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106-579: The Elite is a villainous professional wrestling stable currently appearing in the American professional wrestling promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The group currently consists of co-leaders The Young Bucks (Matthew Jackson and Nicholas Jackson), Kazuchika Okada , and Jack Perry . The Elite was originally formed in January 2016 by Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks as a trio acting as

212-549: A heel (also known as a rudo in lucha libre ) is a wrestler who portrays a villain , "bad guy", "baddie", "evil-doer", or "rulebreaker", and acts as an antagonist to the faces , who are the heroic protagonist or "good guy" characters. Not everything a heel wrestler does must be villainous: heels need only to be booed or jeered by the audience to be effective characters, although most truly successful heels embrace other aspects of their devious personalities, such as cheating to win or using foreign objects. "The role of

318-552: A low blow on his distracted opponent. Other heels may act overpowering to their opponents to play up the scrappy underdog success story for the face. Blackpool Combat Club Formed in 2022, the group's original name derived from the town where William Regal—the group's creator and initial manager—began his career. The group was originally a tag team managed by Regal and consisted of Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley, who were later joined by Wheeler Yuta, Claudio Castagnoli, Marina Shafir, and Pac. Regal and Danielson subsequently left

424-547: A screwdriver . The week after this, BCC (Jon Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli ), brutally defeated The Elite's close associates, Brandon Cutler and Michael Nakazawa, leading to Omega and The Young Bucks to return fending off the BCC, with Omega almost impaling Moxley with a screwdriver. On the April 19 edition of Dynamite , BCC attacked The Elite during an in-ring promo, leading to Callis bringing out his protege Konosuke Takeshita to save

530-577: A "new Elite" and later dub " The Super Elite ". Following the dissolution of AEW and Impact's partnership, Callis remained with The Elite while Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson quietly left, and were replaced in the group by Adam Cole , Bobby Fish , and Kyle O'Reilly , who all left in August 2022. Throughout this time, The Elite would collectively win the AEW World Tag Team Championship three times, once by Omega with Page and

636-399: A Blood and Guts match following Pac and Takeshita leaving the match. Following their feud with The Elite, at All In on August 27, the BCC teamed with Santana and Ortiz to face Eddie Kingston, Penta El Zero Miedo and Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta) and Orange Cassidy in a Stadium Stampede match, but they lost. At All Out on September 3, Danielson made his return from injury as

742-503: A Blood and Guts match. Afterwards, Page quietly left The Elite for a second time. Being The Elite , also known as BTE , debuted on YouTube in May 2016 and has since aired on average once or twice a week. The show is shot and edited entirely on an iPhone with the members of The Elite holding complete creative control over the content. Originally intended as a promotional vehicle and a video journal of The Young Bucks & Kenny Omega's life on

848-481: A May 2020 interview, Cody Rhodes discussed the status of the Elite's members, stating that the 'OG' Elite (Bucks, Omega) will always determine who joins the group, and that it's "their world" that he's honored to take part in. He also clarified that Hangman Page and Marty Scurll were part of the "expanded universe" of the group, and that Matt Hardy also was an honorary member. On the August 27 episode of AEW Dynamite, Page

954-448: A Steel Cage match between Omega and Moxley was announced. During the closing moments of the match on the May 10 episode of Dynamite , Omega pinned Moxley following a One-Winged Angel, only for Don Callis to betray Omega, by breaking up the pin, attacking Omega with a screwdriver, leading to Moxley pinning a knocked out Omega to win the match. The following week, on the May 17 edition of Dynamite Callis attempted to explain his betrayal, but

1060-531: A civil war between the Bullet Club "OGs" and The Elite. On November 8, 2018, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced Page and former Bullet Club stablemate Yujiro Takahashi would represent The Elite at the 2018 World Tag League Tournament. On December 15, 2018, The Elite, minus Scurll who remained under contract, officially left ROH, following the Final Battle pay-per-view. They gave a post show speech to

1166-488: A different public image, such as The Rock 's turn from a clean-cut face to self-absorbed narcissist in the Nation of Domination heel stable, or Tetsuya Naito 's fan rejection of his babyface causing him to drastically form Los Ingobernables de Japon . The term "heel" does not, in itself, describe a typical set of attributes or audience reaction, but simply a wrestler's presentation and booking as an antagonist. Depending on

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1272-525: A dramatic heel is the wrestler The Undertaker , who, on many occasions throughout his career, has switched between portraying a heel or a face. During his period as the leader of The Ministry of Darkness , he appeared as a priest of the occult in a hooded black robe and literally sat in a throne, often in the shape of the symbol used to represent him. Occasionally, faces who have recently turned from being heels still exhibit characteristics from their heel persona. This occurs due to fans being entertained by

1378-667: A face and defeated Ricky Starks in a No Disqualification Strap match, Castagnoli and Yuta defeated Kingston and Katsuyori Shibata in a tag team match, while at the main event, Moxley was able to win the AEW International Championship from Cassidy. At Grand Slam on September 20, Castagnoli lost the ROH World Championship to Kingston in a Winner Takes All match that also put the Strong Openweight Championship on

