Young Bucks discuss heel turn, response of crowd to them siding with Omega on Dynamite last week

In an interview with TSN.ca, the Young Bucks (Matt & Nick Jackson) talked about their heel turn last week on Dynamite, which saw them turn on Jon Moxley in a six man tag match to join Kenny Omega and Don Callis. The turn was met with a negative response from fans live and on social media.  Jackson noted the turn resonated on multiple levels, especially to those that have watched the Young Bucks YouTube show “Being the Elite.”

“I always want to be involved in weird, nuanced, multi-layered stories and maybe sometimes the subtleties that I like to have in my storylines won’t translate with a pro wrestling audience,” said Matt Jackson. “Pro wrestling audiences are so conditioned to [the idea] that it’s good or it’s bad. It’s babyface or it’s heel, and that’s the way it’s been historically forever and how dare you change that or try something differently because it’s like you’re breaking the laws of wrestling. It’s one of those things where you have to try to find a balance, where you want to tell compelling stories, but at the same time, you don’t want people to miss the things you’re trying to do.”

Jackson also addressed the “You sold out” chants from the crowd in Jacksonville after the angle took place. “Maybe this is a little bit of reality and maybe this is a little bit of character, but it’s like when you’re that unsigned band and you’re working hard on the underground scene and you’ve got this great cult following and then finally that band that everybody is rooting for, they get picked up and they sign to that major label,” said Matt Jackson. “While they’re still putting out great music and probably selling more music than ever, I feel like sometimes those bands feel fraudulent and don’t feel like their former selves. Maybe they’ve lost that edge or maybe they’ve lost that confidence – that feeling of people rooting for you because you’re no longer the underdog.

“Especially with us, because we’re executives at this company – we’re executive vice-presidents of AEW – and we told everybody that we helped put together the tag-team division, so it’s really hard for people to look at us as those same punk-rock Young Bucks that we were years ago, the ones that spat in the face of tradition – the ones that broke all the rules. It’s hard to break the rules when you’re the ones making the rules now.”