Max Caster and Anthony Bowens, collectively known as 'The Acclaimed', are one of the most popular tag teams in AEW right now.
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It is no exaggeration to say that Max Caster and Anthony Bowens, collectively known as The Acclaimed, are one of the most popular tag teams in All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Caster’s raps and Bowens’ hype-man schtick are madly over with the AEW faithful. What makes it even more amazing is that the two men weren’t really a tag team until they joined AEW.
Bowens and Caster share a trainer and knew each other, but both were singles wrestlers. That is, until they were given a shot by AEW as a tag team.
“We would see each other at shows all the time,” Caster told The Sports Generals. “We share a trainer, Pat Buck. He trained both of us but we were never really friends.
“It was in the fall of 2020 that, independent of each other, we both got a call from AEW. We fly down to Jacksonville, which is where we were taping at the time and we just bump into each other in the elevator and say, ‘Oh, what are you doing here?’ ‘I don’t know, what are you doing here?’ ‘I’m trying to get a job’. ‘Oh, I’m trying to get a job’.
“So we kind of figured out throughout the day that, ‘Wow. They’re going to ask us to be a tag team’.”
Caster added that their match against the Best Friends went so well they were instantly signed. As for the name of their team? That comes from AEW president Tony Khan.
In fact, Caster revealed another interesting tidbit in this interview: ‘The Acclaimed’ was almost the name given to Chris Jericho’s faction, The Inner Circle.
“(Tony Khan) apparently had this idea for a tag team called ‘The Acclaimed’ for a long time,” Caster said. “I also heard that it was almost the name of the Inner Circle in AEW.
“Where he pitched to Chris Jericho, ‘Hey, what if it was Chris Jericho and The Acclaimed, kind of like your band or whatever?’
“Because, you know, Chris is a rockstar. They didn’t go for that and Tony, I guess, wanted a tag team called ‘The Acclaimed’.
“And from there, that was just up to us. He goes, ‘Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, you are The Acclaimed’. And we go, ‘Oh great. What’s that?’
“And so we sat back and we realized that it makes perfect sense. We are both highly acclaimed professional wrestlers in our areas on the independents.
“Both me and Anthony had very similar paths, which a lot of people would tell us, ‘You guys are incredible wrestlers, but you just need to be on TV. You don’t fit in on the independents’.
“And that’s something that always frustrated us because, you know, it sucks being told, ‘Hey, you don’t belong here, even though you’re the best.’
“And actually, we proved everyone right. We got on TV and became everyone’s favorite tag team.”