1484-410: A feud with Darby Allin , while forming an alliance with Marina Shafir in the process. On September 7 at All Out, after Danielson retained the title against Jack Perry, Castagnoli and Moxley attacked Danielson while feigning celebration and attempted suffocation with a plastic bag, kicking him out of the group. After turning on Danielson, Moxley took over leadership of the BCC with Pac and Shafir as

1590-721: A guest of Omega and aided him in winning the AEW World Championship . Omega then began making appearances in Impact Wrestling alongside Callis, eventually winning the Impact World Championship , and reestablished ties with past Bullet Club teammates and Impact wrestlers Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson . Omega would claim to have "reformed the old Bullet Club", and once the group merged with the trio of remaining Elite members, Callis would take credit for "reforming" The Elite, which he called

1696-594: A heel is to get 'heat,' which means spurring the crowd to obstreperous hatred, and generally involves cheating and any other manner of socially unacceptable behavior." To gain heat (with boos and jeers from the audience), heels are often portrayed as behaving in an immoral manner by breaking rules or otherwise taking advantage of their opponents outside the bounds of the standards of the match. Others do not (or rarely) break rules, but instead exhibit unlikeable, appalling, and deliberately offensive and demoralizing personality traits such as arrogance, cowardice, or contempt for

1802-412: A losing effort against Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara , and Minoru Suzuki . Later that night, Claudio Castagnoli —who defeated Regal in his final match nine years prior—joined the BCC and made his surprise AEW debut as Danielson's handpicked replacement due to the latter suffering an injury, defeating Zack Sabre Jr. while Moxley defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the interim AEW World Championship in

1908-566: A match involving 'The Elite' was billed, but last minute was changed by Callis to be Omega and the Good Brothers. NJPW Bullet Club founding member Tama Tonga addressed this faction of former Bullet Club members on Twitter, calling them a "bootleg Bullet Club.". At Impact Wrestling's Hard to Kill PPV Omega, Anderson, and Gallows defeated Rich Swann , Chris Sabin , and Moose , notably now wearing Bullet Club themed attire. At Beach Break on February 3, Omega, Anderson, and Gallows defeated

2014-432: A mixture of both positive and negative character traits. In wrestling terminology, these characters are referred to as tweeners (short hand for the "in-between" good and evil actions these wrestlers display). WWE has been cited as a company that is doing away with the traditional heel/face format due in part to audiences' willingness to cheer for heels and boo babyfaces. In "local" wrestling (e.g., American wrestling) it

2120-406: A month later. Danielson, who was employed by WWE under the ring name Daniel Bryan at the time, defeated Moxley during both matches. In 2011, Moxley signed with WWE and was renamed Dean Ambrose; he wrestled in its development territory , FCW , which later became NXT . He became a successful member of The Shield after his main roster debut, and would wrestle Bryan in various matches throughout

2226-478: A negative audience reaction despite their portrayal as heroes. An example is Roman Reigns , who in 2018 was a top face in WWE, but got booed in his matches while his opponents got cheered regardless of their status as face or heel, due to perceived favoritism from WWE executives and a lack of character development . Such characters often (but not always) become nudged into becoming villains over time or retooled to present

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2332-599: A record-setting two-times by The Young Bucks. The Elite would also become the inaugural AEW World Trios Champions in September 2022. Due to a common feud with the Blackpool Combat Club , Page rejoined the stable in May 2023. In July 2023, Kota Ibushi would re-join the group at Blood and Guts . In March 2024, Omega was fired and Page was suspended by the Bucks from the group, with Kazuchika Okada also joining

2438-498: A rematch at Forbidden Door . Moxley would lose the championship back to Naito on June 30 at Forbidden Door, subsequently going on hiatus following this loss. That same night, Danielson began his participation in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament with a first round victory over Shingo Takagi . Danielson defeated Pac at Dynamite: Beach Break on July 3, then "Hangman" Adam Page on July 10, to win

2544-657: A six-man tag team main event. Upon Omega's return to ROH in October 2017, The Elite started defending the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship , which The Young Bucks officially held with Bullet Club stablemate Adam Page . In January 2018 at The New Beginning in Sapporo , Omega was betrayed by Bullet Club stablemate Cody after shoving Matt Jackson and subsequently reunited with his former Golden Lovers partner Kota Ibushi , leaving

2650-472: A six-man tag team match on Dynamite , when they wrestled against Omega, Anderson, and Gallows. In September 2021, at All Out , The Young Bucks lost their AEW world tag team championships to Lucha Brothers in a Steel Cage. After Omega retained the AEW World championship against Christian Cage in a title match in the main event, the Elite came out to attack Cage. Jurassic Express ran in to aid Cage, but

2756-521: A steel cage match between Omega and Moxley, Omega's manager Don Callis betrayed Omega by stabbing him with a screwdriver and allowing Moxley to win. The Elite (Omega, Page, and The Young Bucks ) challenged the BCC to an Anarchy in the Arena match at the Double or Nothing event on May 28, which the BCC won after assistance by Callis and Konosuke Takeshita , who attacked Omega during the final moments of

2862-762: A sub-group within Bullet Club , a larger stable of which Omega was the leader. Together, the trio captured the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship twice later that year, but continued their alliance beyond that point, with The Young Bucks notably acting as valets for Omega in his singles career. Other titles won by members as part of the stable include the IWGP Heavyweight Championship , IWGP Intercontinental Championship , IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, and AAA Mega Championship for Omega, while The Young Bucks won

