Quick Facts
Biography
The Young Bucks are an American professional wrestling tag team, consisting of brothers Matthew and Nicholas Massie, who are known by their ring names Matt and Nick Jackson, respectively. The two are executive vice presidents of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where they also serve as in-ring talents.
The Young Bucks are best known for their work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Ring of Honor (ROH). The team is known for their use of superkicks (dubbed the "superkick party") and high flying moves in their matches. They were prominent members of the NJPW faction Bullet Club, after a "civil war" in 2018, The Young Bucks, Kenny Omega, "Hangman" Adam Page, Marty Scurll and Cody Rhodes formed The Elite. They have performed for various American independent promotions – most notably Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) – and had previously worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) as Generation Me under the names Max and Jeremy Buck. On the independent circuit, they have won numerous titles as well, including four reigns as PWG World Tag Team Champions as well as being the only team to win PWG's annual Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament on three separate occasions (2009, 2011, and 2013).
They have held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship a record seven times, three reigns as ROH World Tag Team Champions, three reigns as NJPW's NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions (twice with The Elite teammate Kenny Omega, and once with Marty Scurll), two reigns as ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions (first with Elite teammate Adam "Hangman" Page, and then with Cody) and the IWGP Tag Team Champions and AAA World Tag Team Champions once each. All totaled between ROH, NJPW and AAA, they have held five World Tag Team Championships, seven Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, and five Six-Man Tag Team Championships (with various stablemates).
On two occasions, first in 2014 and again in 2016, they held the ROH World, PWG World, and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships simultaneously, and in 2018, they held the IWGP Tag Team, ROH World Six-Man, and NEVER Openweight 6-Man titles simultaneously. They are the first (and currently only) duo to have won all three of NJPW's team championships (IWGP Tag Team, IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team, and NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team) together.
Professional wrestling career
Training and debut (2001–2004)
In 2001, the Massie family put a wrestling ring in their backyard, where brothers Matt, Nick and Malachi taught themselves how to wrestle by impersonating what they saw on television. At the age of 18 or 19, Matt began his professional wrestling training in La Mirada and City of Industry, California at the Revolution Pro Wrestling School called Rudos Dojo, training primarily under Ron Rivera (The American Wild Child), Disco Machine, Scorpio Sky and Super Dragon, among others. Matt attended the school with his good friend Dustin Cutler, and the two taught what they learned to their friends back home. Eventually Nick joined his brother and attended a few sessions at the school. Matt, Nick and Dustin were involved in their first professional match at an Alternative Wrestling Show/C4/Revolution Pro joint event held on August 8, 2004. Matt worked as Fluffy the Dog, Dustin dressed as a hillbilly and Nick was a high flying referee wearing a Santo mask. Afterward, Matt and Nick wrestled various times for Revolution Pro and Revolution X in chicken costumes, under the team name "Los Gallineros".
High Risk Wrestling (2004–2009)
In October 2004, with the help of his family, Matt opened up his own independent wrestling company called High Risk Wrestling (HRW). Matt was originally the head owner of HRW, but had help from Nick and Malachi, as well as good friend Dustin Cutler – these three eventually took over ownership years later. The company ran shows twice a month and helped Matt and Nick learn their craft. In the main event of HRW's "Highway 2 Hell" on August 4, 2007, Matt and Nick teamed up with Marty Jannetty ín a six-man tag, where they defeated Joey Ryan, Karl Anderson and Diablo.
On February 26, 2005, at a show for Full Contact Wrestling, Matt and Nick were called "The Young Bucks" for the first time. Originally, Matt was wrestling under the name "Mr. Instant Replay", while Nick was called "Slick Nick". That night The Young Bucks were defeated by the Kaos and Mongol, the Santino Brothers. Later on, another promoter decided that Matt and Nick needed a surname and came up with "Jackson", which the two have used ever since.
With the help of HRW, Matt and Nick eventually landed spots in several popular companies in Southern California. They also gained experience working in front of a camera doing television tapings for the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) starting in 2006. The Young Bucks filmed their very first matches for the NWA on Maverick Television on November 7, 2006, when they were defeated by Karl Anderson and Joey Ryan.
HRW closed in 2009.
Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
Feud with The Dynasty (2007–2008)
The Young Bucks debuted for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) on June 10, 2007, in Burbank, California at Roger Dorn Night, losing to Arrogance (Chris Bosh and Scott Lost). On August 31, 2007, PWG held the first night of the 2007 Battle of Los Angeles tournament, where The Young Bucks picked up their first tag team victory in PWG by defeating Phoenix Star and Zokre, Los Luchas. At the show Matt and Nick met Dragon Gate (DG) wrestler Cima and Dragon Gate's American talent agent Satoshi Oji for the first time, both of whom were impressed by the brothers' performance. On January 5, 2008, The Young Bucks faced prominent Dragon Gate team Muscle Outlaw'z (Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino) at All Star Weekend 6 – Night 1 in a losing effort. The next night, they lost to The Dynasty (Scott Lost and Joey Ryan). At the following show, on January 27, the Young Bucks received their first shot at the PWG World Tag Team Championship, but were once again defeated by the Dynasty. During the next two months the Young Bucks participated in the 2008 DDT4 qualifier series, where they lost to T.J. Perkins and Hook Bomberry, defeated Ronin and Scorpio Sky and drew with Los Luchas, before losing a deciding four-way elimination match to Los Luchas, who then advanced to the tournament itself. Soon after, The Young Bucks went on their first Dragon Gate tour. Upon their return from Dragon Gate, the Young Bucks defeated the Dynasty on July 6, 2008, at Life During Wartime, PWG's fifth anniversary show, in a three-way match, which also included KAZMA and MIYAWAKI.
