WWE reportedly had big storyline plans for The Young Bucks to “invade” the promotion during their recent contract talks.
It was noted by Dave Meltzer on a recent edition of The Wrestling Observer Radio Program that WWE had a full storyline pitched to The Young Bucks with their contract offers that were made before the brothers decided on signing with All Elite Wrestling.
The storyline would have seen The Young Bucks lead an “invasion angle” for WrestleMania 35 season, presumably involving The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega & Hangman Page. Meltzer did not confirm that those other talents would have been involved with the invasion storyline, just that this invasion angle was pitched to The Young Bucks.
The Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes, Hangman Page & Kenny Omega all reportedly turned down offers from The WWE in order to be a part of AEW with Tony Khan. The Wrestling Observer Newsletter had previously reported that Triple H worked hard on the potential signings and offered unique deals in hopes of signing all of them. Page’s deal was reportedly to work The NXT Brand for main roster money, putting him as one of the top stars on the brand. WWE reportedly offered a three-year deal to The Young Bucks, which would have seen them sign for the same amount of money that AJ Styles is making. The deal from WWE would have also had a WWE Network spot for the weekly Being The Elite Series. The deal also included a unique six-month window that would have allowed them to get out of their contracts if they were unhappy. There is no word on exactly what WWE offered Omega but word was that they made a “fantastic offer” to him.
The Bucks spoke with Chuck Carroll of CBS Sports earlier this year and talked about how aggressive the offer from WWE was.
“Yeah, we could say that their offer was very aggressive,” Nick Jackson said when asked if the WWE offers were a little bit more difficult to walk away from.
Matt Jackson added, “I’ll tell you this. For a moment, I thought that we would probably be going to WWE. That was the closest that it’s ever come to us going there, for sure. And they were great. They were respectful, and they told us what our value was. I think it was really like a wake-up call for us. It was almost like, wow. It’s good to be wanted. These guys, they’re teaching us we are valuable and we’re worth this much. It was definitely something we were considering, and it was hard to turn down, because it would have been life-changing.”