2968-607: A team with Regal acting as their manager, later being named the Blackpool Combat Club (BCC) in honor of the English town where Regal began his career. On the April 8 episode of Rampage , Moxley defeated ROH Pure Champion Wheeler Yuta in a non-title match. After the match, Regal offered Yuta a handshake, and subsequently invited him to join the group, which Yuta accepted. On the May 11 episode of Dynamite , Eddie Kingston and Santana and Ortiz united with

3074-553: A wrestler despite (or because of) their heel persona, often due to the performer's charisma or charm in playing the role. Certain wrestlers such as Eddie Guerrero and Ric Flair gained popularity as faces by using tactics that would typically be associated with heels, while others like Stone Cold Steve Austin , Scott Hall and more recently Becky Lynch displayed heelish behavior during their careers yet got big face reactions, leading them to be marketed as antiheroes . On other occasions, wrestlers who are positioned as faces receive

3180-474: Is contrasted with most heroic técnicos that are generally known for using moves requiring technical skill, particularly aerial maneuvers . Common heel behavior includes cheating to win (e.g. using the ropes for leverage while pinning or attacking with a weapon while the referee is looking away), employing dirty tactics such as blatant chokes or raking the eyes , attacking other wrestlers backstage, interfering with other wrestlers' matches, insulting

3286-481: The Dark Order stable, debuted on the channel on November 27. In between the last episode of BTE before the hiatus and the debut of Being The Dark Order , various clips from the series were reuploaded as YouTube Shorts in addition to new clips. Heel (professional wrestling) Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s In professional wrestling ,

The Elite (professional wrestling) - Misplaced Pages Continue

3392-807: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship seven times, the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship once, the ROH World Tag Team Championship three times, and the AAA World Tag Team Championship one time. In October 2018, after a lengthy internal feud within Bullet Club , Omega and The Young Bucks' 'Elite' faction left the group. Cody Rhodes , Adam Page , and Marty Scurll , all of whom had sided with Omega during

3498-418: The angle , heels can act cowardly or overpowering to their opponents. For instance, a "closet champion" in particular is a term for a heel in possession of a title belt who consistently dodges top flight competition and attempts to back down from challenges. Examples include Seth Rollins during his first WWE World Heavyweight Championship reign, Charlotte during her Divas / Raw Women's Championship reign,

3604-454: The 2010s. Both men became successful world champions for WWE before reverting to their respective names after leaving WWE (Moxley in 2019 and Danielson in 2021) with both men joining AEW . During that period, prior to the Blackpool Combat Club's establishment, William Regal was also employed by WWE as a wrestler and general manager for NXT; during this time, he helped to train and teach both Danielson and Moxley, and even feuded with Moxley. On

3710-539: The AEW World Championship with the condition that he will never challenge for title again while The Young Bucks lost to Santana and Ortiz . On the January 22, 2020 episode of AEW Dynamite during Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea , Omega and Page defeated SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for the AEW World Tag Team Championship . On the November 18 episode of Being

3816-533: The AEW World Championship. Moxley successfully defended his championship against Powerhouse Hobbs , Ren Narita , and Shota Umino , before being challenged by both Konosuke Takeshita to an Eliminator match at Double or Nothing on May 26, and Evil for Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall . Danielson, meanwhile, joined Team AEW against The Elite for the Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing. At

3922-516: The AEW World Trios Championship, where they were unsuccessful after Rey Fenix used the ring hammer against Kenny Omega to knock him out and win the match. The match at Full Gear would be the start of a best of seven series between The Elite and Death Triangle, which spanned two months and culminated in a seventh and deciding match on the January 11, 2023 edition of Dynamite , where, in a ladder match , The Elite would win

4028-649: The August 21 episode of Dynamite , Castagnoli challenged Kazuchika Okada for the AEW Continental Championship ; the match ended in a 20-minute time limit draw. On August 25 at All In, Yuta and Castagnoli teamed with Pac in the Four-way London Ladder match for the AEW World Trios Championship , which they won. Later that same night, Danielson defeated Strickland to win the AEW World Championship for

4134-413: The August 24 episode of Dynamite , Moxley quickly defeated lineal AEW World Champion CM Punk to win his record-setting second AEW World Championship, becoming the undisputed AEW World Champion in the process. Danielson was defeated by Jericho at All Out on September 4, while Moxley lost the undisputed championship to Punk, ending his reign at 11 days. On the following episode of Dynamite , Yuta lost

4240-638: The BCC and Shota Umino at Forbidden Door , which they won. Meanwhile, on the same card, Omega unsuccessfully defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Will Ospreay . At Blood & Guts , The Elite, now including Kota Ibushi , defeated the BCC, Takeshita, and Pac in a Blood and Guts match . On the March 6 episode of Dynamite , Kazuchika Okada was announced as having signed full-time with AEW. After this, The Young Bucks revealed that Okada

