Recently, AEW head honcho Tony Khan was again asked about the company’s decision to show footage of CM Punk & Jack Perry’s scuffle backstage at Wembley Stadium last August on Dynamite last week.
It’s AEW Executive Vice-Presidents Matthew & Nicholas Jackson’s turn to speak on the choice to incorporate that All In: London incident into the build for their Tag title match against FTR this weekend at Dynasty.
It’s always difficult to find the work/shoot line in a Young Bucks interview, and their conversation with SI.com’s Justin Barrasso is no exception. Matthew’s answer wasn’t far from what he said on television before and after the All In footage was shown last Wednesday:
“Since we are wrestling FTR at Dynasty, and with it being the first time doing that since All In London, so many feelings and thoughts came rushing back. Old wounds were reopened. We decided it was only fair to be transparent and honest with our fans. We needed to give them context about why we feel we came up short at All In London. Our bodies were there in the ring wrestling FTR at Wembley, but our minds were in the back with the scapegoat in the entire situation, Jack Perry. The three of us specifically were wronged that night, and I haven’t gotten over that.”
Nicholas’ answer about whether the Bucks had any “trepidation or hesitancy” about last week’s segment sounds more legit, while still sounding in-character:
“As EVPs, we were given a task for that week by the boss and we did it to the best of our abilities. Zero regret.”
His older brother’s answer wasn’t the only time The Bucks plugged Perry in their chat with Barrasso. Nicholas says the All In drama was the thing fka Jungle Boy needed to take his career to the next level:
“He’s been the next breakout star for a while now and he just needed something controversial to happen to him to open people’s eyes. It happened with us early on in our careers, too.”
Matthew also played up the similarities between Perry and the Jacksons, while also taking credit for Jack ever being at AEW — and strengthening suspicions that Perry will be part of The Bucks’ new Elite faction with Kazuchika Okada sooner rather than later:
“Jack Perry was one of my original AEW hires. I saw a video clip of him on the indies, and then I went and watched everything I could find. Years prior, I’d heard stories about a nine-year-old boy being brought to wrestling training in Southern California by his celebrity dad Luke Perry. I wondered, whatever happened to that kid? Apparently, he’d been working hard and turning into a heck of a talent. I watched the videos and thought, ‘Whoa. Young, handsome SoCal kid with a great head of hair. Seems misunderstood. Has tons of confidence. He reminds me a lot of me and Nicholas at his age.
“Coming back from Japan, Jack Perry now has that edge and swagger. And coming off all of this BS he’s been dealing with, he has a chip on his shoulder. He’s a dangerous cat right now and is about to blow up.”
There’s no mention of Punk’s tell-all interview with Ariel Helwani, which allegedly inspired Khan to use the Wembley video, in SI.com’s post.
There is plenty of discussion about The Bucks rivalry with FTR, and their history in and affinity for ladder matches. You can read all that here.
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