Anthony Bowens wants people to get their heads out of the gutter because scissoring is a sign of friendship and nothing more.
Bowens and Max Caster, collectively known as The Acclaimed, have become a fan-favorite act in AEW, and their “scissoring” taunt, along with Bowens’ line, “Scissor me, Daddy Ass”, directed at Billy Gunn, have become a hit.
During an appearance on Talk Is Jericho, Bowens looked back on the organic way that the sign became a part of the duo’s presentation. He noted that, at first, he was thrown off by it because he was super safe with things, but he opted to roll with it. Bowens then recalled how they were asked to stop scissoring, but Caster trying to “milk” his fingers brought the taunt back because that was even worse.
“Scissoring is simply a sign of friendship and nothing more. Get your mind out of the gutter, guys. That was another thing, like organically, a lot of things that people love about The Acclaimed have all been organic stuff, which is I think pretty cool, too. There was one time on Dark where I hit my little pose where I put my hand down and it looks like the A, and then Max came up from behind, and I think he had, just to rib me, tried to catch me with the scissor. And I reacted to it like, ‘Woah, what are you doing?’ Again in the beginning, I was super safe with things. I wouldn’t really, ‘Yes, and,’ from an improv perspective. I’d probably be like, ‘eh.’ And they actually asked us to stop doing it for a little bit, and then I think Max milked my fingers once, which was even worse. So they’re like, ‘Go back to the scissoring.’
“But I was on the floor, I can’t remember which match it was, but I knew we were onto something when the entire front row had their hands out and they’re all yelling, ‘Bowens, scissor me.’ And then it just became a thing. And now we do meet and greets, we just did one last weekend where we signed for a good four or five hours straight, just constantly, every single person wanted to scissor. They wanted to double scissor. They wanted to chain scissor, they wanted to do all kinds of scissoring. It’s a thing now. It’s the new craze in pro wrestling.
Likewise, Bowens looked back on how his line, “The Acclaimed have arrived”, came about, during the days when AEW didn’t have full crowds due to the pandemic, because he needed something to say and he was inspired by his GPS.
“We would just have to try moves and try new pieces of gear and figure out catchphrases that we don’t get a response to because there’s nobody in the audience. Like, ‘The Acclaimed have arrived’ line, now everybody yells it because we have full arenas. But back then, I’m screaming it to nobody. I sound awkward.
“I didn’t even have the line in the beginning. It would just end and there would be this awkwardness of like yeah! He just said that. So we had to figure out something for me to say, and I was driving home and my GPS was on. And it was like, ‘You have arrived,’ and I was like yeah I’m in AEW now, I’ve arrived, The Acclaimed have arrived. And that’s kinda where that came from. It’s not the coolest thing to say, but if you say it with enough conviction enough and you scream it at the top of your lungs, you know…. I figured if I say something passionately enough, at some point, it will catch on, especially when people come back, and it has. I’m signing it by 8x10s, people are yelling it in my face as I walking the Vegas strip, so it’s pretty cool.”
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