back into title contention.
A graphic also confirmed that Chris Jericho will be making his decision on joining the Don Callis family on Wednesday. Jericho told Callis on Dynamite that he had an answer for him, but wanted to wait until next week to do it.
Here’s the current card for this Wednesday in Nashville, Tennessee:
AEW International Champion Orange Cassidy defends against Wheeler Yuta
Jeff Jarrett vs. Jeff Hardy death match
MJF & Adam Cole talk about All In
Chris Jericho will give an answer to Don Callis
Darby Allin & Nick Wayne vs. Gates of Agony (Bishop Kaun & Toa Liona)
Winner advances to AEW All In Women’s title four-way: Britt Baker vs. The Bunny
FTR is hopeful that CMFTR vs. The Elite will happen eventually.
Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood vs. The Young Bucks III will take place later this month in London’s Wembley Stadium. However, the AEW tag champions recently told DAZN that they believe the more time passes, the more likely it is that they will be able to team with CM Punk to face the Bucks and other members of The Elite.
“I think if the cards fall in the right place and, you know, the story is right and the opportunity calls for it then hell yeah, you can do it,” Harwood said about a potential CMFTR vs. Elite match.
“I think wrestling is all about making the most money for yourselves and for the company you work for and I think that everybody here all agrees with that and the more time passes, the more likely I think it is that we can get to there. But you never really know, and I don’t want to say ‘yes’ but I hope so.”
CMFTR will challenge The House of Black for the Trios titles on Saturday’s edition of Collision from the Greensboro Coliseum. It will be the third time Wheeler and Harwood have teamed with Punk since he returned.
“I think that Punk is one of the greatest wrestlers of all time,” Harwood continued. “Look at his track record, his resume, and the things he’s done in wrestling especially when, you know, the business, at one point, was completely against him and what he represented.”
Following Saturday’s match for the Trios belts, FTR will be looking ahead to All In later this month. They will defend the AEW Tag Team titles against the Young Bucks in what Harwood says could be the biggest match of their careers.
“I think it has the potential to be the biggest match of Cash and I’s career,” Harwood said. “Before we even came to AEW, all you heard about was FTR versus Young Bucks. Or, excuse me, The Revival versus the Young Bucks, what would happen if those two teams got in the ring?”
The Young Bucks vs. FTR head-to-head series is tied 1-1. The Bucks beat FTR for the tag titles at Full Gear 2020 but FTR avenged the loss on an episode of Dynamite in April 2022. The rubber match is now scheduled to take place in front of 80,000 people in London.
“It always felt like it needed the biggest platform possible and now, after all this time, we finally get it,” Wheeler said. “It really is the biggest platform possible.
“Wembley could be, and probably will be, the biggest, highest-attended wrestling event in history. And what better way to have what could be the biggest tag team match of a generation than right there?” Wheeler continued.
Harwood continued to talk about the “underlying tension” between FTR and the Young Bucks.
“I feel that there’s some underlying tension between the two teams, not saying that we dislike each other, but there’s some underlying tension,” Harwood said. “We honestly think we’re the best tag team of the generation, and could be the best tag team of all time, and I think they feel the same way about themselves.”
The AEW Tag Team title match is official for All In.
After The Young Bucks defeated The Hardys on Wednesday’s Dynamite, Nick and Matt Jackson started to cut a promo when FTR came out. The two teams had a staredown before Nick Jackson simply said “All In”, confirming the match. FTR had challenged The Young Bucks on Saturday’s Collision, saying they wanted a rubber match.
Sting & Darby Allin will team up in Wembley, taking on Swerve Strickland and AR Fox in what will be a coffin match. Allin confronted The Mogul Embassay on Wednesday and told AR Fox knew the reasons why he never called, crediting Fox getting into AEW by himself. Allin then said he had friends as well, introducing Sting. After Allin chased Fox into the crowd as Sting eliminated the rest of the Mogul Embassay, cornering Swerve and pointing to the All In banner.
Here is the updated card for All In:
AEW All In, Sunday, August 27, 12 p.m. Eastern time on pay-per-view —
AEW World Championship: MJF defends against Adam Cole
AEW World Tag Team Championship: FTR’s Dax Harwood & Cash Wheeler defend against The Young Bucks’ Matt Jackson & Nick Jackson
AEW Women’s World Championship: Hikaru Shida defends against Toni Storm, Saraya or Skye Blue, Britt Baker or The Bunny
Coffin match: Sting & Darby Allin vs. Swerve Strickland & AR Fox
The Young Bucks talked the process behind re-signing with AEW.
On the Swerve City Podcast, The Young Bucks said that they weren’t sure of where they would go or what they would do. However, they established that they, Kenny Omega, and Hangman Page would negotiated together as a group.
“We didn’t know,” Matt said. “I don’t read any of it, but I know [people] are thinking oh, how surprising The Elite re-signed. Bro, we didn’t even know if we were going to re-sign…we all negotiated together as a team.”
“The votes did not line up every time,” Matt continued. There were a lot of emotions in the last year, as the world knows, so one day this person’s voting to leave, this person’s voting to go. We weren’t even on the same page the whole time.”
