How Close Were Young Bucks To WWE? + Alberto Del Rio MMA Match

-Up until All Elite Wrestling became official, The Young Bucks were a couple of the hottest wrestlers not in WWE.

The company was in hot pursuit of the pair, along with other members of The Elite, such as Kenny Omega and Cody Rhodes. 

At a time when WWE was struggling, the company was thought to have thrown lucrative contracts at most, if not all, the members of the faction, in an effort to bring them to WWE and give RAW and SmackDown a boost.

As we know, the Jacksons and others took their talents to AEW instead. In a recent interview, the brothers acknowledged that they were actually quite close to signing with WWE.

A number of factors swayed them when Tony Khan swooped in. For one, they got to run things-something WWE will not allow any Superstar to do. For another, they wanted a lighter schedule than WWE would even go for. The money was seemingly not a factor, showing that money is not everything.

-Former WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio appears to be scheduled to work an MMA match against seasoned veteran Tito Ortiz later this year.

The two have signed with fledgling promotion Combates Americas, and are planned for a bout at a 210 pound catchweight.

Tito Ortiz is a huge name in MMA, an established Hall of Famer. Del Rio, on the other hand, is not exactly inexperienced in mixed martial arts. He did fight for PRIDE, and has an MMA record of 9-5.

However, his experience aside, the former WWE Superstar has not appeared in an MMA bout since 2010.

Del Rio had initially been brought on to be an ambassador for Combates, helping to promote the company and get them exposure in markets.

Having him move from hyping the product to being part of the product is an interesting move, especially considering how long it’s been between bouts.