9 months ago
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AEW
Despite many fans – and some wrestlers – hating them for their recent antics on AEW TV, The Young Bucks have gone on to become one of the most influential tag teams of the 21st century. Their high-flying style and tongue-in-cheek humor led to companies like PWG, Ring of Honor, and New Japan Pro Wrestling positioning them as the top tag team in the world, which ultimately led to the formation of AEW.
However, Matt and Nick Jackson must have gotten their influence from somewhere, and on a recent episode of the "What Happened When?" podcast, former WWE Superstar Hornswoggle believes another high-flying team in WWE was the early version of the AEW EVPs.
"Paul London, I feel like him and Brian Kendrick were like Young Bucks before they were Young Bucks," Hornswoggle said. "On a national TV level, they just did fun things that you never saw before. I always liked them because I was still such an independent (wrestling) and Ring of Honor wrestling fan, so even with the company I was like, 'Oh, man, they're doing cool things on WWE that you never saw."
During their time as a unit in WWE, London and Kendrick became one of "Smackdown's" most popular tag teams. They enjoyed an 11-month reign with the WWE Tag Team Championships between 2006 and 2007, as well as having a three-day reign with the World Tag Team Championships in 2007.
The two men continued to team together on the independent circuit following their separate WWE exits as The Hooligans, where they routinely came across The Young Bucks in companies like House of Hardcore, House of Glory, and PWG.
Please credit "What Happened When?" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.