4346-447: The BCC to an Anarchy in the Arena match at Double or Nothing , which was soon after made official for the event. At the event, The Elite lost after Konosuke Takeshita , who had aligned himself with The Elite in recent weeks, attacked Omega, turning heel and ending his brief association with the stable. Page and the Young Bucks would then compete in a ten-man tag team match alongside Eddie Kingston and Tomohiro Ishii against Takeshita,

The Elite (professional wrestling) - Misplaced Pages Continue

4452-578: The BCC to fight off the Jericho Appreciation Society ( Chris Jericho , Jake Hager , Daniel Garcia , Angelo Parker , and Matt Menard ). At Double or Nothing on May 29, the BCC teamed with Eddie Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz to face the Jericho Appreciation Society in an Anarchy in the Arena match , but lost. At AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door on June 26, Yuta teamed up with Kingston and Shota Umino in

4558-401: The BCC to flee. Despite this, Omega refused to further embrace his former tag-team partner. The feud continued between the sides of Page and The Elite and the BCC over the coming weeks, although Page and Omega were unable to get on the same page, due to the antics of Omega's advisor Don Callis. After Omega successfully defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against Jeff Cobb on

4664-703: The Business Bear walked out on Cody's invitation to celebrate his win over Omega, leaving him alone in the locker room to ponder what he's done and what it cost. On June 9 at NJPW's Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall , The Young Bucks won the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and in the main event Omega won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. After the match, The Young Bucks came out, congratulated and hugged it out with Omega and Ibushi, thus mergering

4770-464: The Elite, Hangman Page attempted to part ways with the group, leading to months of tension between himself, the Young Bucks (especially Matt Jackson), and his tag partner Omega. Following the March 4, 2020 episode of Dynamite (and shown on the March 8 episode of Being the Elite), Hangman Page formally parted ways with The Elite, but still remained a peripheral member on the verge of permanently leaving. In

4876-464: The February 2, 2022 episode of Dynamite , Danielson told Moxley that he wanted to form a tag team, which Moxley accepted on the condition that they wrestle each other first. Danielson was defeated by Moxley at Revolution on March 6, after which the two began brawling. Regal, once a mentor to both men, made his AEW surprise debut to break up the fight and force them to shake hands. The two formed

4982-627: The Golden Lovers and Elite into a four-man team now named The Golden Elite . At a press conference aired on NJPW World, Omega clarified that going forward "Ibushi is a member of the Elite," but not Bullet Club. On July 7, 2018, at G1 Special in San Francisco , Cody ended his rivalry with Omega after being attacked by the BC Firing Squad after he unsuccessfully challenged him for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. In July 2018

5088-535: The Honky Tonk Man during his long Intercontinental Championship reign, Tommaso Ciampa during his NXT Championship reign and The IIconics during their WWE Women's Tag Team Championship reign. Brock Lesnar's character in WWE had heel aspects, and was well known for failing to regularly defend his title (especially during his first Universal Championship reign), often only performing on pay-per-view events and not on SmackDown or especially Raw as he

5194-442: The March 29 edition of Dynamite , the BCC ambushed and attacked Omega, only for BCC member Bryan Danielson to return, seemingly to aid Omega, only to attack him moments later, thus reuniting all 4 members of the Blackpool Combat Club. The following week, Danielson insulted The Elite and Page, labeling them "amateurs", leading to Page attacking the BCC, only to be beaten down and further attacked by Danielson who gouged Page's eye with

5300-757: The Nick and Matt Jackson temporarily fractured from the Bullet Club and formed the "Alpha Club" with Chris Jericho (aka. "The Bucks of Jericho or is it Y2Jackson" ) which culminated in a one night match on the Jericho Cruise against the Bullet Club (represented by Omega, Cody, and Scurll) to reunite the group. On the Talk is Jericho podcast on October 30 following the match, Matt Jackson confirmed that Cody, Page, and Marty Scurll were now officially in The Elite, and that The Elite had fully split from Bullet Club, ending

5406-572: The November 25 edition of AEW Rampage, Yuta defeated Shibata to win the record 3-times ROH Pure Championship . On April 12, 2024 at Windy City Riot , Moxley defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship , becoming the first wrestler to become a world champion in WWE, AEW, and NJPW, in what NJPW promotes as the "Global Grand Slam Champion". On the April 27 episode of AEW Collision , Castagnoli unsuccessfully challenged Swerve Strickland for

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5512-561: The ROH Pure Championship to Daniel Garcia, thus ending his reign at 159 days. Moxley and Danielson were inserted in the AEW Grand Slam Tournament of Champions to crown a new AEW World Champion as previous champion CM Punk was stripped of the title. At Grand Slam on September 21, Castagnoli lost the ROH World Championship to Chris Jericho, while Moxley defeated Danielson in the tournament final to win

5618-426: The September 7 episode of Dynamite , due to an altercation with CM Punk after the media scrum following All Out , Tony Khan announced that all members of The Elite were stripped of the AEW World Trios Championship. It was reported earlier from multiple sources that all members of The Elite were suspended because of the altercation. At Full Gear 2022 , The Elite returned in a trios match against Death Triangle for