World Tag Team Championship reign (2008–2010)
At the following show, All Star Weekend 7 – Night Two on August 31, 2008, Matt and Nick defeated The Age of the Fall (Jimmy Jacobs and Tyler Black) to become the new PWG World Tag Team Champions. One of The Young Bucks' biggest accomplishments in PWG came at the annual DDT4 tag team tournament on May 22, 2009, in Reseda, California, when they defended the titles three times in one night. They defeated Dustin and Brandon Cutler in the first round, Kenny Omega and Chuck Taylor in the second round and the Hybrid Dolphins (Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong) in the final round to win the tournament. At that same event their younger brother Malachi made his PWG debut, losing to Phoenix Star. Around that time, after the Young Bucks started touring the World, the PWG crowds started turning on them. On July 31, 2009, at Threemendous II, PWG's sixth anniversary show, the Young Bucks suffered their first loss in the company in sixteen months, losing a non-title match to the re-united 2 Skinny Black Guys (Human Tornado and El Generico). Despite their win and the Young Bucks' wishes, Tornado and Generico never received their rematch for the titles as the following month they lost the number one contendership to The Men of Low Moral Fiber (Kenny Omega and Chuck Taylor), whom the Young Bucks defeated for the titles on October 4 in a rematch of their DDT4 semifinal match.
On November 21, during the second night of the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles, The Young Bucks retained their title over Kevin Steen and El Generico and afterwards turned heel by aligning themselves with Brian Kendrick and attacking the new PWG World Champion Kenny Omega. On January 30, 2010, at Kurt Russellmania, the first PWG show since the Bucks had signed contracts with TNA Wrestling, Matt and Nick announced that from now on they would be known by their TNA names, Max and Jeremy of Generation Me. They turned on Brian Kendrick, only for him to be saved by his old tag team partner Paul London. Later in the night, the team of London and Kendrick defeated Generation Me in a non-title match. Despite the announcement made by the Young Bucks, PWG still continues to refer to them under their original team and singles names. On April 10 the Young Bucks made PWG history by making their thirteenth successful title defense against The Briscoe Brothers (Jay and Mark). On May 9 the Young Bucks entered the 2010 DDT4 tournament and were for the second year in a row set to defend the Tag Team Championship three times in one night. The Bucks defeated Johnny Goodtime and Jerome Robinson in the first round and the Cutler Brothers in the semifinals of the tournament. However, in the finals of the tournament El Generico and Paul London, the team known collectively as ¡Peligro Abejas!, defeated the Young Bucks to not only win the tournament, but also the PWG World Tag Team Championship, ending the Bucks' reign at 616 days. During the final match Nick was knocked unconscious and suffered a concussion, but was able to finish the match.
Various feuds (2010–2012)
On July 30, at PWG's seventh anniversary show, the Bucks received a rematch for the World Tag Team titles in the first ever tag team Guerrilla Warfare match, a three–way match, also involving the Cutler Brothers, where ¡Peligro Abejas! ended up retaining the Championship. In the first round of the 2010 Battle of Los Angeles Matt and Nick were paired up against each other, but instead of wrestling the match, they got themselves disqualified by superkicking referee Rick Knox. Afterwards the Cutler Brothers challenged the Young Bucks to a match, in which they finally managed to defeat their nemesis tag team. On March 4, 2011, the Young Bucks entered the 2011 DDT4 tournament, which was this time used to determine new number one contenders to the ¡Peligro Abejas!. In their first round match, the Young Bucks defeated Brandon Gatson and Willie Mack. Later in the evening they defeated The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) in the semifinals and finally the Nightmare Violence Connection (Akira Tozawa and Kevin Steen) in the finals to win their second DDT4 tournament and earn another shot at El Generico and Paul London. The Young Bucks received their shot on April 9, 2011, when they defeated El Generico and Ricochet, who filled in for Paul London who was unable to appear at the event, to regain the PWG World Tag Team Championship. On May 27, during the first night of All Star Weekend 8, The Young Bucks made the first successful defense of their second title reign, defeating the RockNES Monsters (Johnny Goodtime and Johnny Yuma). The following night, The Young Bucks defeated Austin Aries and Roderick Strong to retain the title. On August 20, The Young Bucks defeated The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli) in an unadvertised match to retain the PWG World Tag Team Championship. The Young Bucks made their next title defense on September 10, defeating the Dynasty (Joey Ryan and Scorpio Sky). On October 22, The Young Bucks made their fifth successful title defense by defeating Future Shock (Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly), before interfering in the main event and costing Kevin Steen the PWG World Championship in his ladder match with El Generico. After challenging Steen to a handicap Guerrilla Warfare match, Super Dragon made his first appearance in over three years and named himself Steen's partner for the match on December 10. On December 10, The Young Bucks lost the PWG World Tag Team Championship to Appetite for Destruction (Kevin Steen and Super Dragon) in a Guerrilla Warfare match, ending their second reign at 245 days.
