Recently in Philadelphia, Ring of Honor and the ROH faithful were introduced to one of the hottest young tag teams in wrestling: Nick and Matt Jackson, collectively known as The Young Bucks. Suffice to say that they impressed with their combination of high-flying maneuvers, athleticism, and tag team cohesiveness. And now the brothers have the opportunity to really show their stuff in two tough battles; the first against Steen & Generico in Manassas, VA and then Titus & King at “Manhattan Mayhem III” in NYC. But before we get to that, let’s take a look at the background of these two promising talents.
Hailing from Rancho Cucamonga in California, the 21-year old brothers have been involved in professional wrestling for about 5 years after getting trained by Ron Rivera. They actually ran their own promotion for four years called High Risk Wrestling, a la OMEGA, and that is where The Young Bucks were truly born. It’s where they molded their tag moves, and gelled into such a cohesive team. They may be brothers, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t require work to evolve into a real tag team.
And from that humble beginning, the Bucks have toured the United States, and recently Japan, competing regularly for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla where they are the current Tag Team Champions, as well as for the NWA, where Nick and Matt have worked hard to perfect their craft for the last three years. In the five years they’ve been competing Nick and Matt have scored victories over some of the best wrestlers in the sport including Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin, Bryan Danielson & Roderick Strong, as well as Tyler Black & Jimmy Jacobs, among others. Many of those victories have come courtesy of their tag team finish the brothers have named “More Bang For Your Buck”. Picture the impact of a Finlay roll, followed by a 450 splash, and then topped off with a top rope Moonsault, and you can see how this combination has put down so many opponents.
Finally after 5 years of hard work and dedication, the Young Bucks made their ROH debut on May 29th with the latest batch of “ROH on HDNet” tapings, and impressed the fans in attendance. When asked how it felt to step into the ROH ring, Nick Jackson had this to say, “Debuting in Ring of Honor was extremely exciting. It's always been a goal to wrestle in ROH ever since the first time we put on a pair of tassels.” Matt added, “Finally debuting here was a culmination of all of our hard work these last few years. Maybe one day we'll be the guys wearing the belts and posing on the cover of the DVD’s. Time will only tell, but in the meantime, we're gonna work our butts off to get there!”
After their impressive debut, the Bucks must now contend with the former ROH World Tag Champions, Kevin Steen & El Generico, when ROH returns to Manassas, VA on Friday night, June 12th. This will mark the first time the brothers have faced Steen & Generico in standard tag match, and when asked for their thoughts heading into this contest Matt said, “We'd like to say that we have nothing but respect for these two and that this is a match that has been long coming. We are expecting this to be an extremely competitive and athletic match. I firmly believe that the four of us will put on something special, no matter the outcome which hopefully ends up being a win for the Young Bucks.” Nick chimed in, “You know what, it WILL end up a win for the Young Bucks! I think we're much hungrier than these two who seem to be at a comfortable spot in their careers. We're anxious to move on up in the ranks and what better way to do it than by picking up a 'W' on the ex-champs?”
24 hours later, when ROH comes back to the Hammerstein Ballroom on June 13th, the Bucks must contend with another team hungry to climb the ranks in ROH, a team that had a shot at the Tag Titles back at “Insanity Unleashed” and came up short, Rhett Titus & Kenny King. Both teams are young, and have a bright future ahead of them, but a win in NYC will propel them ever closer to a shot at the ROH World Tag titles.
“We've got butterflies in our stomachs when we think about the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC.” said Matt, “This building has a very rich history when it comes to wrestling. Now Rhett Titus and Kenny King have impressed us tremendously with their matches that have aired on HDNet but we'll be more than ready.” Nick added, “But we've had tough matches in tough atmospheres before. We've wrestled hard fought matches at the Korakuen Hall in Japan, the Grand Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles and the old ECW Arena in Philadelphia, so the Hammerstein Ballroom in NYC should be no different.”
A good showing in both of these matches will certainly go a long way towards securing future bookings for The Young Bucks, but a pair of victories would cement their status here in Ring of Honor, and push them up the ranks of ROH’s increasingly tough tag team division. With teams like the ones Matt & Nick will face in VA & NYC, as well as ROH World Tag Champions The American Wolves, the returning Dark City Fight Club, the looming return of The Briscoes, Stevens & Albright, or whatever pairs Prince Nana can put together from his Embassy, the tag division here in ROH is shaping up to be hotter than ever. The Young Bucks are going to have to fight harder than ever if they intend to fulfill their dream of putting the ROH World Tag Titles around their waists.
