Matt and Nick Jackson’s reasoning behind leaving Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro Wrestling has been well documented.
In an interview with Bleacher report in 2019, the duo cited that both promotions could’ve prevented AEW from happening if they offered them the contracts that they wanted; however, the brothers believed that neither promotion never truly saw the value in them:
“New Japan never saw the value in Matt and I. They never paid us good. We would have had to work with New Japan for another two decades to even get close to retiring, and the style they demand is backbreaking. Ring of Honor paid us a lot better than New Japan.
We could have probably retired there, but we would have to work probably another decade with them. We pitched it to both of them: Why don’t you guys get us a dual contract? And they just didn’t get it done. We would have easily stayed, and there would have never been an All Elite Wrestling if they would have met what we wanted, but it didn’t get done.”
Recently on AEW Unrestricted, the Co-Executive Vice Presidents explained what drew them to Tony Khan and AEW, citing the ambition of the President and putting full trust in them (Transcript courtesy of Fightful.com):
"We have always thought big and have always bet on ourselves. 'This guy is a dreamer, I like that.' He has big aspirations. He doesn't want us to be just wrestlers, he wants us to be more than wrestlers. Nobody else could offer us that."
"At that time, no one trusted us. We were wanting to become writers/bookers. Just more than wrestling. But no one wants us to do this. New Japan didn't want it. Ring of Honor didn't want it. [Tony Khan] wanted us from the bat for this thing," said Nick.
Check out the full podcast where The Bucks discuss their in-ring style, Being The Elite, their first couple of matches, and so much more regarding their wrestling career thus far.