AEW’s Kenny Omega & Young Bucks Thought They Were Joining WWE

Three of All Elite Wrestling’s Executive Vice Presidents have revealed that they all very nearly joined WWE last year.

It was reported in late-2018 that WWE had approached and made big money offers to Matt and Nick Jackson of The Young Bucks, as well as Kenny Omega. The company even pitched an “invasion angle” and WrestleMania 35 match for their debut.

WWE were so keen on bringing “The Elite” into the company that they reportedly included an “escape clause” in their contracts in case they were unhappy with their creative direction.

The trio obviously rejected Vince McMahon’s company’s proposals. They have since gone on to form All Elite Wrestling with Cody Rhodes and Tony Khan.

However in a recent interview with Chris Van Vliet, Matt Jackson revealed that they were speaking “endlessly” with WWE, and at one point believed they were actually going to join the company:

Matt: “We talked to them endlessly. At one point, I remember me, Nick and Kenny were in a room because all of our deals were up at the same time. We got off the phone one day and we looked at each other and we said ‘I think we’re all going to WWE.’ It was that close. Tony came to us at the right time and he made the right offer. I’m not talking financially, I’m talking ‘hey, you guys can run this thing’ and ‘I want you guys to hire your people.’ It’s like someone saying ‘I want you to make a movie and you can hire all the cameramen. You can hire all the writers, all your friends to be with you.’ He gave us the keys to this thing. You can’t say no to this.”

The brothers would then go on to add that along with the offer from Tony Khan, the main reason they didn’t join WWE was because of the amount of dates they were asked to be on the road for and how long they would be away from their families for:

Nick: “One thing that took out of the race for going to WWE was the amount of dates that they wanted us to do.”

Matt: “They even offered us a limited schedule.”

Nick: “We have young families. Even with the limited schedule, it was like ‘God, I can’t imagine being home [just] for 2 days for my kids.”

In the same interview, The Young Bucks revealed that they and CM Punk speak “all the time” about the former WWE Champion making his comeback to wrestling and signing with AEW.

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