Since their formation in October 2020, The Acclaimed has grown to be one of All Elite Wrestling’s most popular tag teams.
Anthony Bowens and Max Caster weren’t established before joining AEW. On Talk Is Jericho, Bowens talked about how they came to teaming together.
“I came down there and worked a Dark in Jacksonville in empty Daily’s Place against Luther and Serpentico. It aired two weeks later because we were taping everything in advance, and about maybe 12 hours after that, the next morning, I get a message on Twitter from WWE. ‘Hey, we want you to talk to [William] Regal.’ I said, ‘Yes.’ I was like, ‘Alright, I did it. This is great!’” Bowens began.
“Somewhere along the lines, Tony [Khan] found out about this and offered me to come down and meet him. They hadn’t sent me a contract yet, and this was maybe two or three weeks after I said yes, so I was like, ‘You know what? It wouldn’t hurt to hear this guy out and see what he says.’ So I flew down to Jacksonville and I was going there. I get into the elevator and there is Max Caster,” Bowens continued.
“I’m like, ‘Hey! What are you doing here?’ And he’s like, ‘Oh, I’m here to talk to Tony.’ ‘Well, I’m here to talk to Tony.’ And then we found out that we were there to talk to Tony together, and we were trying to figure out what was happening, and then we get brought into TK’s office and he’s like, ‘Hey, I have this idea for you two. I like you guys, I’d like to call you guys The Acclaimed.’ And we’re like, ‘Okay, that’s awesome,’ but also, at the same time, I was just, ‘I just said yes to NXT. Like, it’s a risk cause if you don’t like me, then this match airs and then they see that and then I’m screwed.’ And he’s like, ‘Don’t worry about it. Go out and have this match.’ We went out, we worked Best Friends, we had a great match, came back through the curtain, and I saw him give a thumbs up. And I wanted to be here in the first place when the place first opened, my focus shifted here.”
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