5724-541: The Trios tournament. Page turned down the offer saying he would be in the corner of The Dark Order. On the August 17 episode of Dynamite , the Young Bucks were joined by the returning Omega; his first match in over nine months. Omega and the Bucks advanced to the tournament finals where they defeated the team of the Dark Order ( Alex Reynolds and John Silver ) and Adam Page to become the inaugural AEW Trios Champions. On

5830-661: The arena with Perry, confirming his status in the group. At the end of the episode, The Elite attacked AEW President and CEO Tony Khan . At Double or Nothing on May 26, The Elite defeated Team AEW ( Bryan Danielson , Darby Allin , and FTR) in an Anarchy in the Arena match . Page returned from his suspension on the July 3 episode of Dynamite , defeating Jeff Jarrett in the first round of the Owen Hart Cup . At Blood & Guts on July 24, The Elite were defeated by Team AEW (Darby Allin, Swerve Strickland , and The Acclaimed ) in

5936-426: The audience. Many heels do both, cheating as well as behaving nastily. No matter the type of heel, the most important role is that of the antagonist, as heels exist to provide a foil to the face wrestlers. If a given heel is cheered over the face, a promoter may opt to turn that heel to face or the other way around, or to make the wrestler do something even more despicable to encourage heel heat. Some performers display

6042-443: The background for the angle with a storyline that involved tension between Cole and Omega and their fight for The Young Bucks' loyalty while also introducing Scurll, who would go on to become Cole's replacement in Bullet Club. On January 1, 2019, an episode of Being The Elite was used to announce the formation of a new wrestling promotion, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), as well as a follow-up to All In, called Double or Nothing . Since

6148-537: The crowd along with Christopher Daniels , Frankie Kazarian , and Scorpio Sky . Scurll went on to form a new faction in Ring of Honor, Villain Enterprises , with the debuting PCO , and Brody King , later adding Flip Gordon . On January 1, 2019, The Elite announced the formation of a new wrestling promotion, All Elite Wrestling (AEW), as well as a follow-up to All In , called Double or Nothing . Their promotion

6254-662: The event, Moxley pinned Takeshita to win the Eliminator match; however, The Elite defeated Team AEW when Danielson was pinned by Jack Perry . Yuta, who'd been sidelined with an injury since February, returned to action in AEW on the June 5 edition of AEW Dynamite . On June 9 at Dominion, Moxley defeated Evil to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship before being challenged by Tetsuya Naito for

6360-420: The fans or city they are in (referred to as " cheap heat ") and acting in a haughty or superior manner. More theatrical heels would feature dramatic outfits giving off a nasty or otherwise dangerous look, such as wearing corpse paint over their faces, putting on demonic masks, covering themselves in dark leather and the like. Gorgeous George is regarded as the father of the wrestling gimmick, and by extension

6466-525: The feud, also left to formally join The Elite on October 30, 2018, alongside Omega's tag partner in Golden☆Lovers , Kota Ibushi , making it a full-scale stable. During the following three months, the members of The Elite would leave most of their other promotions to work almost exclusively with AEW, minus Scurll and Ibushi, who chose to remain in Ring of Honor and New Japan Pro-Wrestling , respectively, leaving

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6572-542: The first non-Japanese wrestler to win NJPW's premier tournament, the G1 Climax , defeating Hirooki Goto in the finals. For the rest of the year, The Elite was largely inactive, with Omega defending his newly won status as the number one contender to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship while The Young Bucks concentrated on tag team matches, winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship in September. On January 4, 2017, The Elite

6678-451: The first time. On the following episode of Dynamite on August 28, Danielson announced that as long as he was AEW World Champion, he would remain a full-time AEW wrestler, and that his full-time career would end as soon as he lost the championship. While Danielson and the BCC resumed feuding with The Elite, Moxley, who returned from hiatus on the August 28 episode of Dynamite , initially did not appear with his BCC allies and instead began

6784-424: The formation of AEW, the show has also advanced AEW storylines, debuted new signees, and promoted upcoming AEW shows. Being the Elite went on hiatus in September 12, 2022, after The Elite's suspension due to their altercation with CM Punk . It returned after they came back at Full Gear . Being the Elite went on hiatus once more after Episode 368 was uploaded on October 9, 2023; Being The Dark Order , focused on

6890-478: The future of The Elite in jeopardy. On March 28 at Strong Style Evolved , The Young Bucks faced off against the Golden Lovers in a losing effort. After the match, Nick Jackson shook hands and embraced with Omega, but Matt Jackson refused and rolled out of the ring. During Omega and Cody's bout at Ring of Honor's Supercard of Honor XII on April 7, The Young Bucks interfered and attempted to turn on Cody, but instead accidentally superkicked Omega, causing Cody to get

6996-617: The greatest professional wrestling matches ever. After months of inactivity as a trio, The Elite reunited in April 2017 by embarking on a tour of the United Kingdom, during which they wrestled for Discovery Wrestling, Fight Club: Pro, Over the Top Wrestling and Revolution Pro Wrestling . Meanwhile, a storyline had started involving tension between Omega and Bullet Club stablemate Adam Cole , who had formed his own trio named Superkliq with The Young Bucks, who were now caught in

