#max buck

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let me start by saying this is definitely missing some context here and there. Xplosion (side show) and iMPACT Xtra (bts stuff) + social media from the time are mostly long gone for this era, so I’ve done all the digging I could to find things but only so much has survived. dates are written day/month and listed by the date the episode aired, which is wildly different to filming date; they mostly filmed a long way in advance.

Max = Matt, Jeremy = Nick. they were given the surname Buck as a nod to their existing fanbase and found it embarrassing 😔

2009 MCMG recommend the bucks to TNA after their match together at PWG. they have a tryout match 21/12 — a dark match against MCMG on what was otherwise an all women’s show, which they credit for making them stand out more.

2010 GenMe debut on 14/01 in a winning match vs MCMG that runs 5:00 exact. After being forced to cut their hair and shop for their own gear they also discovered their names late — the original plan was to have them appear as jobbers who steal a surprise win, but this was changed late and they saw their new names when the episode aired. After a promising debut they’re then relegated to house shows and matches under 5 minutes for the following six months, with the exception of their first ppv match in March — a tag title contendership match and the first of their Ultimate X matches (the X or belt is hung over the centre of the ring from ropes attached to scaffolding in each corner — to reach it the winner has to successfully climb across without falling or being pulled down).

03/06 during a house show loop running three consecutive days Kevin Nash requests that GenMe win the tag titles on day 1 so they can be pushed and then drop the titles back at the end of the loop. The office refuse despite him arguing in their support.

from May until their heel turn in September Jeremy began to have singles matches on Impact, the main show, only appearing with Max as GenMe on Xplosion, the side show. He has a ladder match that lasts 4:29, as though he wasn’t also working in PWG and more than capable of a ladder spot. anyway.

04/08 their second most important rivalry started with Ink Inc. in a failed tag title contendership match. Until now GenMe had 0 tv time to show their personalities or explain their concept. Ink Inc. are a punk, alternative styled team and claim that their genuine presentation is representative of the audience while GenMe are self-centred, entitled and only interested in themselves. The following week they have another losing match against MCMG in the build to their heel turn against them and are finally given a video package to formally introduce them. This is a reused video package that was already shown a while previous on REACTiON, a show that aired after Impact for a few months. They introduce themselves as the good straight-edge christian boys they are and talk about being grateful, just wanting to achieve their dreams etc etc and it’s not fitting at all with the fact they’re about to be little jerks. I think this was just poor planning on TNA’s part, but shrugs, that’s just how it often was.

between their January debut and heel turn in September they have a total of 9 house shows, losing 8 of them. 3 were tag team title challenges. in August their hair had grown long enough to tie back and yes it’s relevant to the timeline that you know they had identical hairstyles (Nick’s early RoH style — buzzed back and sides, slicked back ponytail. unusual on Matt. twins).

05/09 a new era begins for GenMe with them turning on their former mentors, MCMG, at a ppv. They go for their usual handshakes but start a beating, ultimately throwing Shelley from the apron into the barricade and seriously injuring him.

16/09 they cut their first and only in ring promo, explaining their entitled attitude to reaching the top without paying any dues on the way. They subdue Sabin and introduce their new catchphrase — hooking a guy on the ropes, pointing to themselves, ‘It’s all about ME’, then twisting and killing him. The next week they proceed to have a very silly match with Jeremy (newly turned heel and with Max ringside supporting him) facing Sabin (still immensely pissed). It lasts 3:45 and Jeremy loses badly — they’re as weak as heels as they were relatively good guys.

by October the dismal booking has returned. From October through to the end of the year they have 7 losing house show tag team challenges with MCMG (in fact they have 19 matches and win only 3 — 4:58 vs Ink Inc., a Jeremy singles on Xplosion, and a six man (they’re entered into a battle royal and briefly share a ring with Sting for the first time so that’s cool, at least).

18/11 they have their infamous empty arena match with MCMG. This aired on REACTiON as it was supposed to be a shoot fight that happened to be caught on camera. In November and December they have a brief involvement with Tara — they’re inexplicably in a six man tag with her, fighting the two guys the woman she’s feuding with has brought. They have an awkward backstage promo where she sexually harasses Jeremy. They have an even more awkward backstage promo where she sexually harasses both of them and they agree to be her backing dancers while she performs (which does happen for real. they’re out there dancing). Despite what seemed like several attempts to set something up between them, and the boys making positive backstage comments about an interest in intergender work and the opportunity they had with her, nothing else ever comes of this.

their final match of 2010 is a four way X-Division contendership that they enter as respective singles wrestlers. When they’re tagged in to fight each other they tease locking up and then hit their signature Bucks pose for the first time in TNA, which they probably shouldn’t have done, and then continue the match working together as a team (neither of them wins).

