“When we first started our careers, we were singles wrestlers,” Matt said. “In the very, very beginning. Like ’04, ’05. I think it was just one of those happenstance moments where the promoter booked us as a tag team and it clicked. Everybody started wanting us as a tag team. We were kind of against it at first. We were like, ‘No, I wanna wear red and call myself Mr. Replay, he wants to wear blue and call himself Slick Nick. We’re not the Young Bucks.'”

Matt continued, “And it was almost forced upon us like, ‘No, no, no, you’re the Young Bucks.’ We started seeing we were getting more bookings and there was more buzz about us. So it was almost like, ‘Why are we going against what everybody wants?’ This is undeniable and there’s more marketability in this. There’s probably more chances that we’re gonna succeed because, at the time, there weren’t that many tag teams blowing up and doing things. Maybe this is our way in to get the push that we want.”

Matt and Nick have remained tag team partners ever since, although they did recall one time when Vince Russo wanted them to have a singles feud during their days as Generation Me in TNA. Nick admitted that he does want to have a singles match against Matt on “AEW Dynamite” one day without it being a proper feud.

If you use any quotes from this article, please credit “Swerve City Podcast” with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.