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119-399: 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 the stable The stable's gimmick

238-497: A wXw World Tag Team Champion with Walter . Sabre had also formed a tag team with other Suzuki-gun stablemate Taichi ("Dangerous Tekkers"), who were three time IWGP Tag Team Champions ; following the Suzuki-gun disbandment, the team disbanded along with it. Sabre's offensive style includes a wide array of intricately complex technical wrestling holds and pinning combinations, strikes, athleticism and acrobatics. The readers of

357-448: 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

476-628: A character based on an authority over other people. These include non-wrestlers like managers , and wrestlers like The Mountie , Big Boss Man , "The Alpha Male" Marcus Cor Von , Consequences Creed , "The Man" Becky Lynch , "The Boss" Sasha Banks , Sean O'Haire 's devil advocate gimmick, and David Otunga 's legal adviser character, ECW 's 911 , and stables New World Order , Right to Censor , The Truth Commission , The Acolytes Protection Agency , 3-Minute Warning , and most recently, The Authors of Pain , The Shield , and The Authority . The evil billionaire/millionaire tyrant character works well as

595-414: A dead wrestler who returned for vengeance. Raven was the leader of five stables; Raven's Nest , The Flock , The Dead Pool , The Gathering , and Serotonin . The Brood was a vampire stable, composed of Gangrel , Christian and Edge . Alexa Bliss was also given a different gimmick after her alliance with Bray Wyatt in late 2020s, appearing suddenly and sometimes attacking the other wrestlers,

714-1984: A demonic but somewhat-bumbling figure in horror face paint who claims to be "very nice, very evil" and attempts to put curses on his opponents. Exaggerating the characteristics of a wrestler's (on occasion fabricated ) origin is one of the most commonly exploited gimmicks, in which overarching characteristics of a character play up to clichés and stereotypes . A long list of wrestlers in this category includes: Arab ( The Sheik , The Sultan , Muhammad Hassan ), African ( Kamala , Abdullah The Butcher , Akeem ), American ( The Patriot , Hulk Hogan , 'Hacksaw' Jim Duggan , Jack Swagger ), Australian ( Outback Jack , Nathan Jones ), Austrian ( Walter ), Bulgarian ( Rusev ), Canadian ( Team Canada (TNA) , Team Canada (WCW) ), Chinese ( Xia Li , Boa ), Cuban ( Razor Ramon ), English ( William Regal , Lord Alfred Hayes , Gentleman Jack Gallagher ), French/Québécois ( La Résistance ), German ( Fritz Von Erich , Baron von Raschke ), Hawaiian ( Crush , Leilani Kai ), Indian ( The Great Khali , Jinder Mahal ), Iranian ( The Iron Sheik , Ariya Daivari ), Irish ( Finlay , Sheamus ), Italian ( Full Blooded Italians , Santino Marella ), Jamaican ( Kofi Kingston ), Japanese ( Yokozuna , The Orient Express , Mr. Fuji ), Mexican ( The Mexicools ), Native American ( Chief Jay Strongbow , Tatanka ), New Zealander ( The Sheepherders ), Nigerian ( Apollo Crews ), Pacific Islander ( Jimmy Snuka , The Wild Samoans , The Headshrinkers ), Puerto Rican ( Carlito Colón , Primo and Epico ), Polish ( Ivan Putski ), Russian ( Ivan Koloff , Nikolai Volkoff , Lana ), Scottish ( Drew McIntyre , Roddy Piper ) and Swiss ( Claudio Castagnoli ). Masked wrestlers made their appearance in Europe ( Theobaud Bauer in France, 1865) and

833-667: 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

952-408: 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

1071-408: A joke, dancing and finding out his opponent to win the 24/7 Championship in a strange and funny way. Characters who do charity are depicted as a heroic gimmick due to real-life charity . Wrestlers who used this gimmick include Sweet Daddy Siki , Brother Love , "Make a Difference" Fatu , Dude Love , and most recently, "The Doctor of Hug-o-nomics" Bayley , and tag-team Men on a Mission . Usually