Following their title loss, The Young Bucks started a rivalry with the Super Smash Bros. (Player Uno and Stupefied); on March 17, the Super Smash Bros. picked up their first PWG win by defeating The Young Bucks in a three-way match, which also included the RockNES Monsters. On April 21, The Young Bucks attempted to win their third DDT4 tournament and earn a rematch with Appetite for Destruction, but suffered another loss against the Super Smash Bros. in their first round match. On May 25, The Young Bucks and the Super Smash Bros. faced each other in a No Disqualification match to determine the new PWG World Tag Team Champions. In the end, The Young Bucks suffered their third straight loss against their rival team. On July 21 at Threemendous III, PWG's ninth anniversary event, The Young Bucks unsuccessfully challenged the Super Smash Bros. for the PWG World Tag Team Championship in a three-way ladder match, which also included Future Shock, losing following interference from referee Rick Knox, whom they had attacked earlier in the match.
The Mount Rushmore of Wrestling (2013–2018)
On January 12, 2013, The Young Bucks entered the 2013 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament, defeating the Inner City Machine Guns (Rich Swann and Ricochet) in their opening match. Later that same event, The Young Bucks defeated the Unbreakable F'n Machines (Brian Cage and Michael Elgin) in their semifinal match to capture the PWG World Tag Team Championship for the third time. They defeated El Generico and Kevin Steen in the finals to win the DDT4 tournament for the third time. The Young Bucks made their second successful defense of the PWG World Tag Team Championship on March 23 against the DojoBros (Eddie Edwards and Roderick Strong). On August 9 at PWG's tenth anniversary event, The Young Bucks defeated the DojoBros and the Inner City Machine Guns in a three-way ladder match for their third successful title defense. On August 31, The Young Bucks formed a new heel stable with PWG World Champion Adam Cole and Kevin Steen, with the four dubbing themselves "The Mount Rushmore of Wrestling". On October 19, The Young Bucks defeated Candice LeRae and Joey Ryan to make their fourth successful defense of the PWG World Tag Team Championship. On March 28, 2014, The Young Bucks defeated 2014 DDT4 winners Chuck Taylor and Trent? for their fifth successful title defense. The Young Bucks lost the PWG World Tag Team Championship to Candice LeRae and Joey Ryan in a Guerrilla Warfare match on July 27, 2014.
On June 26, 2015, The Young Bucks defeated Andrew Everett and Trevor Lee to win the PWG World Tag Team Championship for the fourth time, following outside interference from PWG World Champion Roderick Strong. After the match, The Young Bucks, Strong and the returning Super Dragon formed Mount Rushmore 2.0. They made their first successful title defenses against Angélico and Jack Evans on July 24, and Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa on December 11. At the end of the show, Adam Cole made a surprise return to PWG, joining Mount Rushmore 2.0. On March 18, 2017, The Young Bucks lost the PWG World Tag Team Championship to Penta el Zero M and Rey Fenix in a three-way match, also involving Matt Sydal and Ricochet.
Independent circuit (2008–2009)
The Young Bucks made their debut for Dragon Gate (DG) in Tokyo, Japan at the Korakuen Hall on May 14, 2008, in a match where they were defeated by Susumu Yokosuka and Ryo Saito. Their first tour of the company spanned from May 14 to June 14. Their second tour started on August 9, 2008 and ended on August 28, 2008. On September 5, 2008, the Young Bucks took part in Dragon Gate's first show in the United States, held in Los Angeles, California, where they unsuccessfully challenged Saito and Yokosuka for the Open the Twin Gate Championship. Their third tour spanned from April 15 to May 5, 2009. On May 3, 2009, in Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Matt and Nick successfully defended their PWG World Tag Team titles against Shingo Takagi and Akira Tozawa, the first time the titles had been defended in Japan. On May 5, 2009, in Aichi, Japan at the Dead or Alive pay-per-view, The Young Bucks and Ryoma teamed up in a losing effort against Akira Tozawa, Kenshin Chikano and Anthony W. Mori.
WWE extra work (2008, 2011)
On February 22, 2008, Matt appeared as a jobber on World Wrestling Entertainment's (WWE) weekly television show SmackDown, losing to Chuck Palumbo. He appeared in a similar role on the October 17, 2008, episode of SmackDown, this time losing to Big Show in an exhibition Last Man Standing match after going through a table. On the October 28 episode of ECW, the Young Bucks portrayed Triple H and Shawn Michaels in a segment, where they were laid out by John Morrison and The Miz. On August 15, 2011, the Young Bucks had a tryout for the WWE producers prior to the Raw tapings in San Diego.
