In an interview with Vice, Nick and Matt Jackson, the Young Bucks, spoke about a possible run with WWE, revealing that AJ Styles wanted them to leave NJPW and jump ship to "the 'fed" when he did.
“When A.J. was about to leave," said Matt, "he pulled us aside before anybody knew anything and he asked us about our contracts. At that point, it was December and we had just signed—we signed in November. He’s like, ‘You did? Ughhh.’ The idea was he was going to try and get us to walk out with him and be the guys with him… If we never signed, there’s a great chance we could have been walking out on Raw with those guys, I feel.”
It's an interesting "what-if" scenario. Styles debuted in the Royal Rumble and within 8 months he was WWE champion. Who knows what would have happened to the Jackson brothers had they come in at the same time and hitched their wagon to the rocket that the WWE strapped to AJ's back. I guess we'll never know.
But that little missed opportunity doesn't mean we'll never see the Young Bucks in a WWE ring, according to Matt. “Maybe then we think, You know what, if we’re ever going to go to [WWE], let’s go now. Because it’s going to be now or never. You have to go there to be the greatest of all time. That’s in the eyes of the fans. Unless you’re a WWE Hall of Famer eventually, you almost have a wasted career in their eyes. It’s sad that it’s like that.”
For now, the Young Bucks will have to be satisfied as the NJPW and the ROH Tag Team Champions. They will appear at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in the Tokyo Dome on January 4, defending their championships against Beretta and Rocky Romero of Roppongi Vice. They are also embroiled in the early stages of a crossover feud with Broken Matt Hardy and Brother Nero of TNA.
