AEW lost one of its founders earlier this year to WWE in the way of Cody Rhodes and reports last week indicated that two more founders could follow suit as The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) had reportedly “sent out feelers” to people within WWE.
The Bucks are contracted to AEW until 2024 and the feelers were sent out to gauge potential interest.
Fightful Select reported today that this is said to have been a rumor among many of its sources “dating back to August.” Sources close to the tag team noted that they “haven’t been given that indication whatsoever” in regards to them sending out feelers to WWE.
An anonymous source is said to “likely be in a good position to relay that information” and added that they “aren’t sure who the Young Bucks would even reach out to” regarding contacting WWE.
The top AEW tag team talking with WWE would likely be considered contract tampering, but utilizing a third party to relay interest falls in a gray area. Fightful did confirm they had heard of people who worked in talent relations “outright” reaching out to AEW talent in August, but it wasn’t specified if these talent relations people were actively working for WWE.
Past Talks
Another source who worked with WWE in 2018 noted that they had heard the feelers rumor but neglected to ask WWE higher-ups about it because “they weren’t sure how that would be received.”
The Bucks did have talks with WWE in 2018 before signing with AEW the following year.
Because there was such a strong interest in the Bucks joining WWE in the past, and because their stock has only risen since then, this source thinks that the Bucks “wouldn’t even need to assess interest.” Before AEW All Out, the Bucks reportedly gave “no indication” that they planned to leave the organization, according to Fightful.
