The Young Bucks’ Matt Jackson on FTR: ‘We all love the art of tag team wrestling’
The Young Bucks fell short of their goal yesterday at Wembley Stadium, falling to FTR in a compelling 21-minute tag team title match.
The Bucks defeated FTR in 2020, followed by FTR’s victory in 2022, so this marked the trilogy bout between the two teams. The finish saw FTR’s Cash Wheeler break up Matt and Nick Jackson’s attempt at a Meltzer Driver, then Dax Harwood caught Nick in a Shatter Machine, which led to the winning pinfall.
Despite the loss, Matt Jackson walked out of Wembley proud of the match that he, Nick Jackson, Harwood, and Wheeler combined to create.
“We had 81,000-plus people on their feet screaming exactly when we wanted them to, while we worked one of our greatest rivals, all while we were wearing tribute gear of one of our favorite singers in Wembley Stadium,” says Jackson, as the Bucks paid homage to the great Freddie Mercury with a yellow jacket and white pants with red-and-gold stripes, which is what he wore during a seminal Queen show at Wembley in 1986. “None of us were injured. We all had a great match. I couldn’t be happier. Well, maybe if the ending was a little different.”
The victory gives FTR an edge in victories, two to one, across their three matches. Yet that does not mean the feud is over. These are two of the best tag teams in all of wrestling, so it is inevitable their paths will cross–especially considering the Bucks refused to shake hands with FTR after the match.
“As long as we’re all active wrestlers, it’s fair to assume this rivalry will never end,” says Jackson, offering a unique perspective of the match. “We really wanted to illustrate that it would take anything and everything to get the job done. We’d all emptied our gas tanks and there was nothing left. We all kicked out of moves that were never kicked out of before. It would come down to the wire, like in a fighting video game when both character’s energy meters are on red. Whoever is luckiest to get in that last shot wins. They were the better team last night.”
Courtesy AEW
The narrative of the match painted a picture where both teams consistently worked to gain an edge, yet neither could put the other away. It captured real-life dimensions of the story of the Bucks and FTR, two teams who genuinely want to be the best in the world–and remain constantly aware of what their rivals are doing.
The finish was superb, making a challenging sequence look seamless in spite of the fact they had just wrestled at high intensity for the past 20 minutes.
“We landed a very difficult spot while we were all exhausted,” says Jackson. “Timing had to be perfect on that, and we lucked out. It couldn’t have come across any better. The pop at the end was what we were looking for and what we engineered to happen. And it did.”
The Bucks helped lead a wrestling revolution in 2018 with the original All In in Chicago. Jackson shared that breaking new ground at Wembley with AEW captured a similar spirit felt at All In five years ago.
“It’s a weird feeling, when you know you’re living history,” says Jackson, who is also an executive vice president in AEW. “Both shows had that monumental feeling that we were all part of something bigger than ourselves.”
Considering the magnitude of the event, the atmosphere backstage in the hours leading up to the show was full of excitement–even for those who have spent decades making this their livelihood.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a more excited locker room,” says Jackson. “Everyone was giddy, going around and taking photos. ‘Take it all in,’ everyone kept saying to each other. We all knew this was a monumental event, so there was an insane buzz in the year.”
The match embodied two teams in love with tag team wrestling. Amid the competition and even controversy in the build, their shared affinity for pro wrestling elevated the performance to a new height.
“There’s an undeniable chemistry between the four of us,” says Jackson. “We all love what we do, and have a passion to do it. Even when you’re so tired and you can’t feel your hands–you just push through.
“We might not be aware of the things we all share, or have in common, but the one thing we all do know is we all love the art of tag team wrestling. And we all wanted to put on a performance that people could look back at for years, and maybe even be inspired by.”
