Arguably the biggest tag team in the world today, The Young Bucks are the marmite of pro wrestling – dividing fans as to if they are elite or egregious in-ring.
Here, we will back The Bucks and list some of the reasons Matt and Nick Jackson are some of the greatest in wrestling today.
Superkick Party!
Probably the biggest criticism against The Young Bucks is how their overuse of the superkick has made the move seem a non-finish – devaluing it. This is a particular point of content for old-timers and wrestling traditionalists as the former punctuation piece for Shawn Michaels, Chris Adams and Lance Storm is now a common-place move.
However, for those who can actually have fun and don’t take wrestling too seriously, the move is enjoyable. Seeing a high quantity of superkicks in a small amount of time is largely effective and impressive. A spree of such kicks can be entertaining, but little is more fun than seeing unexpected or surprising superkick. Whether it is their mid-air kick on Sammy Guevara in February 2020 in the tag team battle royal or on Jon Moxley in April 2021, in an unseen heel turn. These have now become a Bucks trademark.
Athleticism
Bombastic high-flyers, Matt and Nick are a huge act behind the ‘flippy s**t’ genre of wrestling. Whilst their unneeded athleticism is excessive to many fans, their stunts still have a special aura to them – bewildering and impressing fans with unique flips and dives.
A recent example of their fluid agility was in their 5-star rated match on AEW Dynamite in a bafflingly athletic bout against 2/3 of Death Triangle in Pac and Rey Fénix. Filled with Canadian destroyers, poisonranas and top rope offence. The feats of athleticism The Bucks can pull off will always make them a dynamic team to watch, here trying to one-up their opponent through preening heel acrobatics.
Competing in the Stadium Stampede, jumping off ladders and falling through tables – their athletic nature sometimes brings people to incorrectly call The Bucks ‘spot monkeys’ (which we’ll get to later). Yet, even if they were – which they are not necessarily – there is nothing wrong with that as many great wrestlers and matches have made their legacies from these kinds of encounters.
More Than Just Moves
The Jacksons are underrated storytellers of the modern-day, proving they are more than just moves.
The Young Bucks’s ongoing story with ex-Bullet Club stablemates Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers is one of the most intriguing and exciting in AEW as it shows the confliction of the duo. A conflicted group wanting to stay with the friends who got them to where they are but also wanting to do the right thing, for many weeks, they teased where they truly stood. Eventually, however, they chose to betray the light and join their mates in The Elite.
The Bucks are also great emotional storytellers, telling the tale of their feelings in their faces. Whether it is agony, confliction or smarminess, Nick and Matt are masters of subtlety in terms of reactions.