At one point, Nick brought up that Matt even considered retiring rather than continue to wrestle for either promotion.
“I had to talk him out of that,” he said.
The discussion started while Swerve and The Young Bucks were discussing recent NBA contracts going for big money.
“We just signed one today, right?” Matt joked.
“It’s funny you say that, because when we signed our contracts we were like ‘this is an NBA-level contract’. That’s pretty crazy,” Nick added.
The Young Bucks said that as wrestling gets hot, the industry could be seeing NBA-level deals if the industry as a whole continues to gain momentum.
“WWE helps us being hot because wrestling in general is hot now,” Nick said.
The Young Bucks will wrestle on Dynamite this coming Wednesday, facing The Hardys.
This week’s edition of BTE revealed some surprising news regarding The Elite re-signing with AEW.
In the opening moments of the show, the group is upset about their new contracts as they had wanted to retire from professional wrestling. However, they have all been dealing with financial difficulties of late and needed the money. The group all made extravagant purchases and investments recently after Matt Jackson assured them they’d soon receive a huge sponsorship contract that never materialized.
The Elite spent several moments voicing their displeasure with Matt before cutting to a travel montage.
Ryan Nemeth was featured again on this week’s episode as well. He was back at the SAG AFTRA strike.
Later in the show, Matt was critical of Cutler for the job he did while they were away, saying the only demo they did well in was people aged 98+. Cutler then blamed Colt Cabana for the poor results.
Also on BTE this week, The Iron Savages cut a promo, highlights from AEW Dynamite 200 last week were shown, and Cutler went to Gen Con to promote AEW’s new card game with Upper Deck.
FTR challenged The Young Bucks to a title match at All In.
After Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler retained the AEW Tag Team titles against Big Bill and Brian Cage on Saturday’s Collision, they cut a promo running down their accomplishments. They said that there was one more thing they needed to do, and that was to face The Young Bucks again, issuing the challenge for a rubber match at AEW All In on August 27 in Wembley Stadium.
This would be the third match between the two teams. The first took place at Full Gear 2020, with The Young Bucks defeating FTR for the Tag Team titles. The two teams met again on the April 6, 2022 edition of AEW Dynamite, this time with FTR retaining both the AEW and AAA Tag Team titles.
On Friday’s Rampage, The Young Bucks announced that after spending time wrestling in the trios division with Kenny Omega, they were going to head back to the tag team division. The Hardys, who were nearby, welcomed this news and challenged The Young Bucks to a match on Dynamite this coming Wednesday. The Young Bucks agreed to the match.
Further details regarding The Elite signing new contracts with AEW have become available.
Our own Dave Meltzer addressed Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and Hangman Page’s decision to remain in the company, interest they received from WWE, and more in the latest edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Details regarding the length of the new deals is being kept under wraps, Meltzer reported. However, he did mention the unconfirmed “story going around” is that they are for four years.
“There was no specific length of time mentioned on the deals past the term several years and the belief is that the agreement was to keep the time frame under wraps. The unconfirmed story going around was that they were four-year deals,” Meltzer wrote.
Meltzer continued to say the money offered by AEW was enough that The Elite opted to sign early and not wait until WWE would legally be able to negotiate with them. The Young Bucks and Page’s deals expired at the end of 2023 while Omega’s deal was set to expire earlier this year but was extended due to the nine months he was out with injury from Full Gear 2021 to August 2022.
The better schedule and executive positions for Omega and The Young Bucks played a factor in their decision to sign as well.
As previously reported, WWE had significant interest in Omega.
“No formal offers could have been legally made for months but Omega was number one on [WWE’s] most wanted list. All four would have been in a great position in an open market so Khan must have made a strong deal to get them to stay without even strongly playing the WWE card,” Meltzer wrote.
It is believed the deals were completed ahead of Blood & Guts in Boston last month, although that is not confirmed.
Agent Barry Bloom represented all four members of the group, who made a pact to stick together with only a majority vote, as opposed to a unanimous one, needed to decide if they would sign with AEW or WWE.
“You’d probably be surprised who voted where,” noted one member of The Elite.
Meltzer reported the group went back and forth on where they wanted to end up.
“Votes changed at times during the discussions based on the emotions of the time, but ultimately all agreed the key, with the strong AEW offer, was to accept the offer made at this point with the other key factor being the AEW schedule,” Meltzer wrote.
Bloom told The Young Bucks that, as far as he knew, the new deal they signed with AEW is the highest guarantee any tag team has received in wrestling history, including the WCW deals for Scott Hall & Kevin Nash, although it’s not clear if that takes inflation into consideration
“The term was that Khan had really put his money where his mouth was and that because of that they were confident that he still saw great value in all four of them,” Meltzer continued.
Meltzer also commented on the still unresolved backstage issues regarding The Elite and CM Punk.
“Even with the signing, there do remain significant behind-the-scenes issues that haven’t been settled, between them and C.M. Punk, which keeps Khan having to do a balancing act,” he wrote.
Swerve Strickland posted a clip of The Young Bucks discussing their new deals on an episode of his podcast that will be released on Monday.
