14 Ups & 5 Downs For AEW In 2021

8. The Young Bucks Enjoy Their Best Year Yet

The Young Bucks
AEW

The Young Bucks are the greatest tag team in history, and they've just enjoyed their best year ever.

They started 2021 as babyfaces, and, at Revolution, entered sublime babyface performances at and ahead of their match against MJF and Chris Jericho. Matt sold it with an incredible verbal performance, vowing revenge for his father, without whom AEW would not exist. The match was a great hybrid of old-school cheating countered by trademark dazzling offence, and they played heel - after, it must be written, some histrionic inner conflict - equally well.

Reinvented as tasteless moneyed ar*eholes who embraced the power and wealth afforded by their position as EVPs - without ever approaching the dreaded realm of "authority figures" - the Bucks modernised their legendary Pro Wrestling Guerrilla run with an ingenious episodic tweak. Ahead of invariably sensational matches, Matt and Nick looked more ridiculous with each passing week, descending into a mock-parody. The adventures of Nick Jackson's facial hair was a better plot development - seriously - than most things on the other channel.

Working matches brimming with exhilaration and emotional intensity, their moustachioed sh*t-eating grins were just begging to be shut up - and like the best heels, they showed ass when the storyline demanded it.

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Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!