2011, their year anniversary, starts with a loss to Ink Inc. and 3 more house show losses to MCMG. 02/01 and 03/02 they have respective three-way matches as singles guys to enter themselves into contendership for the X-Division title (Max only has two singles matches in their TNA run; both are for storyline purposes). Jeremy is at ringside for Max, Max is on commentary for Jeremy, they cheat and assist each other in winning spots in what will be a four man.

in February rumours spread that the office was unhappy with Matt’s decision to post about their travel issues online. They couldn’t make a ppv appearance due to bad weather and it were deemed unprofessional for telling fans about this themselves via twitter. (Matt also made a very sweet blog post about it, so of course I’m taking his side

the week before the X-Division title match, 10/03 they fight Ink Inc. and the seed for the feud is planted. Max erratically blind tags himself in and the match ends with Max forcing Jeremy into executing a tag move at the wrong moment, letting him get speared and pinned. Jeremy is confused and upset about what happened and Max alternates trying to comfort him and yelling at him. Over on REACTiON ahead of the ppv Jeremy talks about how one of them will win the X-Division title and so both of them will benefit, while Max goes hmm, yeah, it’s all about me, right? I’ll win.

the Bucks have said that when they originally agreed to the feud, although they were reluctant and argued that they were signed as a team for a reason, they were promised a lot from it. The original plan was to tell an expansive story that concluded in a one on one cagematch, however the producer who pitched this to them left the company shortly after.

the ppv is on 13/03. although they’ve entered as singles they still come out together with their usual entrance, Max heading straight for the ring and playing to the camera while Jeremy trails behind. Jeremy is in a clear position to climb and go for the belt and Max stops him, pulling him down and telling him that it needs to be him that wins the belt. He insists Jeremy assists him, but halfway across the ring to the opposite rope Jeremy defies him and runs back to start climbing. They reach the belt at the same moment and start fighting, resulting in them both falling and Kazarian taking the belt.

29/03, they address what happened, with more questionable decisions from TNA by having Max cut his promo on Xplosion rather than the main show. He apologises for letting things get out of hand and says their parents are concerned (their mom was using twitter at the time and posting about them falling out), but the onus is put on Jeremy to resolve things. Max is angry that he’s the big brother, way older, has way more authority, and they can easily fix this if Jeremy lies down and lets Max pin him. If he just shows his subservience they can forget all about it ‘and go play video games’. Jeremy refuses and insists they have a match (Jeremy loses). 31/03 they take this to the main show and we even get an angsty little video set to sticks & bricks by a day to remember. Max says again that Jeremy should get in line, stop upsetting their parents, and be the younger brother and lay down for a pin. Jeremy claims Max has pushed him around all his life and it’s time to prove he’s the better wrestler. Jeremy loses their second match.

the next week they’re in a 6 man as singles but together. they’re already in the ring while the other entrances are happening and seem to have tentatively resolved things — Jeremy looks glum but Max is cheerfully talking to Jeremy, nudging him, patting him. They begin the match working together, but abruptly Max turns on Jeremy, setting him up to get hurt and pushing him down to get pinned. He stands over him and pulls off his GenMe armband, throws it at Jeremy and leaves him crying in the ring.

17/04 is the next ppv and is an 8-man escape the cage elimination match for another shot at the X-Division title. Max blows Jeremy a kiss when he enters the cage and they go to opposite sides and mostly ignore each other. when elimination has narrowed down to the final few they face each other and Jeremy loses it. He slams Max into the sides of the cage, climbs on him and punches him, but ultimately still ends up pinned. Max goes on to win the match, giving him the shot at the X-Division singles title (which. as we know, he would NOT want a singles run. According to their book he laid down on the locker room floor and screamed after this match. (But no worries nothing matters in TNA and it just never happens)

for their entire TNA run only 3 indies promos will book them due to how difficult TNA make the paperwork - a one off match in a school gym, PWG, and IWL, a local socal promo. During their feud they appear at IWL as singles, billed as Max and Jeremy, and they have numerous PWG matches appearing in their GenMe gear. Around this time they start to openly criticise the company and their boss, wearing TNA shirts to their matches, bragging about their tv success to get booed by the crowd, and dedicating wins to Dixie (their boss, who saw Matt at a show and asked him if he’d ever considered becoming a wrestler).