7102-746: The group at the same time. In April 2024, Jack Perry joined the group. Prior to the 2016 formation of The Elite, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) had known each other for years. They originally met in Japan in 2008, when Omega was on his first tour with the DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) promotion and The Young Bucks were on their first tour with the Dragon Gate promotion. They became close friends after later meetings in other promotions, including California promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). Omega has stated that

7208-522: The group was formed, both lost and regained the title while Omega did the same with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship . The Elite won its first title as a trio during the NJPW and Ring of Honor (ROH) co-produced Honor Rising: Japan 2016 show on February 20, when they defeated The Briscoes ( Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe ) and Toru Yano for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship . They went on to defend

7314-507: The group. On the July 27, 2022 special episode of Dynamite titled Fight for the Fallen , AEW announced a tournament for the inaugural AEW World Trios Championship , which would culminate at the All Out pay-per-view on September 4, 2022. On the August 3rd episode of Dynamite , Adam Cole made his return from injury with the rest of The Undisputed Elite, stating his intentions to win

7420-408: The group. The following week, Omega and Takeshita defeated The Butcher and The Blade . Following the match, The BCC attacked Omega and The Young Bucks and attempted to recruit Takeshita to their group, although after begging the two factions to stop the brawling, BCC's Wheeler Yuta hit Takeshita with a low blow, before Takeshita was attacked by Danielson with a screwdriver once more. A few days later,

7526-477: The heel gimmick. Starting in the 1940s, he invented an extravagant, flamboyant "pretty boy" gimmick who wore wavy blonde hair, colorful robes and ritzy outfits, and was accompanied by beautiful valets to the ring for his matches. The crowd widely jeered his persona, and came out to his matches in hopes of seeing him defeated. George relished this attention, and exploded into one of the most famous (and hated) heels not only of his era, but of all time. Another example of

7632-680: The inaugural IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion . On August 13, The Young Bucks lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Funky Future (Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi ). Later that same day, Omega was defeated in the finals of the 2017 G1 Climax by Tetsuya Naito . On September 2, The Elite returned to the United States, making their debut for The Young Bucks' Southern California home promotion Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) and defeating Flamita , Penta 0M and Rey Fenix in

7738-511: The line. After the match, Claudio finally shook Eddie's hand after years of animosity between the two, showing a sign of respect and a face turn, while Moxley lost the AEW International Championship to Rey Fénix. On the September 30 edition of AEW Collision, the Blackpool Combat Club turned face when they teamed with FTR and were defeated by Big Bill and Ricky Starks and Aussie Open in an All-Star 8-men tag team match. On

7844-477: The main event. The BCC would then team up again with Kingston, Santana, and Ortiz and avenge their loss to the Jericho Appreciation Society in a Blood and Guts match at the eponymous event . At Death Before Dishonor on July 23, Castagnoli defeated Jonathan Gresham to capture the ROH World Championship , while Yuta successfully defended the ROH Pure Championship against Daniel Garcia. On

7950-537: The match, allowing Wheeler to get the pin on Omega. At Forbidden Door , the BCC teamed with Takeshita and Shota Umino in a losing effort against the team of The Young Bucks, Page, Eddie Kingston and Tomohiro Ishii , while Danielson defeated Kazuchika Okada by submission, despite suffering an arm injury that sidelined him for 3 months. The Blackpool Combat Club's feud with The Elite ended at Blood & Guts on July 19, where Moxley, Castagnoli and Yuta teamed up with Takeshita and Pac , in another loss to The Elite in

8056-531: The middle of Omega and Cole. The storyline culminated on May 12, when after teasing dissension with Omega they turned on Cole, who was fired from Bullet Club by Omega. On June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall , The Young Bucks regained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from Roppongi Vice. Over the weekend of July 1 and 2 at G1 Special in USA , Omega defeated Michael Elgin, Jay Lethal and finally Tomohiro Ishii to win an eight-man tournament and become

8162-413: The most ridiculous and entertaining stuff in pro wrestling". On January 5, 2016, Omega took over the Bullet Club as its new leader, turning its members, including The Young Bucks, on previous figurehead A.J. Styles , kicking him out of the group. According to The Young Bucks, they and Omega created The Elite that night without ever asking permission from NJPW bookers. After the rest of Bullet Club had left

8268-403: The name The Elite as a joke years earlier, when trying to come up with a list of the most elite wrestlers in the world. Omega stated that he and The Young Bucks wanted to push themselves as The Elite, but accepted if NJPW continued calling them Bullet Club "in parentheses" as the stable was their "cash cow" and a "pop-culture phenomenon". Omega has described The Elite as "a place you can go to watch

8374-460: The new AEW World Trios Championship with Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish . Cole, Fish and O'Reilly then attacked the Young Bucks, turning them face as Cole, Fish, and O'Reilly left The Elite. 'Hangman' Adam Page would save the Bucks from a further attack. Later that night The Bucks would try and thank Page for his help, but were interrupted by The Dark Order . On the August 10th episode of Dynamite , The Young Bucks once again asked Page to join them in

8480-477: The newest additions. On September 25 at Grand Slam, Moxley would defeat Darby Allin with Allin's guaranteed AEW World Championship match on the line. On October 12 at WrestleDream , Moxley defeated Danielson to win the AEW World Championship for the record-setting fourth time and ending Danielson's full-time career. On the November 6 episode of Dynamite , the BCC officially rebranded to the Death Riders,