1190-605: A minority of the roster, with most shows containing an abnormally high proportion of clean sportsmanly matches between two "blue-eyes" (as faces were known backstage in the UK). This would remain the case for several decades to come. Gimmick matches were a rarity, midget wrestling failed to catch on, while women were banned by the Greater London Council until the late 1970s. During the Golden Age of pro wrestling in

1309-500: A more individualistic and narcissist form of character. He was one of the first pro-wrestlers to use entrance music, " Pomp and Circumstance " which always played as he made his way to the ring. In Britain, television took British wrestling to the next level when in 1964, it went full-time as part of the World of Sport show. The style of wrestling at the time was unique with strong emphasis on clean technical wrestling. Heels made up

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1428-653: A nod to Moxley's nickname in NJPW as well as the name of his finisher. As of November 26, 2024 Gimmick (professional wrestling) Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s In professional wrestling , a gimmick generally refers to a wrestler's in-ring persona, character, behaviour, attire, and/or other distinguishing traits while performing which are usually artificially created in order to draw fan interest. These in-ring personalities often involve costumes, makeup and catchphrases that they shout at their opponents or

1547-531: 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 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,

1666-399: A part of the C Block. In the tournament, Sabre finished with 8 points, with only a loss to Naito on the final day, costing him a spot in the semi-finals. In October, Sabre competed in a tournament to crown the inaugural NJPW World Television Champion . He defeated Alex Zayne in the first round and David Finlay in the second round. The following month, Sabre defeated Evil to advance to

1785-446: A real-life Hollywood actor/actress. These include "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan , The Rock , and most recently, Batista , John Cena , The Miz , and David Otunga 's A-list character, and tag-teams The Hollywood Blondes , and MNM , and most recently, The Bollywood Boyz , despite being of Indian descent and being billed from the famous Indian filming district of Bollywood , Mumbai ( Bombay ), instead which they were named after (although

1904-493: 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

2023-489: A sidekick companion during segments while addressing the fans. And recently, The New Day pursued a joyous gimmick, giving them a character heavily associated with the fans. Damien Sandow also falls under this category due to his 'stunt double' gimmick in late 2014 where he copied whatever his on-screen mentor The Miz did, due to the latter using a gimmick of an arrogant movie star. R-Truth also influenced his character with some of his comedic activities, such as breaking out

2142-418: A superhero, into Nikki A.S.H. (Almost a Superhero). TNA 's Dean Roll's ring name, Shark Boy , became the inspiration for the 3D film, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl in 3-D . Similarly to superheroes and supervillains, supernatural characters add to entertainment value. Most famously in this category is The Undertaker , considered one of the most respected wrestlers in the business, whose gimmick

2261-530: A time limit draw, successfully defending his title for the sixth time. Due to his match against Cobb finishing in a draw, on 4 June at Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall , Sabre defeated Cobb in a rematch to make his tenth title defense. In July, Sabre entered the G1 Climax tournament, where he would compete in the D Block. Sabre finished joint top of his block with 10 points, allowing him to advance to

2380-675: A video challenging Cassidy to a match at Forbidden Door , citing unfinished business from the four-way match the year prior. At the event, Sabre would defeat Cassidy. On 25 August, at All In , Sabre was a surprise entrant in the Casino Gauntlet match. Eatwell became a vegan in 2015. He is an avid hiker . In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan , Eatwell is fluent in Japanese and revealed that he had permanent residence in

2499-532: A villain — due to the jealousy of the fans who want the things "money can't buy" for themselves which they can't afford — in contrast to professional wrestling's working-class fan-base. It is because of this audience that Dusty Rhodes' Common Man or " American Dream " was highly successful with the crowds. Zack Sabre Jr. Luke James Uggles Eatwell (born 24 July 1987), known by his ring name Zack Sabre Jr. ( Japanese : ザック・セイバーJr. , Hepburn : Zakku Seibā Junia ) and its abbreviated form ZSJ ,

