Anthony Bowens on Tony Khan Pairing Him Up With Max Caster for The Acclaimed

– Busted Open Radio recently interviewed AEW star Anthony Bowens of The Acclaimed. Below are some highlights (via WrestlingInc.com):

Anthony Bowens on the formation of The Acclaimed: “I think Tony [Khan] putting Caster and I together was a godsend. I think we bring out the best in each other, we feed off each other’s energy and our dynamic. It’s kind of similar to my YouTube channel where my boyfriend is the crazy, wacky one and I’m kind of almost the straight man of the comedy group. I feel its a similar dynamic where we just go out there and we feed off the crowd when we had the opportunity to last week or two weeks ago at Double or Nothing. And we go out there, we are ourselves every single time we’re on camera. And I think people are starting to see that now, and I think people are starting to connect with it.”

On nearly being part of the Search for Spears storyline: “Usually I tend to stay very positive about things. But there was a moment sometime last year in 2020, actually it was right before COVID hit. From what I understand, I was supposed to be part of the Blood & Guts show in Newark last year. I did the promo for the Search for Spears contest and I ended up being top three. So I’m like ‘this is finally going to be my chance to at least do something to show the world I belong on a national platform.’ I found out that I got booked for the show, and then thirty minutes later all the shows got canceled. I understand there were a lot more important things going on in the world, and people were suffering. I knew that I couldn’t let it get to me, I had to just keep chugging. And obviously it paid off because by the end of the year Max and I were main eventing Dynamite for the title. So it’s pretty nuts.”

On Max Caster: “Max is the music guy. I can’t take credit for anything. At most what I’ll do is he’ll be like ‘hey, what cam I hit on today?’ And I’ll think ‘you can do this, this and this. Go take it as you please and see what you can come up with.’ At most I’ll give him like bullet points of stuff that maybe he can hit. And he’s so creative that he finds these funny bars that he comes up with, and the next thing you know people are rolling around on the ground laughing. Or in shock. He (Tony Khan) pretty much lets us go out and be creative. And that’s the, I guess, the most rewarding part of this journey through our ascension. Obviously AEW puts us in a position to succeed, but it’s very much a sink or swim environment. But we have, I think, the best lifeguards to make sure we don’t drown. And the fact that we’re connecting with people just by doing stuff that we thought of or we thought would be funny or ‘hey let’s try this tonight.’ They allow us to go out and do it. It’s pretty rewarding, especially when you’re getting the result that you want.”