The Young Bucks recently spoke to Rolling Stone about why they’ve decided to stay on the independent scene and more. Below are a couple of highlights:
For the past year, you guys have always been mentioned at or near the top of the “King of the Indies” discussion. How much pride do you get from that, or do you consider it a backhanded compliment?
Matt: It’s huge. That’s what we do, we’re independent wrestlers. If anyone is ever going to rank us at the top of, well, anything, it makes us feel proud. We’re the kings of being independent. We represent that. We don’t need a contract, we’re on our own thing. You can make money without Vince [McMahon]. You can make money without going there and selling your soul. You can be yourself. You can make a good living.
Nick: I think that’s the most rewarding thing about it: we don’t have to be on Monday Night Raw for people to know us. We don’t need a machine to push us, like the majority of guys. We take pride in the indies, because obviously this is where we work, so for anyone to say that we are the kings of it, that’s cool. That means we’re the kings of what we’re doing right now.
You say at some point you’ll settle down, and sign with a single company. Would WWE be that company?
Matt: I mean, who’s to say? Right now, no. For one thing, I have a young family. I just couldn’t uproot my family for less money than I make right now. If we had an offer to go straight to TV or something, well that’s just a whole different thing. Of course, we’d love to entertain that idea. That’s the place to be. It would be fun to do it. Right now though? I don’t know. Of course, in five years, every person we know is going to be running the place. So they may just say, “Hey Bucks, you interested in coming on TV on Monday?” Who knows? Never say never.
Nick: I just couldn’t move my family to Florida at this point. If something changes, then maybe you’ll see us there. I own a home in California. Right now, mentally, I need to stay where I’m at. My wife told me three years ago that we’re never moving to Florida. I was like, “OK, well that rules out WWE then.” But in five years? Who knows, maybe we’ll need it.
Speaking of WWE, do you think that NXT has changed the indie scene at all, especially with them seemingly poaching so many of the top talents?
Nick: I don’t think it’s changed much of the indie scene. That’s a hard question to answer. NXT is essentially WWE’s independent company. I think they’re smart, because the indies are red-hot right now. We’ve been wrestling 11 or 12 years now, and now every show we go to there’s almost 1,000 people there. That wasn’t happening five years ago. WWE obviously sees where the money is.
Matt: I think it’s more that indie wrestling is changing NXT. They’re seeing what works out here, and what’s hot out here and they’re wanting some of that. They’re really gearing their product towards these types of fans. I think they saw that people were making money on the indies, and who doesn’t want more money? Of course Vince does. He’s going to want to get a piece of that.
