It's Official: The Young Bucks Are Wrestling's Greatest Ever Tag Team
As Generation Me, they worked a match against the Motor City Machine Guns at TNA No Surrender 2010 very early into their careers. It was a hot, effervescent opener in layout not without several glaring flaws in execution. Watching the match back now, it's clear that Alex Shelley was the most advanced performer of the lot at that time. He held the early phase together, but it nearly fell apart by the finish because - and here's the refrain - the relentless rush that requires immaculate synergy to build wasn't there yet. Neither "Max" nor "Jeremy" Buck emoted much, and the connective tissue was virtually nonexistent. The TNA run showed glimpses of the brilliance to come, but the act refined itself elsewhere. If they ever warranted the dreaded "spot monkey" tag, it was in the Impact Zone.
They created an aura around themselves at least, as reported big-leaguers who transgressed on the sacred codes of backstage etiquette. Nick has claimed in the years since that they had zero awareness of this etiquette, to explain why he never introduced himself to Booker T, but regardless: in one of several expert marketing manoeuvres with which they made their fortune beyond WWE, the Young Bucks leaned hard on this reputation to inform their act.
As so much of the modern generation has, the Bucks realised their potential in Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. That run was incredible; playing demented, incredibly obnoxious d*ckweeds, their matches were spectacular and drenched in heat. They didn't just orchestrate these unhinged wars to peak so thrillingly: when they peaked, they crowed to the crowd with massive sh*t-eating grins, as if to flex at a meta level over how exceptional they were at structuring a match to their advantage.
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