Exclusive: Young Bucks Say NJPW Initially Hesitated To Let Being The Elite Be Part Of Their Show

All In has sold out, and buzz around the event is significant, in no small part due to the very popular “Being the Elite” web series.

The show follows several members of Bullet Club as they go about life on the road, mixed in with skits and angles that have served to popularize many of the cast members. When speaking to Fightful.com’s Andrea Hangst, Matt and Nick Jackson of the Young Bucks were pretty transparent about New Japan Pro Wrestling and Ring of Honor’s attempts to influence the series.

“They try, at this point they can’t control us with what we want to do,” said Nick. “We get heat from New Japan a lot for stuff that’s stupid and silly. The Japanese culture is so old fashioned and traditional that we don’t even realize we’re offending someone.”

Matt chimed in, saying “One thing New Japan’s strict about is we can’t use is the in-ring stuff, because TV ASAHI owns it. As far as Ring of Honor, they’re great. They let us do whatever we want. We literally just shoot and do whatever we want. That’s probably why the show’s done so well. Either we create the stories or we steer the stories and they go along with it.”

The freedom of content has led to several wrestlers and promotions benefiting — from Ring of Honor, to independent shows where segments are filmed. According to Nick, NJPW finally gave in and allowed BTE to become part of their canon.

“New Japan, that’s something we didn’t have control of for a long time until we hit a home run on a big angle,” said Nick. “Then they’re like ‘wow, these guys might be smart about these angles.'”

“They pretty much let us write the stories on the show, and then we write the stories on our own show to supplement,” Matt said.

The latest episode of Being The Elite was delayed this week due to Nick’s illness, which he also opened up about during the talk with Fightful. He tells us that he was shaking uncontrollably and fortunately meds helped him out. With All In coming up Saturday, Nick hopes to be 100 percent.

You can see our full discussion with Young Bucks above, and tune into Fightful’s live All-In post show directly after the event, as well as our live discussion and coverage throughout the day Saturday. Our first edition of Making A Finisher also goes live this weekend, with Adam “Hangman” Page as the subject.