Chikara (2009–2013, 2015)
The Young Bucks made their Chikara debuts on March 27, 2009, teaming up with El Generico to form Team PWG in the annual King of Trios tournament. However, the team was eliminated in the first round by The Osirian Portal of Amasis, Ophidian and Escorpion Egipcio. The following night Matt and Nick entered the Rey de Voladores tournament, but were both eliminated in the first round four-way matches. On the third night of the tournament they took part in a tag team gauntlet match, which was won by Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw. The Young Bucks returned to Chikara on October 17 at An Optimistic View of a Pessimistic World competing in a four-way elimination tag team match, where they were the last team eliminated by the winners The Osirian Portal of Amasis and Ophidian. The following day at Cibernetico Increible Matt and Nick joined opposing eight-man teams in the annual torneo cibernetico match. Matt scored the first elimination of the match, eliminating Green Ant, but the brothers wound up being the fifth and sixth wrestlers eliminated from the match at the hands of Quackenbush and Player Dos. The Young Bucks returned to Chikara on April 23, 2010, at the 2010 King of Trios, where they teamed up with their brother Malachi as the Jackson 3. They were, however, for the second year in a row, eliminated from the tournament in the first round, this time losing to The Future is Now (Jigsaw, Equinox and Helios). Matt and Nick wrestled the match as heels in Generation Me tights and after the match abandoned Malachi in the ring, when he wanted to shake hands with his opponents. On the third night of the tournament the Bucks were defeated by Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw in a tag team match. The Young Bucks returned to Chikara on August 27, when Nick entered the Young Lions Cup IX tournament, while Matt defeated Johnny Gargano in a singles match. After Nick was eliminated from the tournament by eventual Young Lions Cup Champion Tadasuke, The Young Bucks teamed up to defeat The Batiri (Kodama and Obariyon) in a tag team match later that same day. On September 18, The Young Bucks defeated Tim Donst and Tursas of the Bruderschaft des Kreuzes in a tag team match. On November 13 at Chikara's first ever internet pay-per-view, High Noon, The Young Bucks, managed by Marty Jannetty, were defeated by The Colony (Fire Ant and Soldier Ant) in a Chikara Campeonatos de Parejas number one contender's match.
The Young Bucks returned to Chikara in late April 2012, first defeating Arik Cannon and Darin Corbin in a regular tag team match on April 28, and then defeating the Batiri (Kobald and Kodama), Bruderschaft des Kreuzes (Jakob Hammermeier and Tim Donst), and the Spectral Envoy (Hallowicked and UltraMantis Black) in a four-way elimination match on April 29 to earn the right to challenge for the Campeonatos de Parejas. On June 2 at Chikarasaurus Rex: How to Hatch a Dinosaur, The Young Bucks defeated F.I.S.T. (Chuck Taylor and Johnny Gargano) in a Two Out of Three Falls match to win the Chikara Campeonatos de Parejas. The Young Bucks made their first successful title defense on July 29, defeating The Throwbacks (Dasher Hatfield and Mark Angelosetti). On September 14, The Young Bucks entered the 2012 King of Trios, teaming with Mike Bennett as Team Ring of Honor and defeating the Faces of Pain (The Barbarian, Meng and The Warlord) in their first round match. The following day, Team ROH advanced to the semifinals with a win over The Extreme Trio (Jerry Lynn, Tommy Dreamer and Too Cold Scorpio). Team ROH opened the third and final day of the tournament by defeating the all-female Team Sendai Girls (Dash Chisako, Meiko Satomura and Sendai Sachiko) in the semifinals. In the finals of the tournament, Team ROH was defeated by the Spectral Envoy (Frightmare, Hallowicked and UltraMantis Black). On November 10, The Young Bucks made their second successful defense of the Campeonatos de Parejas against the Spectral Envoy (Hallowicked and UltraMantis Black). The Young Bucks' third successful defense took place at the Under the Hood internet pay-per-view on December 2, where they defeated 1–2–3 Kid and Marty Jannetty. On February 10, 2013, The Young Bucks lost the Campeonatos de Parejas to 3.0 (Scott Parker and Shane Matthews), ending their reign at 253 days and three successful defenses. On May 18, The Young Bucks returned to Chikara to take part in the 2013 Tag World Grand Prix. After wins over The Baltic Seige (Estonian ThunderFrog and Latvian Proud Oak), The Spectral Envoy (Frightmare and Hallowicked) and The Batiri (Kodama and Obariyon), The Young Bucks were defeated in the finals of the tournament by Pieces of Hate (Jigsaw and The Shard).
The Young Bucks returned to Chikara in September 2015, when they teamed with A.J. Styles in the 2015 King of Trios, making it to the finals, before losing to Aero Star, Drago and Fénix.
Ring of Honor (2009–2018)
Matt and Nick made their Ring of Honor (ROH) debut on May 29 and 30, 2009, defeating the teams of Sal Rinauro and Brandon Day and Silas Young and Bobby Fish, respectively, in matches taped for the June 27 and July 18 episodes of Ring of Honor Wrestling on HDNet. On September 26, 2009, at Glory by Honor VIII: The Final Countdown, they defeated the, at the time, five-time ROH World Tag Team Champions the Briscoe Brothers. On December 19 at Final Battle 2009, ROH's first live pay-per-view, the Young Bucks picked up another big win, this time over former ROH World Tag Team Champions Kevin Steen and El Generico. After signing contracts with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, The Young Bucks wrestled their last HDNet tapings in January 2010, defeating The American Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) on the 8th and losing to the Briscoes in an ROH World Tag Team Title match on the 9th. On January 29 the Young Bucks wrestled their ROH farewell match, an eight-man tag team match, where they teamed up with the Briscoe Brothers in a losing effort against the American Wolves and The Kings of Wrestling (Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli).
On July 23, Matt and Nick returned using their Generation Me name and were defeated by the American Wolves. The following day they were defeated by the ROH World Tag Team Champions, Kings of Wrestling, in a non–title match. After the Young Bucks were granted a release from TNA, ROH announced on August 24, 2011, that they would return to the promotion on September 17 at Death Before Dishonor IX. At the pay-per-view The Young Bucks defeated Future Shock (Adam Cole and Kyle O'Reilly) and the Bravado Brothers in a three-way elimination match. On December 23 at Final Battle 2011, The Young Bucks won a four team gauntlet match to earn a shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship. At the 10th Anniversary Show on March 4, The Young Bucks were unsuccessful in their title challenge. The Young Bucks left ROH later in the year, last competing at a Ring of Honor Wrestling television taping on August 3, where they lost to Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander in the opening round of a tournament to crown new ROH World Tag Team Champions.
