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The Young Bucks superkick their way onto bookshelves

Alexandra Robertson
When it comes to autobiographies, most do a good job of telling the reader about someone’s life, the marvelous career they’ve had and bring you along for the ride during various events they’ve experienced. It’s not very often however, that you can feel moved by someone else’s story through their trials and tribulations. Young Bucks: Killing the Business from Backyards to the Big Leagues, out November 17, 2020 from Dey Street Books, makes you feel motivated to pursue your own dreams and shows us the real meaning behind the phrase, “Never give up.”

Authors Nick and Matt Jackson better known as the tag team, The Young Bucks

The book relays the life and career of arguably the most popular tag team in today’s wrestling world, Nick and Matt Jackson, better known as The Young Bucks. After reading these pages, you will learn that not only do these two have a mind for business, but they also have the determination and skill to take over the pro wrestling industry.

Splitting the work by doing a chapter each, The Young Bucks describe their lives from birth in great detail. Sometimes, being too specific can overwhelm the reader with unnecessary information. This was not the case here. The first few chapters give you a sense of who they were as kids, their siblings and the parents who raised them, along with what kind of surroundings they grew up in. All that became important later on, when they started their very own wrestling show in their backyard, hence the title of their book.

One thing that both Jacksons do very well is leaving each chapter with the reader wanting more. By this, I mean you don’t want to put the book down, even if it’s late at night. The cliffhangers are essential. The mention of certain wrestlers at the end of most chapters gives you a sense that the Jacksons are constantly foreshadowing bigger events. If you feel the same way I did reading it, you will finish the book in one shot.

Even though the Jacksons are wrestlers, and the book is largely about the squared circle, the book would be easy for even the casual pro wrestling fan to follow. All of their moves – especially the story of when their infamous superkick was born – to the people mentioned and all of the companies they were a part of are explained. But I did find that the book was overloaded at times with wrestling content. The Young Bucks were able to strike an acceptable balance between talking about wrestling and their family life though, which is a huge part of their journey.

Just like when I watch a film, I found that the 295 pages of this book had a definitive story arc and the ending was something special, even if I had already known what was going to happen. It was the anticipation of reading about their reactions and emotions that followed after they had decided to take the biggest risk yet by starting/partnering with All Elite Wrestling (AEW), that cinched everything for me. The Jacksons have taken you by the hand through their whole lives and by the time you’ve realized what they have created, you feel the kind of happiness that they must have felt. That is something very powerful to get from an autobiography.

If you’re looking for some kind of motivation to pursue your dreams, the Jacksons are prime examples of how to do it right. It makes me happy to see books like this on the shelves because I think that people need this kind of revelation in their lives. In a world that is constantly changing, it’s a gratifying change of pace to know that no matter what kind of a situation you’re in, you can still work towards your goals, just as The Young Bucks did.

Whether you’re looking for a book on pro wrestling, a motivational journey or an example of how to take a risk and start a business to do things on your own terms: this is a book for you. I can only hope that those who want to enter an industry like pro wrestling, sit down and learn from what these two young men have done. If anything, you’ll learn how to superkick your way into your own passions and learn to “Never give up.”

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