The Young Bucks lost to Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay at All In Texas 2025 which meant they were no longer the EVPs of All Elite Wrestling.
EVP (Executive Vice President) has always been a nebulous position for the Bucks and the rest of the Elite. The roles were allegedly given to Kenny Omega, Cody Rhodes, and The Young Bucks. Whether these were just ceremonial positions or positions with power was always a bit in question.
They weren’t the only wrestlers given some sort of authority in the company. Brandi Rhodes was given a “Chief Brandi Officer” position, a wordplay for Chief Brand Officer. CM Punk held two contracts with AEW, as both an on-air talent and an employment contract, but it’s not known how much of that had power compared to an EVP role.
Cody Rhodes of course left AEW at the beginning of 2022 to join World Wrestling Entertainment. Brandi Rhodes contract lapsed around the same time. Kenny Omega confirmed on Twitch in 2024 that he hasn’t had power in the company in over four years. It’s more than likely that the EVP position for the Young Bucks was less a position of power for real and instead a storyline tool to garner heel heat.
Now that storyline tool has been taken away. The AEW Roster website temporarily had Swerve Strickland and Will Ospreay listed as the new EVPs, even though the stipulation in the match was more about them giving the position to the fans. It’s now gone. Nobody is listed as an EVP.
I consider this a good thing, and feel the Young Bucks have embraced a much better name to describe their role in the company: Founding Fathers.
I have been a Young Bucks critic for a long time. It’s usually when they are babyfaces, which I don’t think they are the best at handling. Keep that in mind because we’ll get back to it. I will never question their position as the greatest tag team of the 21st century in professional wrestling. My preference might be the Motor City Machine Guns (trust me kids they were special in the 2000s) but I’ll never deny the influence, the impact, and the importance the Young Bucks had as a tag team to pro wrestling. Not just AEW, but all of pro wrestling.
My criticism has always been rooted in me thinking they can be a bit passive aggressive and ornery when in a conflict with someone and I’m meant to be cheering them. It made the feud with Hangman Adam Page and Kenny Omega for Revolution 2020 so great because it helped me gravitate towards Hangman, but in other situations they just feel like spited teenagers constantly annoyed their best friend hangs out with the new boyfriend/girlfriend too much.
This recent heel run as the Founding Fathers for the Young Bucks has been my favourite run they’ve done as characters since their original Bullet Club runs. The long coats with tails are honestly a great look for them going to the ring. The Young Bucks essentially did fight the war of independence for professional wrestling in helping form All Elite Wrestling. They are founding fathers in the company. They deserve their credit for this.
All In Texas 2025 might have been the end of that aesthetic, as the Bucks now are cut off from the AEW money for doing elaborate costumes and entrances. Their entrance last week on AEW Dynamite had no pyro and removed their original tron video for their names in a comic sans font bouncing around like a DVD screensaver. The Bucks are being stripped away of everything that gave them power over All Elite Wrestling.
The Young Bucks are still a top tag team in ring but the situation has had them hesitating in using the EVP Trigger and costing themselves due to the conflict of their situation. This could be good in keeping them heels, as they can take their frustrations out on other tag teams. But eventually the fans are going to start feeling bad for the Bucks. AEW fans don’t handle “pathetic” very well. They usually find the good in someone when they are being pathetic. That’s why Max Caster gets cheers right now.
The Bucks lost, powerless, and unable to find their footing already has people writing articles about how they should leave to have their WrestleMania moment. Whatever that is. I don’t think this is an exit story but they are on the decline of the mountain Hangman Adam Page just climbed. Hangman had to climb the mountain to get to the peak of AEW and defeat Jon Moxley. The Young Bucks? They are tumbling down that mountain. Eventually? They will hit the bottom.
Hitting the rock bottom of the mountain of AEW will be when fans will be able to finally get behind the Young Bucks again. They likely need to do a lot of soul searching to get there. Need to make amends with a lot of people, especially Page and Kenny Omega. They will need to regain the respect of Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland. Everyone from Darby Allin on down needs to see them as the Founding Fathers they are instead of the EVP gimmick they used to antagonize the company.
But this will all be worth it in order to rebuild the Young Bucks as the top babyface team in All Elite Wrestling. With FTR turning heel and being spectacular in the role? It’s only a matter of time for FTR to become AEW World Tag Team Champions. They will probably have their hands tied at some point with Christian Cage and Adam Copeland when they reform as a tag team for one last run, but once that run is over? There still needs to be a top team to face. FTR and Young Bucks might feel like a feud that’s been overdone, but this would be under a new set of circumstances.
It wouldn’t be the rushed feud in 2023 at All In London 2023 or even the three way at All In London 2024. Heck, I totally forgot the ladder match at Dynasty 2024. This will be FTR as AEW World Tag Team Champions, finally embracing fully their role as antagonists in AEW, facing a Young Bucks team that has been baptized in fire, fighting for redemption in the company they helped form. The Young Bucks having to start from the bottom and work their way up. The AEW Tag Team division needs this.
Yes, it’s going, “back to the well” of Bucks versus FTR instead of finding new teams on top, but it’s also allowing the tag team division to be a focal point again and have a strong story between two teams instead of just one dominant team. FTR and Bucks will face all tag teams and help make other teams no problem. Doing this program will allow them to inject some energy back into the division and give the Bucks the big title win moment they really never got to have. Their first win was during the pandemic. Their second win didn’t even last a month. The third run was once again as heels. They’ve never had that World Tag Team Championship win as babyfaces in front of a cheering AEW crowd appreciating their work as Founding Fathers.
Some may feel I’m being pie in the sky because as I said, in the past I’ve not been a fan of the Bucks as babyfaces. But this time I think it would work, because it wouldn’t be about their personal grievances and drama between friends. It would be specifically about their redemption, about them turning over a new leaf and realizing that no longer as EVPs, they need to lead AEW for AEW and not because of an expectation.
The Bucks deserve that redemption arc and AEW fans deserve the chance to cheer them again.