The Young Bucks returned at All-Star Extravaganza V on August 3, where they were defeated by Adrenaline Rush (ACH and TaDarius Thomas) in their return match; a three-way match, which also included C&C Wrestle Factory (Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander). On August 17 at Manhattan Mayhem V, The Young Bucks were defeated by the Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero) in what was billed as a dream tag team match. On March 8, 2014, the Young Bucks defeated reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the first time. They lost the title back to reDRagon on May 17 at War of the Worlds. The Young Bucks received a rematch for the title on September 6 at All Star Extravaganza 6, but were again defeated by reDRagon. Another rematch on March 1, 2015, at the 13th Anniversary Show ended with another win for reDRagon. On September 30, 2016, The Young Bucks defeated The Addiction (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) and The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) in a three-way Ladder War VI at All Star Extravaganza VIII to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the second time.
On December 3, it was reported that The Young Bucks had signed a new two-year contract, which covers both ROH and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). On March 4, 2017, The Young Bucks lost the ROH World Tag Team Championship to The Hardys (Broken Matt and Brother Nero). On April 1 at Supercard of Honor XI, The Young Bucks regained the ROH World Tag Team Championship from The Hardys in a ladder match. On August 20, The Young Bucks became double champions, when they teamed with their Bullet Club stablemate Adam Page to form a trio named "The Hung Bucks" and defeated Dalton Castle and The Boys for the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. On September 22 at Death Before Dishonor XV, The Young Bucks lost the ROH World Tag Team Championship to The Motor City Machine Guns. At Ring Of Honor's Final Battle they would lose to the Briscoes and SCU in a Ladder war match. The next day the Bucks left ROH.
Dragon Gate USA (2009–2010, 2012, 2013)
On July 25, 2009, the Young Bucks appeared on Dragon Gate USA's (DGUSA) first pay-per-view Enter the Dragon, where they defeated the Warriors-5 of Cima and Susumu Yokosuka. On September 6 at the second PPV titled Untouchable, they were defeated in the main event by the Real Hazard of Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi. On November 28 at Freedom Fight, the Young Bucks wrestled in the same 6-way Open the Freedom Gate Championship tournament match, which was won by Gran Akuma. After signing contracts with TNA Wrestling, the Young Bucks made their fourth appearance for DGUSA on January 23, 2010, at Fearless, where they competed in a three-way elimination tag team match, which was won by the Muscle Outlaw'z (Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino). They were advertised to take part in the March 26 and 27 shows in Phoenix, Arizona, but TNA made the decision to pull them from the events. However, in February, TNA and Dragon Gate USA came to an agreement and the Young Bucks were allowed to make their farewell appearances. In March, the Young Bucks made their final appearances for the company, losing to Cima, Gamma and Dragon Kid at Open the Ultimate Gate on the 26 in a six-man tag team match, where they teamed with Jack Evans and losing to Mike Quackenbush and Jigsaw in a tag team match at the tapings of Mercury Rising on the 27.
The Young Bucks returned to the promotion on January 27, 2012, defeating Chuck Taylor and Scorpio Sky in a tag team match. The Young Bucks returned to DGUSA on January 25, 2013, defeating D.U.F. (Arik Cannon and Sami Callihan) in a tag team match. At the following day's iPPV, The Young Bucks picked up another win over the Jimmyz (Jimmy Susumu and Ryo "Jimmy" Saito), before going on to lose against the team of Akira Tozawa and AR Fox during another iPPV on January 27. On April 6 at Open the Ultimate Gate 2013, The Young Bucks defeated AR Fox and Cima to become the new Open the United Gate Champions. They made their first successful title defense on June 2 at an event promoted by DGUSA's close affiliate, Evolve, defeating Eita and Tomahawk T.T. Their second successful defense took place on July 28 at Enter the Dragon 2013, Dragon Gate USA's fourth anniversary event, where they defeated Rich Swann and Ricochet. They lost the title to the Bravado Brothers on November 16.
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2009–2011, 2013)
On December 21, 2009, the Young Bucks reached one of their personal goals as they took part in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) Impact! tapings, wrestling The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) in a tryout dark match, which earned them the praise of TNA management. On December 26, 2009, TNA president Dixie Carter announced on her Twitter account that TNA had signed the Young Bucks to a contract. The contracts signed were one year long. The team, renamed Generation Me, made their debut on the January 14, 2010, episode of Impact!, in which the brothers, renamed Max and Jeremy, defeated the Motor City Machine Guns. On the February 18 episode of Impact!, Jeremy and Max were given the last name Buck. At Destination X, Generation Me wrestled for the number one contendership to the TNA World Tag Team Championship in an Ultimate X match, but were defeated by the Motor City Machine Guns. Max and Jeremy spent the next months mainly wrestling singles matches. On the July 8 episode of Impact!, Jeremy picked up a major singles victory, defeating X Division Champion Douglas Williams in a non-title ladder match.