FULL EPISODE MONDAY!!!
Congratulations to the @youngbucks on re-signing with @AEW, but it wasn't as simple a decision as you may think😳……
Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, and Hangman Page have each signed new multi-year deals with the company, according to a report from Sports Illustrated. In addition to their on-screen work, Omega and the Bucks will also continue in their roles as Executive Vice Presidents.
Omega said on the new deal:
“Our original goal was to create a wrestling alternative and give a platform to talented people that we’d all felt deserved a spotlight,” he said. “I feel like we did our best in that time, and hopefully some people you’d never heard of pre-AEW are folks you enjoy watching today. Or if you knew them from their previous work elsewhere, have maybe found a new appreciation for them. That feeling, combined with the feeling of knowing they can provide for themselves and their family doing what they love, was always the biggest reward of being an EVP/founder.”
“Pro wrestling has a presence almost everywhere on the planet,” he continued. “In my pursuit to become as complete of a performer as possible, my goal was always to experience the styles of the world at their highest level. I believe that with AEW’s current working relationships, and possibly future, I can challenge all forms of pro wrestling and diversify my style so that I’m equipped for any scenario I may encounter in the ring.”
“I was careful to weigh out all options and was open minded to all possibilities,” said Omega. “I’m here to help whomever I can while I’m still around.
“Up to this point, I’ve made the choice to sacrifice everything in the name of pro wrestling. I can’t say that family or my kids influenced the decision to stay with AEW–I’m not married and without kids–but what I can say is that I’m incredibly proud of my match catalog and the wonderful people I’ve met and continue to meet. AEW not only allows me to continue doing what I do at a high level, but allows the freedom to pursue some other passions I have in life–which, after nearly 25 years in the ring, have become more and more important to me.”
Matt Jackson also commented on re-signing with the company.
“We’re literally the ‘E’ in AEW,” he said. “The Elite are the main characters of this company. No matter how different AEW is now from its original inception, we are the DNA. And if you lose the foundation of your home, it eventually collapses. It’d be a lie if I said that didn’t weigh on us, when making the decision.”
“In my older years of my career, being closer to the end than I am the beginning, I’m not really one who worries much about my legacy anymore,” he continued. “I’ve kind of noticed, like a summer tan, most memories fade. Or, they’re remembered differently or told with errors anyway. Oftentimes the memory is almost instantly forgotten, because you hit the refresh button. As far as my own personal stories, I’ll have enough to retell my grandchildren for a lifetime. And much of those stories can be about how I helped create a massively successful wrestling company where all of your favorites can be seen on live television every week.”
Nick Jackson said:
“If we’re going to be honest the schedule was a huge part of it,” he said. “I have a wife and three young children and seeing them as much as possible was a big factor. I’m not going to lie, the money was a huge factor, too.”
“At this point of my life and career, I just couldn’t see myself being on the road half of the year or even more than that. I have so much respect for the guys and girls that are able to do that year after year. We for sure could’ve made memories in WWE, but what’s more important to me is making memories with my family. With the position we’re in, I’ll be able to do that and still make memories in AEW.”
Page also commented:
“At this stage of my life the selling point was the schedule,” he said. “AEW’s schedule allows me to be home with my family for the majority of the week and will ideally help my body hold up better in the long run. And the pay is good.”
“AEW emerging as a legitimate wrestling company has helped drive up bargaining power for wrestlers and others who work in the industry. Making a long-term commitment to a still-growing AEW I felt was the best way I could help continue that progress.”
“The Elite have been so important to the launch of AEW, with the Young Bucks going all in when I first approached them in 2018 about my dream to create an international pro wrestling promotion,” Khan said. “Shortly after that, their partners and closest friends Kenny Omega and Hangman Adam Page joined us to formally launch All Elite Wrestling. All four of them have been instrumental to AEW’s success from the very first episode of Wednesday Night Dynamite in 2019 through the present day. Now as we celebrate tonight’s 200th episode of AEW: Dynamite, I’m excited to share that Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks and Hangman Adam Page will all be staying in AEW for years to come! Congratulations to The Elite, and we look forward to celebrating the great news with fans around the world. See you all tonight for Episode 200 of AEW: Dynamite!”
Dave Meltzer addressed The Elite’s status with AEW in last week’s edition of the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, writing that the “prevailing belief” was that all four members of the group would remain in the company. In a post-match promo after Blood & Guts, Omega also mentioned that they would all be sticking together. However, WWE is said to have felt they had a shot at landing Omega at one point.
“We do know from a WWE standpoint that months ago they had the impression they had a good shot at Omega in 2024 and he was the most coveted of all the guys being talked about like Jay White and the others. That has gone cold so they do believe he’s staying with AEW.”
He continued to say that Tony Khan’s recent contract offers to talent indicate the AEW president is confident in a future television rights fee increase.
Meltzer continued:
“Tony Khan making these big offers indicates hope or thoughts of a huge rate increase, in which case big money deals make economic sense. But as we note weekly, television is in a weird state right now and it’s the least stable it has ever been and for TV to commit to something new years in the future will be interesting.”
