Complex recently spoke with AEW superstars Matt and Nick Jackson (The Young Bucks) about their love of basketball sneakers, and how the brothers believe they started the trend of wrestlers wearing sneakers during matches. Highlights are below.
On their first introduction to sneakers
Nick: For me it was the Concord 11s. I pretty much own every single one of them at this point. I think because Bret “Hitman” Hart wore a similar [silhouette].
Matt: Being 90s kids, it was all about Michael Jordan. We just wanted to be Jordan. And we were poor kids and couldn’t afford any of the shoes. So we’d see all our friends wearing [Jordans] and would be so jealous. So now we’re like, “We can afford these shoes that we used to really want as a kid? Let’s buy all of them!
On the reaction to them wrestling in Dior Jordan 1s:
Matt: We were turning heel. I told Nick, “What is the one thing we can do that can piss off so many people?” I’ve been obsessed with the [Dior Jordan 1s] since they came out. I said, “What if we buy those and wrestle in them?” I knew it’d be a big thing, but I didn’t know it’d be as big of a deal as it was. We stumbled on something really unique. From that point on, any pair of shoes we wore to the ring, we built a costume around them.
On starting the trend of wearing sneakers in wrestling:
Nick: I feel like we actually made it a trend. If you look on Instagram or Twitter or any social media, you’ll see wrestlers in sneakers, and that wasn’t a thing 3 or 4 years ago.
Matt: Shane McMahon may have been the first to do it, but I don’t think all the wrestlers were copying it. So maybe Shane is the OG but we helped make it trendy.