8586-466: The old Bullet Club." The re-united Bullet Club would continue its presence into the new year, and on the January 6 episode of AEW Dynamite Gallows and Anderson saved Omega from an attack by Jon Moxley, and reunited with the Young Bucks to merge into a five-man group. On the January 11 episode of Being The Elite ("The Band is Back Together"), Matt Hardy asked Matt Jackson "Is the Bullet Club back together?" to which he replied, "it's complicated." On January 15,

8692-446: The pinfall victory. After the match, The Young Bucks attempted to explain what had happened to Omega, but he shoved Matt Jackson and left. On the 100th episode of Being The Elite , "Finale", Omega declared their friendship over and that "There is no Elite" in anger over the Young Bucks' involvement in his match, apparently ending the stable for the time being while Scurll left to pursue a music career and The Young Bucks, Page and Burnard

8798-423: The ring after turning on Styles, Omega allegedly asked The Young Bucks if just the three of them should return to the ring to continue the attack on Styles as a "signal to the audience that [they were] the three guys". The three agreed to return to the ring and The Elite was born. During the first months of The Elite's existence, The Young Bucks, who were the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions when

8904-504: The road, it has since evolved into a hybrid that also includes skits and storyline developments involving both The Elite and Bullet Club. In early 2017, Being The Elite provided the background for an angle that culminated at War of the Worlds in May with The Elite turning on Adam Cole and kicking him out of Bullet Club. While ROH had previously shown that there was tension between Cole and The Young Bucks, Being The Elite went deeper into

9010-581: The series 4-3, and their second AEW World Trios Championship. The Elite lost the titles to The House of Black at AEW Revolution , ending their second reign at 53 days. In March, The Elite entered a feud with the Blackpool Combat Club (BCC). The feud began on the March 15 edition of Dynamite where, after failing to regain the AEW World Trios Championship in a three-way match, between House of Black and The Jericho Appreciation Society , The Dark Order and "Hangman" Adam Page began brawling with BCC at ringside, leading to The Elite standing alongside Page, causing

9116-403: The stable The stable's gimmick is their serious and violent approach to professional wrestling, viewing extreme violence as the price of doing business and a rite of passage , frequently outnumbering their opponents, going so far as to stab them with screwdrivers or trying to suffocate them with plastic bags, and frequently spilling blood during their matches. On November 6, 2024, the stable

9222-400: The stable had been watered down and wanted to create something new. Omega claimed that whenever people were saying that Bullet Club had been doing "some really cool stuff", they were in fact always talking about the three of them and not the other members of the stable. Wanting to be together both in the ring and outside of it, the three decided to go full-bore as The Elite. They had come up with

9328-462: The stable. The five, who were instrumental in the creation of the company and hold positions as executive vice presidents (except for Page), would play a pivotal role in AEW, both on-screen and off-screen. Cody Rhodes would eventually leave the group to focus on his own Nightmare Family stable, as would Page following a falling out with Omega and the Bucks. In December 2020, Don Callis, an executive vice president of Impact Wrestling , came to AEW as

9434-501: The team of Jon Moxley, Rey Fenix , and PAC. After the match, Bullet Club member Kenta appeared and launched a sneak attack on current IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley after Moxley attacked Kenny Omega. After the show, Omega said he would team with Kenta in a match against Moxley and Lance Archer . In April 2021, The Young Bucks, who had been wary of Omega's relationship with Callis, Gallows, and Anderson, would cement their commitment to Omega by turning on Jon Moxley during

9540-475: The three had always thought that they shared the same brain, having the same thoughts about what a wrestling match should be. Matt Jackson has described the creative chemistry between the three as unlike anything they have experienced before, adding "There's magic there". Omega, who has called The Young Bucks his best friends and closest allies in professional wrestling, has stated that the three have "an open line of communication sending messages all day". The Elite

9646-413: The three remaining BCC members continued their assault and attacked Dark Order members Evil Uno and Hangman Page , turning the stable fully heel for the first time. Danielson returned on the March 29 episode of Dynamite , seemingly to convince his BCC teammates to stop their attack on Kenny Omega , but he instead joined them in attacking Omega and turned heel. On the May 10 episode of Dynamite , during

9752-489: The title in the United States for ROH. The Elite lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi , Michael Elgin and Yoshitatsu on April 10 at Invasion Attack 2016 , only to regain it from them on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016 . Their second reign ended on July 3, when they were defeated by Matt Sydal , Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima . On August 14, Omega made history by becoming

9858-473: The tournament and earn a match against Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at All In . Also on July 10, Castagnoli competed in a Global Glory Four-Way match to earn an AEW International Championship match at All Out, however Pac won the match. On July 31, Danielson addressed speculation on his intentions to wind down his career, declaring that if he failed to win the AEW World Championship from Strickland at All In, he would never wrestle again. On

9964-414: The vacant championship, becoming the first ever three-time AEW World Champion. At Full Gear , Moxley would lose the title to MJF after Regal secretly handed his signature brass knuckles to MJF to punch Moxley with while the referee was distracted, betraying the group and aligning himself with MJF. Just 11 days later, MJF betrayed Regal and severely injured him with the brass knuckles. Following this, it