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2618-1858: A villainous gimmick, initiated by Gorgeous George , due to the jealousy of the good looks the fans want to have for themselves. Wrestlers that followed on with this trend include Sonny Kiss , Angel Garza , "The Untouchable" Carmella , Lana with her catchphrase, "I am the best in the world", "Dashing" Cody Rhodes , "The Black Machismo" Jay Lethal , "The Artist Collective" Sami Zayn , "The Masterpiece" Chris Masters , Byron Saxton , "The Swiss Superman" Antonio Cesaro , Dolph Ziggler with his "perfection" gimmick, The Miz with his catchphrase, "AWESOME", Randy Orton , "The Glamazon" Beth Phoenix , Carlito Caribbean Cool , "The Phenominal" AJ Styles , "Glorious" Bobby Roode , "The Almighty" Bobby Lashley , "The Golden Standard" Shelton Benjamin , Scotty 2 Hotty , "The Rated R Superstar" Edge , The "Great One" Rock , "The World's Strongest Man" Mark Henry , Val Venis , "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels , "Big Sexy" Kevin Nash , Lex Luger 's "The Narcissist" character, "Beautiful" Bobby Eaton , Ravishing Rick Rude , "The Model" Rick Martel , "Adorable" Adrian Adonis , Hulk Hogan , "Macho Man" Randy Savage , Jesse "The Body" Ventura , "The Nature Boy" Ric Flair and his daughter , "Handsome" Harley Race , "Classy" Freddie Blassie , AEW's "Pretty" Peter Avalon , and Powerhouse Hobbs , TNA's Mr Pec-tacular , Brian Christopher's Grand Master Sexay , Billy Gunn's Mr Ass , Curt Hennig's Mr Perfect , Paul Orndorff's Mr Wonderful , NXT's Tyler Breeze , Lacey Evans , and "The Finest" Kona Reeves , and tag-teams The Mexicools , and Too Cool , as well as women's tag-teams The Beautiful People , LayCool , Fire and Desire , and The IIconics . Hollywood movie stars are occasionally villainous due to fame outside of wrestling as

2737-416: A wrestler to perform as more than one character for a variety of wrestling promotions. In Mexico, a masked wrestler's identity is often not even a matter of public record, and being unmasked, usually as a stipulation of losing a match , is considered a great humiliation. It is a major taboo for a Mexican wrestler who has lost his mask to start wearing one again, though this has occasionally been violated, as in

2856-419: A wrestler uses a gimmick as a tribute to another worker; such is the case of Ric Flair 's Nature Boy persona which he took on as an homage to the original Nature Boy, Buddy Rogers . When a wrestler acts outside their gimmick this is known as 'breaking kayfabe ', a term showing pro wrestling's linkages to theatre , where the more common term " breaking the fourth wall " is used. Gimmicks are annually rated for

2975-550: Is a former NWA United Kingdom Junior Heavyweight Champion and a product of the NWA UK Hammerlock training school. He started training at the age of 14 and later trained in the Pro Wrestling Noah (NOAH) Dojo under Yoshinari Ogawa and Naomichi Marufuji as a member of their roster from 2011 until November 2015. He joined Suzuki-gun in 2016, after defeating Katsuyori Shibata in his NJPW debut match for

3094-758: Is a horror-themed character of an undead, macabre and paranormal dark presence prone to scare tactics. He was managed by the ghostly character that was Paul Bearer and tagged with his half-brother Kane in The Brothers of Destruction stable. Other wrestlers displaying supposed supernatural powers include Matt Hardy (as his Broken/Woken persona), and his younger brother Jeff Hardy (as his Brother Nero/Willow character), Mordecai , Waylon Mercy , Jake "The Snake" Roberts , Papa Shango , The Boogeyman , Abyss , and most recently Asuka , Aleister Black , and Bray Wyatt's The Fiend , and stables The Three Faces of Fear , and The Dungeon of Doom . Japanese Onryo portrays

3213-713: Is also a prolific tag team wrestler. In his early career, he made a name for himself as part of the "Leaders of the New School" with Marty Scurll , holding the IPW:UK Tag Team Championship twice. He would later win the same title (now called RPW Undisputed British Tag Team Championship ) alongside Suzuki-gun stablemate Minoru Suzuki . In Pro Wrestling Noah, he was a two-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion with Yoshinari Ogawa and, in Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw),