Generation Me returned to pay-per-view on September 5 at No Surrender, where they replaced London Brawling (Desmond Wolfe and Magnus) and unsuccessfully challenged the Motor City Machine Guns for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. After the match, Generation Me turned heel by attacking the champions and giving Alex Shelley a storyline injury with a double rope-hung DDT. On the following episode of Impact!, Max and Jeremy laid claim to the TNA World Tag Team Championship, claiming that the champions would not be able to defend them for 30 days, due to Shelley's injury, before stealing Sabin's title belt. Shelley, however, made his return two weeks later and promised Generation Me a rematch for the World Tag Team Championship at Bound for Glory. At the pay-per-view, the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Generation Me to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship. The following month, Generation Me received a new fan in Tara. After Jeremy pinned Sabin in an eight-person tag team match, where Generation Me teamed with Robbie E and Cookie and the Motor City Machine Guns with Jay Lethal and Velvet Sky, on the November 18 episode of Impact!, the Motor City Machine Guns challenged Generation Me to an Empty Arena match. The match took place later that same night on Reaction, with the Motor City Machine Guns coming out victorious. On December 5 at Final Resolution, Generation Me challenged the Motor City Machine Guns for the World Tag Team Championship in a Full Metal Mayhem match, but were once again unsuccessful. The following month, they signed new two–year contracts with the company.
On the January 27 episode of Impact!, TNA started a tournament to determine a new number one contender for X Division Champion Kazarian. In the first match of the tournament, Max defeated Amazing Red and Chris Sabin in a three–way match to advance to the finals at Against All Odds. The following week, Jeremy defeated Douglas Williams and Jay Lethal in another three–way match to also advance to the finals. However, both Max and Jeremy were forced to miss the finals of the tournament at Against All Odds, after failing to get to Florida due to travel issues. The following month at Victory Road, both Max and Jeremy received their shot at the X Division Championship, held by Kazarian, in an Ultimate X match, which also included Robbie E. Prior to the match, the brothers teased dissension, with Max claiming that their goal was to make him the X Division Champion. At the end of the match, Jeremy and Max finally started fighting between themselves, but in the end both of them failed in their attempt to win the X Division Championship, as Kazarian emerged victorious to successfully retain the title. At the March 15 tapings of Xplosion, the Bucks faced each other in a singles match for the first time in TNA, with Max picking up the win. Max and Jeremy faced each other in a rematch on the March 31 episode of Impact!, where Max was once again victorious. On the April 7 episode of Impact!, Generation Me teamed with Robbie E in a six-man tag team match, where they faced Brian Kendrick, Chris Sabin and Suicide. At the end of the match, Max, thinking Jeremy was trying to steal the spotlight from him, turned on his brother, crotching him at the top rope, before dropping him to the mat with a rope-hung DDT. After Kendrick had pinned Jeremy for the win, Max removed his Generation Me armband and threw it at his brother. On April 17 at Lockdown, Max defeated seven other men, including Jeremy, in an Xscape match to become the number one contender to Kazarian's X Division Championship. On the May 5 episode of Impact!, Generation Me, seemingly once again on the same page as faces, came together with Amazing Red and Brian Kendrick to fight for X Division's future, after the legitimate firing of Jay Lethal. On May 15 at Sacrifice, Max failed in his attempt to win the X Division Championship from Kazarian. At the all X Division pay-per-view Destination X on July 10, Generation Me was defeated by the team of Eric Young and Shark Boy. This was their last match in TNA as the following day Matt announced that he and his brother had requested their release from their contracts with the promotion. Matt and Nick later revealed that the request stemmed from monetary issues, while also venting their frustrations with TNA's booking, noting the storyline with Tara, which went nowhere, and the quickly aborted feud between the brothers. Matt has also stated that after leaving TNA he was ready to quit professional wrestling altogether, before he and his brother decided to instead reinvent themselves and their act.
On March 18, 2013, Generation Me returned to TNA to take part in the tapings of the Tag Team Tournament One Night Only pay-per-view. After defeating Petey Williams and Sonjay Dutt in the first round, they were eliminated from the tournament in the second round by Team 3D (Bully Ray and Devon). At the tapings of the following day's Hardcore Justice 2 pay-per-view, Generation Me was defeated in a ladder match by Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Kazarian).
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Debut and joining the Bullet Club (2013–2016)
On October 15, 2013, NJPW announced that The Young Bucks would be making their debuts for the promotion in the 2013 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, which started October 25. They got the booking through Kazuchika Okada, whom they had befriended during his stay in TNA. In their debut, The Young Bucks represented the heel foreigner stable Bullet Club. In their debut match for the promotion, The Young Bucks defeated fellow Americans Beretta and Brian Kendrick, thanks to a pre-match assault by the rest of Bullet Club, to advance to the semifinals of the Super Jr. Tag Tournament. During the next two weeks, New Japan held seven smaller shows, with The Young Bucks main eventing every one of them, teaming with Bullet Club stablemate Karl Anderson in six-man tag team matches against the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and members of his Chaos stable. The Young Bucks suffered their first loss in the promotion on October 30, when they and Anderson were defeated by Gedo, Jado and Okada, who pinned Nick for the win. On November 6, The Young Bucks first defeated Gedo and Jado in the semifinals and then another Chaos team, the Forever Hooligans, in the finals to win the 2013 Super Jr. Tag Tournament.
