Details of The Young Bucks and Shawn Michaels' backstage meeting revealed
The Young Bucks appeared on The Wrestling Inc. Daily podcast for an interview with the website's Managing Editor Nick Hausman. The AEW World Tag Team Champions are busy promoting their new book, "Killing The Business: From Backyards To The Big Leagues," which contains their story in the pro wrestling business. The book also features several interesting backstage incidents, and one of them is about their meeting with Shawn Michaels in the WWE.
The Young Bucks spoke about their wrestling influences during the Wrestling Inc. interview before revealing what happened when they first met Shawn Michaels. Bucks grew up admiring the work of Shawn Michaels, and they met the WWE Legend back when they were backstage in the company for some extra work.
Matt Jackson revealed that Marty Jannetty, Shawn Michaels' former tag team partner, told HBK about the Bucks being in the company for extra work. Jannetty even told Shawn Michaels to talk to the Bucks and to put in a good word for them.
"It's funny. We befriended Marty Jannetty because we booked him on our independent [show], and he told wild war stories, and some seemed really out of the realm of possibility. We were like, 'There's no way that happened.' We would question it even back then. We knew some wrestlers were kind of carny. They would say things, and we would kind of humor them."
The Bucks weren't all that convinced initially as it's Marty Jannetty we're talking about here. However, Jannetty was true to his word.
"I remember him calling us and saying, 'Hey, I heard you guys are going to WWE to do extra work. We're like, 'Yeah.' He's like, 'alright, well, I'm gonna tell Shawn that you guys are coming, and hopefully, he can talk to you guys.' And we were kind of rolling our eyes. We didn't really believe it. So sure enough, we're sitting there in catering, and we see all these big stars. We're kind of star-struck, and then finally, we see THE guy, and it's Shawn Michaels. He's our hero. He's sitting at one of the tables alone with Jesse Hernandez, who's an old-school referee back when it was called the WWWF, and he's also a promoter in Southern California back home. And we were very familiar with Jesse.
What did Shawn Michaels and The Young Bucks talk about when they met backstage?
Matt Jackson then recalled the time when they saw Shawn Michaels for the first time when they sat in WWE catering. Shawn Michaels was seated with Jesse Hernandez, who waved over to the Bucks and called them over.
"So Jesse sees us, and he waves us over. We don't believe it. Why would Jesse wave us over there? And he does it again. Finally, we head over there, and Shawn is just sitting there looking up at us. And we're just like, 'What is this?' It was so surreal, and he knew our names. And sure enough, Marty came through and called Shawn that morning and said, 'Hey, these kids, look out for them.' And he described what we look like, and we sat there."
Matt Jackson revealed that they talked about tag team wrestling with Shawn Michaels, who even helped the team get a bonus. HBK treated the Young Bucks really well, and Matt felt that Shawn Michaels probably knew that the brothers were big fans of the WWE Hall of Famer.
"We got to really just talk about tag team wrestling, and he gave us good advice on what we should do, and what speed we should work at, and how we were going to get people's attention. And he was kind enough to take us over and kind of get us a bonus. He took us over to the payroll, I remember, and Sgt. Slaughter was working payroll at the time. He really treated us really well. "I think he knew we were huge fans, clearly. I think maybe he was trying to impress us, but it was the coolest, and I thought he was the best. You hear bad stories about Shawn all the time, and that's the only time I've ever dealt with Shawn. And I still think back fondly. The one time we met him, we were kids, and he didn't have to be nice to us. And he treated us great. So I have nothing but positive feelings towards HBK." H/t WrestlingInc
Nick Jackson added that they were young and naive back then, but it was still a mind-blowing experience to see their childhood hero take such good care of them even when it wasn't necessary. The significant interaction with Shawn Michaels wasn't enough to get them a WWE contract as the team 'were kayfabed the next day' by John Laurinaitis, who ignored the team.