Ahead of their Tag Team Championship match against FTR at AEW Dynasty, Matt and Nick Jackson - The Young Bucks - have broken their silence on the decision to air the security footage of CM Punk and Jack Perry's backstage altercation at All In.
The move has been widely criticised and AEW has been accused of using another company's star, Punk in this instance, to hotshot ratings.
Talking to Sports Illustrated, both Matt and Nick made it clear they have no regrets.
"Since we are wrestling FTR at Dynasty, and with it being the first time doing that since All In London, so many feelings and thoughts came rushing back," Matt explained. "Old wounds were reopened. We decided it was only fair to be transparent and honest with our fans. We needed to give them context about why we feel we came up short at All In London."
"Our bodies were there in the ring wrestling FTR at Wembley, but our minds were in the back with the scapegoat in the entire situation, Jack Perry. The three of us specifically were wronged that night, and I haven’t gotten over that."
Nick added, "As EVPs, we were given a task for that week by the boss and we did it to the best of our abilities," he said of airing the footage, all but confirming it was Tony Khan's decision. "Zero regret."
Perry received a warm welcome from fans at the New Japan Wrestling show in Chicago last Friday and it seems the Bucks believe that will now carry over to his eventual AEW return (fans were chanting for CM Punk during last Wednesday's Dynamite, so that remains to be seen).
"He’s been the next breakout star for a while now and he just needed something controversial to happen to him to open people’s eyes," Nick shared. "It happened with us early on in our careers, too."
Matt says, "Coming back from Japan, Jack Perry now has that edge and swagger. And coming off all of this BS he’s been dealing with, he has a chip on his shoulder. He’s a dangerous cat right now and is about to blow up."
Time will tell on that front, but it seems Khan has finally moved past his resentment towards Perry and given him the green light to return (the current expectation is that it will happen at the Dynasty PPV).
As always, stay tuned for updates.