As a result of their win, The Young Bucks received a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and on November 9 at Power Struggle, defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) to become the new champions. The Young Bucks returned to New Japan on January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, where they made their first successful title defense in a four-way match against the Forever Hooligans, Suzuki-gun and Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida). The Young Bucks made their second successful title defense on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka against the Time Splitters. Towards the end of the match, Matt legitimately broke his hand. Later that same event, Nick confronted and challenged IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Kota Ibushi. Nick received his title shot on April 3, but was defeated by Ibushi. Three days later at Invasion Attack 2014, The Young Bucks successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Ibushi and El Desperado. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2014, The Young Bucks made their fourth successful title defense against the Forever Hooligans. The Young Bucks made their fifth successful defense on May 10 during the NJPW and ROH co-produced Global Wars event in Toronto, defeating Forever Hooligans and Time Splitters in a three-way match. From May 30 to June 6, The Young Bucks took part in the 2014 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, where they wrestled in separate blocks. They both finished with a record of four wins and three losses, narrowly missing advancement to the semifinals. As a result of losing to Alex Shelley and Kushida during the tournament, The Young Bucks and Time Splitters faced off in another IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match on June 21 at Dominion 6.21, where The Young Bucks' seven-month reign came to an end.
The Young Bucks received a rematch for the title on October 13 at King of Pro-Wrestling in a three-way match also involving Forever Hooligans, but were again defeated by Time Splitters. In November, The Young Bucks made it to the finals of the 2014 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, where they were defeated by reDRagon. On January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, The Young Bucks unsuccessfully challenged reDRagon for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in a four-way match also involving Forever Hooligans and Time Splitters. On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, The Young Bucks defeated reDRagon and Time Splitters in a three-way match to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time. On April 5 at Invasion Attack 2015, The Young Bucks lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero) in their first title defense. The Young Bucks regained the title from Roppongi Vice on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2015 in a three-way match, also involving reDRagon. They made their first successful title defense in a three-way rematch on July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall. They lost the title to reDRagon in their second defense on August 16. The Young Bucks won the title for the record-tying fourth time in a four-way match on January 4, 2016, at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome. Their reign ended in their first defense on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, where they were defeated by Matt Sydal and Ricochet in a three-way match, also involving reDRagon.
Alliance with Kenny Omega (2016–2019)
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In early 2016, The Young Bucks formed Bullet Club subgroup The Elite with Kenny Omega, after helping him kick A.J. Styles out of the stable. On February 20 at Honor Rising: Japan 2016, The Elite defeated Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe and Toru Yano to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin and Yoshitatsu on April 10 at Invasion Attack 2016, before regaining it on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016. On June 19 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, The Young Bucks won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the fifth time by defeating Matt Sydal and Ricochet, reDRagon and Roppongi Vice in a four-way elimination match. On July 3, The Young Bucks and Omega lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima. On August 21, The Young Bucks made their first successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against the reunited Motor City Machine Guns. After their win, The Young Bucks made a challenge for NJPW's "heavyweight" tag team title, which led to a match on September 22 at Destruction in Hiroshima, where they unsuccessfully challenged reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions The Briscoe Brothers. Three days later at Destruction in Kobe, The Young Bucks and Adam Cole were defeated by David Finlay, Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima in a match for the vacant NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. This led to a match on October 10 at King of Pro-Wrestling, where The Young Bucks successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Finlay and Ricochet. On January 4, 2017, at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, The Young Bucks lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Roppongi Vice. The Young Bucks regained the title from Roppongi Vice on June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall. They lost the title to Funky Future (Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi) on August 13. On January 4, 2018, The Young Bucks defeated Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the seventh time. Their reign lasted just 24 days before losing the titles back to Roppongi 3K at the New Beginning in Sapporo.
On February 24, 2018, The Young Bucks announced that they would move up to New Japan's heavyweight tag team division. At Strong Style Evolved, they lost against the Golden☆Lovers in an acclaimed match. At Sakura Genesis 2018, they scored their first victory in the Heavyweight tag team division against their Bullet Club teammates Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi. At Wrestling Dontaku 2018, they won the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship for the third time, this time with Marty Scurll under the team name Super Vilains. At Dominion, they defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (Evil and Sanada) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship for the first time, becoming the second tag team to win the IWGP Jr. and Heavyweight Tag Team titles, and the first duo to have won all three of NJPW's team championships (IWGP Tag Team, IWGP Jr. Tag Team, and NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team) together. On August 12 during the G1 Climax 28, the Super Vilains lost their NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Taiji Ishimori, all a part of the rebellious Bullet Club sub-faction Bullet Club OG. At Fighting Spirit Unleashed, they lost the Heavyweight Tag Team Titles to Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. At Wrestle Kingdom 13, The Young Bucks participated in a 3 way match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship against the champions Guerrillas of Destiny and Los Ingobernables de Japon (Sanada and Evil), but lost the match. On February 7, 2019, their profiles were removed from NJPW website.
All In (2017–2018)
In 2017, Dave Meltzer suggested that an independent wrestling show would be unable to sell out a ten thousand seat arena in the United States. The Young Bucks, along with Cody Rhodes, challenged the idea by planning a show specifically for the purposes of drawing ten thousand fans. In May, it was announced that the show will be named "All In", and would be held on September 1, 2018 at the Sears Centre Arena, including many popular wrestlers from various promotions such as Ring of Honor, New Japan Pro Wrestling and the independent circuit. On May 13, 2018, tickets to "All In" sold out in 30 minutes. At the event, The Young Bucks along with Kota Ibushi defeated Bandido, Rey Fénix, and Rey Mysterio.
