it’s a whole bunch of lore from bte in 2020-2022. from matt kicking hangman out of the elite for costing the bucks a tag title shot bc he(hangman) didn’t wanna face them again bc of how brutal their tag match against the bucks were (kenny/hangman v the bucks).
their just general resentment of that and then occasionally in bte late 2020(early 2021?) there were some clips of matt pining for him to come back, but he sees him(hangman) finding joy in other people(dark order) and leaves him be. also a clip of hangman wanting to go see the bucks after their tag title win, but sees them celebrating without him (these clips aren’t in that order im pretty sure).
then in early/mid 2022, when the aew trios titles were introduced, the bucks didn’t have any partners and since they were with the super kliq around then, and adam cole knew the bucks weren’t gonna team with bobby fish(since kyle and cole himself were out with injury and couldn’t compete) cole was like ‘well ig yall can’t compete in the tourney. actually yall won’t be physically capable to compete in the tournament’ and then turns on the buck. as adam cole and the rest of the super kliq are attacking the bucks in the ring, cole atp had put a chair around matt’s neck, essentially trying to break it. but right as he was about to do that, hangman comes out with a pipe to prevent any sort of damage from happening, chasing the super kliq off. after they’re out of the ring tho, matt(nicks leaning on the ropes behind him) is sat in the ring, staring up at him all sad and pouty. hangman hesitates for a second, but then goes up to matt and grabs his hand and helps him up. then they kinda just stand there for a moment looking at each other, before hangman turns and leaves them in the ring as the bucks watch him walk away.
fast forwarding a bit, with the bucks still having no partner for the trios tournament and the prospect of the hungbucks reuniting for the first time since roh was now there, the bucks wanted to try and make amends with hangman, so they go to him, apologize for everything they’ve done while they were with kenny, and one line they (matt did all the talking here) threw out was “we’re the best version of ourselves when we’re with you.” while hangman appreciated and accepted the apology, he declined bc he wasn’t initially apart of the trios title tournament. but after a series of incidents with the dark order members getting taken out or hurt, hangman eventually took over the third spot in the final, which the final would be against the bucks. so that resentment from matt bubbles back up bc of that and it showed a lot in that match, bc he was now just under the impression that he(hangman) just didn’t wanna team with them(the bucks) and gave some excuse for it.
now in early 2023, hangman is in a feud with mox and the bcc, at the beginning of the show, hangman’s like in a fight of some sorts with them. about an hour later i’d say, after a match between the JAS v the elite v HoB, the ring just ends in a mini brawl between JAS v HoB, but then the bcc and hangman come out battling it out on the ramp and make their way up to the ring, the previously mentioned teams (JAS and HoB) they cleared out of the ring. hangman then goes into the ring and like staring down the bcc as they gather in front of the outside of the ring, staring back at him, with the intent to like gang up on him, but then the bucks and kenny stand, who were outside of the ring previously since the end of the match, behind him and kinda like join him in staring down the bcc, having the like cower away bc of that. but hangman in that moment doesnt know that the rest of the elite were standing behind him until he turns around and sees them.
(there is a period between the previous moment and the next part that isn’t like crazy important. kenny just has trust issues still with hangman that end up being resolved blah blah blah)
they eventually reunite after kenny tries to confront callis and then gets attacked by the bcc, bucks come out to defend him, but then hangman comes out and joins them. on bte’s after that moment they basically welcome him back and things are discussed, and matt’s like SUPER happy hangman’s back at that point. since they’re all good now there a couple hungbucks roh trios titles runs.
i know this is a lot and i hope it makes sense 😭
