Young Bucks on Initially Being Split About Tony Khan’s Offer To Them, How Khan Convinced Them

On the latest episode of AEW Unrestricted, the Young Bucks discussed how Tony Khan reached out to them early on in the development of AEW, why they had different takes and how they were convinced. Nick and Matt Jackson were Khan’s first calls for the company that would become AEW in early 2019, and the brothers noted that Nick initially didn’t believe Khan’s pitch because he’d heard it all before. Matt noted that after he spoke with Khan a few times, he felt convinced particularly after they met Khan for the first time in London and heard what he really wanted to do.

The two also talked about how appealing it was that Khan wanted them to be more than just in-ring talent and didn’t want to change who they were on screen. You can check out the full podcast as well as some highlights below:

On having differing opinions about Khan at first:

Matt: “Yeah, I mean, I was the first person to pick up the phone for Tony. Nobody else believed him, I think. I remember they thought this guy was crazy.”

Nick: “I didn’t believe him. He actually reached out to me too, and I just said, ‘Nope. I’ve heard this story multiple times throughout my career.’

Matt: “I’m the more open-minded of the two brothers … thank God I picked up the phone though. I picked up the phone and I heard him out. And Dana, my wife who’s really — who actually works here obviously too [in merchandising] … she wanted to be in the room during the first chat.”

Nick on his hesitance to believe Khan: “At that time though, we were negotiating with literally every company in the world that is involved in wrestling. So this was another thing, and I was like, ‘There’s no way this is gonna be real,’ because here we have these real companies offering the world to us. So at that point, I was like, ‘I dunno, Matt. Let’s go with something we know for sure’.”

Matt on being convinced by Khan: “Tony got me on the phone, and I’ll tell you, like, it wasn’t immediate. But I talked to him, and I’m like … I just said [to Nick] ‘There’s something to this guy. I did roll my eyes a few times during the conversation. I’m not going to act like I didn’t, because he was telling me crazy stuff. Like he was talking about, ‘Oh, I’m gonna get the show on TNT!’ And all these big wild dreams. And you know, a part of me goes, ‘Yeah, I’ve heard this. But then I have this weird thing were I just hear people out and I have this open mind. And I said, ‘You know what? There might be something to this.’ And even Dana was like, ‘Matt, come on. Stop wasting your time.’ And I said, ‘No no. Let me take another call. So the second call, you know, led to a third call, which led to a fourth call, which led to literally talking to this man every single day since July 3rd. I have not not spoken to him for longer than 24 hour since that day … And at first it was like, ‘Hypothetically, if we do this thing, this is what I would do. And the guy just knows his passion for this. And he got in my head, and he convinced me.”

Matt on meeting Khan for the first time: “And then I met him, we met him in London and we had a chat with him and that was it. He shows up in a Young Bucks bomber jacket. And immediately, I’m like — I love that though. I’m like, ‘This guy’s geniune. He’s real.’ And that night, I think. We had dinner, we went over there [to one of Khan’s stadiums] and it was like, right then. I think that night we looked at each other and like, ‘I think this is it.’ And we just knew. I don’t know why, it’s weird. We fell in love with the guy, you know.”

Nick on Khan wanting them to be more than just in-ring talent: “Yeah, and at that time, no one trusted us. Like, we were actually wanting to become writers-slash-bookers. So just more than just wrestling at the time. So we were like, ”Man no one wants us to do this.’ New Japan didn’t want it. Ring of Honor didn’t want it. So we were like, ‘This guy wants us from the bat to start this thing.”

Matt on Khan letting them be themselves: “Nobody else could offer me that. Nobody, and nobody could also offer the fact, ‘Hey we want you to be yourselves.’ He’s like, ‘I want you to do your thing that you’ve done all along? Keep doing that.’ Not you know, show up somewhere and they’re like, ‘All right, listen. We’re gonna change this and change that.’ He’s like, No, I want you to be The Young Bucks. I want you to be The Elite.’ And right there I was like, ‘What is the debate here?’ So within like, would you say a month? We committed. ‘If we’re gonna do this, let’s just do it.'”

If you use any of the quotes in this article, please credit AEW Unrestricted with a h/t to 411mania.com for the transcription.