Anthony Bowens thanks the fans for their support.
The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) is one of the most successful homegrown acts in AEW history. The duo won the AEW World Tag Team Championship at AEW Grand Slam 2022. Heading into AEW Grand Slam 2023, they hold the AEW World Trios Championship.
Bowens wrote an article for The Players’ Tribune ahead of the show and reflected on the road up to this point.
“What you guys have let me and Max and Billy be a part of in the Acclaimed … this ride you’ve gone on with us over the last year … it means everything to me,” Bowens wrote. It’s funny, because when the Acclaimed first started, we were insane levels of hated. And not just as Wrestling Bad Guys. I’m talking, like, mobs of people in AEW’s Twitter mentions when we’d have a segment, begging them to get us off their TV. We just rolled with it, though.”
Anthony Bowens Recalls The Origin Of ‘Everyone Loves The Acclaimed’
Anthony Bowens continued by noting that he leaned into the fans’ hatred and used it for their on-screen characters. In doing so, he helped transformed The Acclaimed’s journey in AEW, as it led to the creation of their catchphrase.
“It’s a good example honestly of me becoming comfortable in my own skin,” Anthony Bowens wrote. “Like if I’d seen some of those tweets in the beginning of my career, it would have rattled the hell out of me. But I had a much better sense now of who I was as a person — and who Max and I were trying to be as performers.
“So I leaned into it. I was brainstorming one day and I thought, We’re playing delusional assholes. What would these guys think about all the hate they get?? Oh, right: they’d be FLATTERED. And they’d think it means that everyone secretly loves them. A few minutes later, we had our catchphrase. Everyone loves the Acclaimed.
Anthony Bowens On What ‘Everyone Loves The Acclaimed’ Means
After recalling the duo’s surging popularity, which was augmented by the addition of Billy Gunn, Anthony Bowens described what their catchphrase means to him.
“When I scream EVERYONE LOVES THE ACCLAIMED now, though, what I’m most proud of isn’t the LOVES part. It’s the EVERYONE part,” Anthony Bowens wrote. “It’s how every night we do this, we’re walking out there, we’re being outrageous and debaucherous and f*cking ridiculous, we’re having the best time, the most fun … and EVERYONE is invited. Everyone. That’s what the Acclaimed is truly about to me at the end of the day.
“Thanks for giving us a chance / sticking with us through the pandemic / going crazy for Max’s bars / scissoring until your fingers bleed / singing “OHHHHHH SCISSOR ME DADDYYYY” / buying foam fingers / hating Billy’s sons so much that he decided he’d rather spend time with us. Thanks for letting a queer Black kid from New Jersey live out his wrestling dream, [and] thanks for coming to this party just as you are. We’re glad you’re here.”
WrestleZone will have coverage of AEW Dynamite: Grand Slam as it airs on Wednesday.
