Every Version Of The Young Bucks, Ranked From Worst To Best
Brothers Nick and Matt Jackson -- known together as The Young Bucks -- hit new levels of success in 2019 with the debut of All Elite Wrestling, but the duo started their in-ring career in 2004. Since then, they’ve wrestled everywhere: from nearly every indie imaginable to majors like TNA (now known as Impact Wrestling), Ring of Honor, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Matt Jackson was even a jobber for WWE in 2008.
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While it’s understandable to assume that the Young Bucks haven’t changed much during their career -- they do a lot of flips and pretty much always wear fringe -- there have actually been a few variations of the duo over the years. Let’s take a look at them, starting with the least successful.
6 Generation Me
After some jobber and extra work for WWE in 2008, The Young Bucks got their first real exposure a couple of years later when they signed with TNA, debuting in 2010. Despite a goofy rename -- they became “Max and Jeremy Buck,” collectively known as “Generation Me” -- they were still the same Bucks.
The Jacksons would prove just that in some really awesome matches against The Motor City Machine Guns, including a standout opener for the Tag Team Titles at Bound for Glory 2010. Unfortunately, they would never capture any titles or other accolades in the company, and would suffer through creative droughts, aborted angles, and needless breakups until they finally asked for their release in 2011.
5 Ring of Honor
Leaving TNA allowed Generation Me to not only become the Young Bucks again, but also develop a following on the indie scene. Their participation in a prominent indie promotion like Ring of Honor certainly helped, as ROH developed a reputation for being perhaps the best tag team outside of WWE. In Ring of Honor, The Bucks would be able to be themselves and wrestle some notable tag teams like redDRagon, The Briscoe Brothers, and even former TNA co-workers like Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian.
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Once The Young Bucks’ affiliation with NJPW’s Bullet Club became part of Ring of Honor, the Jacksons’ star rose even further to the point where they were among the biggest stars in the company. Soon enough, The Young Bucks would become the tag team to watch, and their stint as “Generation Me” would become a piece of trivia rather than a point of reference for fans.
4 Indie Stars
Following their departure from TNA, the Bucks would spend the early to mid 2010s not only in their usual haunts of PWG, ROH, and NJPW, but they would also perform in seemingly any promotion that would have them -- not just American indies with money to blow, but also international indies outside of Japan, like Europe and Mexico.
All the while, Nick and Matt Jackson would build their brand, going viral thanks to hijinks like taking a video selfie mid-moonsault. During this period, they were proving to be among the biggest stars in independent wrestling, but there was a high possibility that fans would be able to see them live in their towns, in the smallest, sweatiest venue possible.
3 Bullet Club
The Young Bucks debuted in New Japan Pro-Wrestling’s Super Jr. Tag Tournament in 2013, immediately being presented as part of the company’s foreigner heel stable, The Bullet Club. They would then go on to win the tournament on their first ever try. As part of Bullet Club, the Bucks would dominate the junior heavyweight tag scene, becoming seven-time champions when all was said and done.
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As Bullet Club grew in popularity in the west, The Young Bucks would hit a whole new level of popularity once Kenny Omega joined the stable, as the three would form a sub-group in the Bullet Club called The Elite. Amid the NEVER Six-Man Tag Title wins and moving up to their respective heavyweight divisions, the Bucks and Kenny would start a web series called Being The Elite, which would continue to build their popularity with Western fans.
2 AEW
The Young Bucks left New Japan to co-found their own promotion, All Elite Wrestling, along with several ex-Bullet Club members. As wrestlers also working in management, The Bucks were in a unique position of power where they could make sure AEW had a strong, prominent tag team division unlike a lot of the other major promotions in the US.
There was, of course, a worry that The Bucks would book themselves to be dominant over every other team, but they actually went in the opposite direction, ending up knocked out of the tournament to crown the inaugural champs. Eventually they would become the tag champs, but not before putting on some incredible matches along the way, including a bout that some fans have been calling one of the best tag matches of all time.
1 Mount Rushmore
As characters, The Young Bucks may have been at their best in Southern California’s Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Wrestling there since 2007, The Bucks were already a known commodity in both PWG and the overall indie scene, when they formed a heel stable called The Mount Rushmore of Wrestling, with fellow standouts Adam Cole and Kevin Steen (now Kevin Owens).
Mount Rushmore showed the Bucks at their heelish best; cocky, arrogant jerks with the skills to back it up, which kept the Tag Titles on them for 560 days. The Jacksons always seem a heartbeat away from turning heel in AEW, so their days in Mount Rushmore feel like a sign of things to come.