GenMe don’t show again until May 5th. (Matt’s hair had grown back to its former length and he shows up with it suddenly shoulder length again. they made him cut his hair off TWICE). TNA is becoming Impact and the X-Division realises they’re being pushed out by the higher ups. The X-Division is for younger, smaller talent and that isn’t something Bischoff wants in the rebrand. The X-Division find him backstage for a partly shoot confrontation led by Brian Kendrick about poor booking and the sudden firing of Jay Lethal. Bischoff for real throws hot coffee on Brian and burns his hand. Later in the same show the X-Division attempt a takeover by crashing an in-ring promo Bischoff is doing. This was all kinda shoot too. According to the Bucks’ brother they filmed another of these segments and it was cut from the show entirely. Bischoff says to rid the company of them he’ll set up a match for each of them against his biggest guys. for insult to injury GenMe are paired off against Matt Hardy, to upset them, and Bischoff himself, to upset us for the rest of time.

19/05 In a later interview the Bucks explained that TNA’s creative team at the time worked on a rotational basis — each writer was given a few X-Division guys and worked with them for a month, then they’d switch. This was to avoid favouritism or sticky writing, but is in part whey their feud never had consistency. Ahead of the match GenMe are in the locker room settling their differences and agreeing they were both in the wrong for hurting each other. For the sake of saving the X-Division they can move on. They lose the match (Max is pinned by Bischoff. rip).

a full month later at the end of June they have 3 more house shows — two 4-ways as singles, 1 tag title challenge against Beer Money Inc. in July Jeremy has a final losing singles match on Xplosion against Shannon Moore of Ink Inc. With their feud tentatively over and Max’s singles run having never materialised, this is a report from the TNA UK blog about Max being ringside for this match:

We hear a quick word from Max who says that even though he’s bigger, better, faster and loved more by the Buck parents, he’s inexplicably not getting a chance in this Xplosion Championship Tournament. He wishes his brother well though, “being the family man” that he is.

26/06 they have a dark match for ROH vs Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly at the Hammerstein Ballroom. The atmosphere and a handshake agreement that they can work there (and issues that they admittedly caused themselves by tweeting about their grievances with TNA) leads to them asking for their release from TNA within days. It’s agreed that they can leave so long as they honour their final scheduled ppv appearance. The announcement of them departing won’t be released until after the event.

on 10/07, a year and a half after their debut, GenMe’s final appearance is arguably one of the worst matches of the Buck’s careers, a ppv match against Shark Boy and Eric Young. (they lost).

Matt posted a statement about their decision to leave on a since deleted genme tumblr account he was running

the Bucks returned to TNA in 2013 for 3 matches across a two day event. Unbelievably ROH treated them even worse than TNA, making them regret their decision to not stick out the full 3 years before their contract would become salaried. Their plan at this point was to get back into TNA and spend the rest of their career there as they felt this was best for their families. Happily fate and Okada and numerous other promotions and events intervened and their final TNA match was a loss to Bad Influence (CD & Kazarian) in a ladder match.

stats time! Genme had 70 matches. only 17 were unrelated to contenderships. 22 were house shows, 12 were tag title challenges. 14 were as singles, mostly in multi-mans they took part in together. The Bucks joked that a highlights tape of their TNA run may as well just be a best of MCMG matches. Jeremy had 7 singles matches, Max had 2. excluding their matches against each other, despite TNA insisting they were a bright and promising tag team on their way to the top, they won only 16/68. their matches averaged 3-4 minutes, with their longest televised match on the main show being 6 minutes vs Bischoff 🙃 (they also got a total of 6 sets of gear during their run and at least two were pretty nice imo. one set was the panicked hot topic purchases of legend)

during their TNA run they did some cool stuff outside of there. wXw 16 carat gold in germany is often mistaken for the GenMe feud because they have the haircuts. they worked in DGUSA, Chikara with their baby bro, and some great PWG stuff. they won DDT4, PWG’s tag team tournament, and became the PWG tag champions all while TNA didn’t trust them to go three minutes 🖕

personal thoughts: this was frustrating and depressing as hell to watch and I had to step away from it for a while before writing this up. I can’t describe it any other way than that it felt like they were booked in a way that would humiliate them. we know from their book that TNA was indeed very careless with handling them, but the feeling that TNA did not like them and not only wanted them to fail, but wanted them to be embarrassed of themselves is so present in the length of their matches, the ways they lose, and the whole tara thing. they enjoyed the house show matches and getting to show what they could do in their matches with each other, so there’s that at least. they didn’t get a lot of opportunity to inhabit their characters, but the vibe between them is..not nice, it feels strange. they’re trying very hard to be normal guys who are normal about each other. jeremy is a very mild sfw fuckboy and max is his eye rolling, slightly more serious older brother. but if you know the bucks it just feels bleh..max is a little cold and shut off towards jeremy, the lack of affection and forced antagonism between them is so noticeable even before the feud. which, yeah, it’s their job to be their characters, but it’s sure unfortunate that they got the most symbiotic brothers on the planet and told them to behave like anybody else. they totally forgot they’d done a promo about being straight edge and max points out that jeremy has just turned 21 so can go for a drink when they win (but never mind! they never won.)