All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)
On November 5, 2018, several trademarks were filed in Jacksonville, Florida that indicated the launch of All Elite Wrestling. In December 2018, Cody, The Young Bucks and several other wrestlers left ROH. The official announcement of AEW's creation came at midnight Pacific Time on January 1, 2019 in an episode of Being the Elite, a YouTube web series created by and featuring The Elite. Also announced in the episode was "Double or Nothing", AEW's inaugural event and sequel to "All In". On January 2, 2019, Cody and The Young Bucks officially signed five-year contracts with the promotion, serving as AEW's executive vice presidents, while entrepreneur, football executive and longtime wrestling fan Tony Khan was announced as the president of the company. On January 8, 2019, the company held its inaugural press conference on the forecourt of the TIAA Bank Field, where they announced talents that were going to perform as part of the promotion including Joey Janela, Christopher Daniels, Scorpio Sky, Pac, Frankie Kazarian and Chris Jericho. They also announced a working relationship with Chinese professional wrestling promotion Oriental Wrestling Entertainment (OWE), an organization founded by Cima.
To promote their new promotion, The Young Bucks, Cody, Hangman Page, and Brandi Rhodes showed up unannounced to wrestler Joey Ryan's Southern California promotion Bar Wrestling on January 16, 2019. Three days later, The Young Bucks would show up again unannounced to Defy Wrestling. The Young Bucks made their AEW debut on May 25 at their inaugural pay-per-view, Double or Nothing, where they defeated The Lucha Brothers.
On March 16, 2019, the Bucks made their debut at the Mexican promotion Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA) as part of partnership with All Elite Wrestling at the Rey de Reyes event where they challenged the newly crowned AAA World Tag Team Champions Lucha Brothers who defeated Los Mercenarios (El Texano Jr. & Rey Escorpión). Later that same night, the Bucks defeated the Lucha Brothers to win their titles, this being their first championship in Mexico.
Personal lives
The Massies were both born in Rancho Cucamonga, California as the middle two of four children. Matt was born Matthew Ronjon Massie on March 13, 1985 and Nick was born Nicholas Lee Massie on July 28, 1989. Their parents are Joyce and Matthew Massie Sr. They have an older sister Donajoi Crystal (born October 3, 1982) and a younger brother Malachi Marcus (born November 14, 1990), who was also a professional wrestler before retiring in 2010 due to being exhausted by traveling. They stayed in Rancho Cucamonga for nearly 18 years before moving to Hesperia, California in 2003. Matt married his girlfriend of five years, Dana, on November 1, 2008. Nick married his longtime girlfriend Ellen Montoya on April 3, 2011. They have one daughter and one son each; Kourtney and Zachary are the children of Matt, and Alison and Gregory are the children of Nick, respectively.
The Massies are fans of wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer, whom they affectionately refer to as "Uncle Dave", having named one of their signature moves, the Meltzer Driver, after him. They have also dedicated wins on New Japan pay-per-views to him and stated that they wanted to win every Wrestling Observer Newsletter award in 2014. They ended up winning Tag Team of the Year and Best Wrestling Maneuver for the Meltzer Driver. After the death of Meltzer's father Herbert, The Young Bucks paid tribute to him at G1 Special in USA with a new version of the move, named the Herbert Meltzer Driver.
In addition to wrestling, the brothers produce and star in the YouTube series Being the Elite, with now 300,000 subscribers, showing the paths of being an independent wrestler, as well as comedic skits alongside fellow Elite members Kenny Omega, Marty Scurll, Adam "Hangman" Page, and Cody.
Championships and accomplishments
- Alternative Wrestling Show
- AWS Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Chikara
- Campeonatos de Parejas (1 time)
- DDT Pro-Wrestling
- Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)
- Demand Lucha
- Royal Canadian Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Dragon Gate USA
- Open the United Gate Championship (1 time)
- Empire Wrestling Federation
- EWF Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Family Wrestling Entertainment
- FWE Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Future Stars of Wrestling
- FSW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- High Risk Wrestling
- Sole Survivor Tournament (2006)
- House of Glory
- HOG Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- HOG Tag Team Championship Tournament (2013)
- Insane Wrestling League
- IWL Tag Team Championship (3 times)
- Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide
- AAA World Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (7 times)
- IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Kenny Omega (2) and Marty Scurll (1)
- Super Jr. Tag Tournament (2013)
- Pro Wrestling Destination
- PWD Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
- PWG World Tag Team Championship (4 times)
- Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament (2009, 2011, 2013)
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Tag Team of the Year (2017, 2018)
- Ranked Nick Jackson No. 38 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2018
- Ranked Matt Jackson No. 40 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2018
- Ring of Honor
- SoCal Uncensored
- Southern California Match of the Year (2011)
- Southern California Match of the Year (2012)
- Southern California Match of the Year (2013)
- Southern California Match of the Year (2016)
- Southern California Match of the Year (2018)
- Southern California Tag Team of the Year (2007–2009, 2014–2015)
- Squared Circle Wrestling (Syracuse, New York)
- 2CW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- World Series Wrestling
- WSW Tag Team Championship (1 time)
- WSW Tag Team Title Tournament (2018)
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Best Wrestling Maneuver (2009) More Bang for Your Buck
- Best Wrestling Maneuver (2014) Meltzer Driver
- Tag Team of the Year (2014–2018)