10070-511: Was common for the faces to be "local" (e.g., Hulk Hogan , John Cena , and Stone Cold Steve Austin ) and the heels to be portrayed as "foreign" (e.g., Gunther , Alberto Del Rio , Ivan Koloff , The Iron Sheik , Rusev/Miro , Jinder Mahal , and Muhammad Hassan ). In the world of lucha libre wrestling, most rudos are generally known for being brawlers and for using physical moves that emphasize brute strength or size, often having outfits akin to demons , devils , or other tricksters . This

10176-550: Was created as a result of one of these "think-tank sessions", during which the three came up with the idea of filming their moments away from the ring and sharing them with their fans. These moments, some only loosely tied to professional wrestling, were used to create Being The Elite , a show produced by The Young Bucks and released on both Twitter and YouTube . In 2016, the three were affiliated with each other in NJPW as members of Bullet Club , but in Omega's words they felt that

10282-427: Was interrupted by Omega. Shortly after, The BCC attacked Omega before entering the ring, warning Omega that they had won the "war" against The Elite. This led to The Young Bucks and a returning "Hangman" Adam Page coming to the aid of Omega, attacking the BCC. In the ring, Page claimed that he, Omega, and The Young Bucks, were The Elite, leading to him re-joining the stable after a near 3-year absence. Page also challenged

10388-623: Was involved in two championship matches at NJPW's biggest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome . Early in the show, The Young Bucks lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Roppongi Vice ( Beretta and Rocky Romero ) while in the main event of the show Omega unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The main event match earned acclaim from journalists and industry veterans with some ranking it among

10494-702: Was officially kicked out of The Elite for costing The Young Bucks a future opportunity to challenge for Page and Omega's World Tag Team Championship. At Full Gear , The Young Bucks won the AEW World Tag Team Championships in a match against champions FTR . Omega, with assistance from Don Callis defeated Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship on December 2, 2020. On the December 15, 2020, edition of Impact Wrestling , Omega allied with former Bullet Club teammates Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson , with Omega stating he had "reformed

10600-563: Was officially renamed to Death Riders. Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley had their first interaction together in December 2007 when Danielson defeated Moxley at Mad-Pro Wrestling's (MPW) Rise Up event in Chillicothe, Ohio . This match was later referred to by Moxley in a February 2022 promo when the two began feuding with each other in AEW. They next met in August 2010 at Heartland Wrestling Association 's (HWA) Road to Destiny event before Moxley challenged Danielson at Dragon Gate USA

10706-456: Was only on a part-time appearance contract with WWE. This sort of behavior supports the intended kayfabe opinion that the face (or faces) the heel is feuding with is actually more deserving of the title than the title-holding heel is. Heels may beg for mercy during a beat down at the hands of faces, even if they have delivered similar beat downs with no mercy. Ric Flair in particular has been well known for begging an opponent off, then hitting

10812-399: Was outnumbered. The Elite was interrupted by the debuting Adam Cole , who hit the superkick to Jungle Boy , joining the Elite. As the Elite was about to end the show, the debuting Bryan Danielson attacked the Elite, aiding Cage and Jurassic Express. Danielson, Cage and Jurassic Express stood tall at the end of the show. In October 2021, following Impact's Bound for Glory pay-per-view, it

10918-618: Was reported that Regal was set to leave AEW; in-storyline, Regal revealed that he betrayed the BCC to teach them their final lesson, which was to never trust anyone. His last appearance was a pre-taped segment aired on the December 7 episode of Dynamite . Despite Regal’s betrayal and subsequent departure from AEW, the stable kept the “Blackpool” in their name. On the March 8, 2023 episode of Dynamite , Danielson announced that he would be going home to be with his family after his loss to MJF at Revolution . After Castagnoli and Moxley defeated The Dark Order members John Silver and Alex Reynolds ,

11024-443: Was reported that the partnership between AEW and Impact had ended, and with that, Gallows and Anderson quietly were removed from the Elite. After losing the AEW World Championship to Adam Page at Full Gear , Omega announced on the following Dynamite that he would be taking a leave of absence, leaving The Young Bucks to "hold down the fort". Cole, however, would add former Undisputed Era stablemates Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly to

11130-579: Was revealed to include Cody, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page, Pac , SoCal Uncensored , Joey Janela , Britt Baker , Penelope Ford , Brandi Rhodes , and Chris Jericho , among others. The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega had their first match in AEW as The Elite at AEW Fyter Fest defeating Lucha Brothers and Laredo Kid . In 2019, The Elite began a feud with Chris Jericho and later his Inner Circle stable , with Omega and Page losing to Jericho at AEW Double or Nothing and AEW All Out respectively. At AEW Full Gear , Cody unsuccessfully challenged Jericho for

11236-449: Was the newest member of The Elite, with Okada attacking Eddie Kingston , who was confronting The Young Bucks. On the same episode, The Young Bucks fired Omega from the group while Page was suspended. At Dynasty , The Young Bucks defeated FTR to win the vacant AEW World Tag Team Championships for a record setting third time in a ladder match , with the help of a returning Jack Perry. On the April 24 episode of Dynamite , The Elite arrived to

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