The Elite’s Matt Jackson on Wrestling Not Having a Union, How AEW Might Benefit From WGA & SAG-AFTRA Strikes

– AEW stars The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) appeared on the latest Swerve City Podcast. During the show, they discussed the issue of wrestlers not having a union, along with the current entertainment industry strikes, with the WGA and SAG-AFTRA in the midst of a labor dispute against the AMPTP. Jackson stated on how the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes could benefit AEW and wrestling (via WrestlingInc.com):

Matt Jackson on wrestling not having a union: “It’s sad that wrestling hasn’t figured that out yet, and we don’t have the union thing. Will we ever have it? I don’t know. It’s almost like your question earlier; will wrestling be more like the NBA and have contracts like that? Maybe not till the day a union is finally created.” 

On how the current WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes could potentially benefit AEW: “One thing I was thinking of is, during the pandemic, when a lot of these people couldn’t create shows and original content, AEW really thrived, because we were one of the only things still going, right? So the one thing, at least, and we were just talking about the whole SAG strike, and if it goes six months, maybe at least we’ll benefit from that a little bit, and they’ll watch our show. We’ll have original content every week because that’s what we do. Wrestling just keeps moving, no matter what. A pandemic couldn’t stop AEW. So maybe we get a few more eyeballs. I’m trying to think of anything positive to come out of this.”

As previously noted, The Elite and The Young Bucks recently re-upped with AEW, signing new multi-year deals.