The Wrestling Observer’s Ryan Frederick posted a follow-up in response to a member of the F4W form in regards to The Young Bucks sending out feelers to friends in WWE.
It is believed that Matt and Nick Jackson’s AEW deals expire at the beginning, not at the end, of 2024. For those of you wondering who Ryan Frederick is, he writes in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and covers MMA for the site. He also has connections in the wrestling business.
Frederick noted that some sites will take his opinion posts and report them as news but in this case, what he is saying about The Bucks is 100 percent true. He said the following in his follow-up post:
“In this instance, though, what I said is 100% true and I have it from multiple people. It’s also not a big deal and not really newsworthy. It’s not like they actually reached out to WWE management. They told a friend in the company, a fellow wrestler, that they would be willing to listen to offers when their deals are up (I believe January 2024) and to let it be known. It’s something every single wrestler in the business should be doing- it’s called maximizing your leverage. It is no different than an NFL or MLB player coming into the final year of their contract and letting it be known they are going to free agency and listening to offers from the other teams. And, in the sense of independent contractors, it’s not different than a NASCAR or Formula One driver letting other teams know that their contract runs out at a certain time and they’ll be listening to offers. Except wrestling is a weird business where you have to use your friends on the other side to let this message be known.
It does not mean they want to leave. It means they’re looking to get the best deal they can. That’s it. It’s a non-story. And if you’re a wrestler with a deal coming up in the next 18 months and you aren’t playing both sides, you need to fix that.”
Fredrick also stated, “And it doesn’t matter if it was now or at any point in the future before their contracts run out, they were going to reach out. It’s inevitable and why this is a complete non-story to be honest (and the feeler I was talking about happened before the incidents of this past weekend for the record- it was a few weeks ago). It’s just plain common sense.”
