AEW's Max Caster Reveals Inner Circle Were Nearly Called The Acclaimed
Chris Jericho and The Acclaimed, anyone?
According to The Acclaimed's Max Caster, the name of his pairing with Anthony Bowens was at one point intended for The Inner Circle.
Speaking on the Sports Generals podcast, Platinum Max revealed that Tony Khan nearly used the Acclaimed name for the group consisting of Chris Jericho, Jake Hager, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz.
As Caster explained (via Fightful):
"This is another Tony Khan idea. He apparently had this idea for a tag team called The Acclaimed for a long time. I also heard that it was almost the name of The Inner Circle in AEW, where he pitched to Chris Jericho, 'What if it was Chris Jericho and The Acclaimed, like your band?', since Chris is a rock star. They didn't go for that."
So, how did Max Caster and Anthony Bowens end up being called The Acclaimed? Caster continued on:
"Tony, I guess, just wanted a tag team called The Acclaimed. From there, it was just up to us. 'Max Caster and Anthony Bowens, you are The Acclaimed'. 'Oh great, what is that?' We sat back and realised that it makes perfect sense. We are both highly acclaimed professional wrestlers in our area on the independents, me and Anthony have very similar paths, which a lot of people would tell us, 'You guys are incredible wrestlers, but you just need to be on TV. You don't fit on the independents.' That's something that always frustrated us, because it sucks being told, 'You don't belong here, even though you're the best'. We proved everyone right. We got on TV and we became everyone's favourite tag team."
For those not aware, The Acclaimed were not actually a tag tandem before Caster and Bowens signed with AEW.
Current WWE producer Pat Buck would have a hand in training both Caster and Bowens, with each star largely wrestling as singles talent on the independent scene. Interestingly, the two would also have a cup of coffee under the WWE banner - Bowens working as an enhancement talent against The Authors of Pain in NXT, and Caster bizarrely portraying one of Bobby Lashley's sisters on an episode of WWE Raw.
'Platinum' Max Caster would be the first of the pair to appear in AEW, teaming with Luther and Serpentico on a June 2020 offering of AEW Dark. He would return that October with Anthony Bowens as his new partner, as The Acclaimed truly arrived. Shortly after, Tony Khan would announce how both Caster and Bowens had signed five-year deals with the company.