3332-623: Is also an ex- amateur wrestler , NFL player and UFC champion. Welsh wrestler Mason Ryan is also a former Gladiator and football player. English wrestler Wade Barrett was also a former bare-knuckle fighter as well as Elijah Burke who is also a former amateur boxer . Former MMA fighters Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler also uses their MMA background as part of their characters as well as former American Ninja Warrior competitor Kacy Catanzaro , former kung-fu fighter Xia Li , and Matt Riddle , who always wrestles barefooted during matches, presuming that he had an MMA background career in

3451-475: Is an English-born professional wrestler . He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the current IWGP World Heavyweight Champion in his first reign. In NJPW, he is the second and current leader of the group The Mighty Don't Kneel (TMDK) and is a former two-time and inaugural NJPW World Television Champion . He also makes sporadic appearances for partner promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and its sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). Sabre

3570-414: Is often a rare gimmick in professional wrestling due to its controversial nature. Wrestlers who used this gimmick include Friar Ferguson , and most recently, "Bolieve" Bo Dallas , and "The Monday Night Messiah" Seth "Freakin'" Rollins . Whilst being way beyond over the limit from some sheer violence is scary in some matches, hardcore technician gimmicks are also another popular choice for gimmicks, due to

3689-721: 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 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

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3808-501: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards by the publication's owner, professional wrestling journalists, and various industry insiders, such as Dave Meltzer , promoters, agents and performers, other journalists, historians, and fans. The two awards are given to the best and worst gimmick of that year. Pro wrestling's history has been tied to the use of gimmicks from its infancy. From its circus origins in

3927-803: The Wrestling Observer Newsletter voted Sabre the Best Technical Wrestler of the year for seven consecutive years (2014–2020), and he was voted Best Technical Wrestler of the Decade (2010s) . Luke James Uggles Eatwell was born on the Isle of Sheppey on 24 July 1987. He was raised in Sheerness . Sabre made his wrestling debut on April 20, 2004. On 22 October 2005, Sabre won the NWA United Kingdom Junior Heavyweight Championship and held

4046-757: The 2017 Battle of Los Angeles tournament, where he was eliminated by Rey Fenix in the quarter-finals. On 31 March 2016, Sabre was announced as a participant in WWE 's upcoming Global Cruiserweight Series tournament, which was later renamed the " Cruiserweight Classic ". His name was taken down shortly after as he would have a qualifying match at Progress Wrestling 's Chapter 29 event in London to earn his spot, where he defeated Flash Morgan Webster . On 23 June, Sabre defeated Tyson Dux in his first round match. On 14 July, Sabre defeated Drew Gulak in his second round match. On 26 August, Sabre defeated Noam Dar to advance to

4165-635: The 2019 New Japan Cup , defeating Evil in the first round, Ibushi in the second round but losing to Tanahashi in the quarter-final. At G1 Supercard , Sabre defeated Tanahashi to retain the British Heavyweight Championship. Sabre was announced as a participant of the 2019 G1 Climax . He walked away with 8 points after winning four matches, beating Bad Luck Fale , Will Ospreay , fellow Suzuki-gun stablemate Lance Archer , and Kenta , whilst suffering losses to Okada, Sanada, Tanahashi, Ibushi, and Evil. At Royal Quest , Sabre lost

4284-415: The 2024 G1 Climax , winning seven of his nine A Block matches and ending as the top seed for that block. He would defeat Shingo Takagi in the semi-finals on August 17, and then Yota Tsuji in the finals on August 18, to win the tournament for the first time. He also became the second gaijin to win the tournament after Kenny Omega in 2016. Following his win, he would announce his plans to challenge for

4403-620: The Anarchy in the Arena match . However, Danielson announced a mystery opponent for Sabre, who he claimed was the "one person" he trusted to take his place at the PPV and at the subsequent special episode of Dynamite , AEW Blood and Guts . This led to Sabre, making his AEW debut by staring down Danielson. On June 26 at the event, the mystery opponent was revealed to be Claudio Castagnoli , who defeated Sabre. Sabre made his televised AEW return on

4522-709: The Batman comics have inspired wrestling attire for Sting and Alexa Bliss respectively. Finn Bálor 's Demon King persona is visually based on Spider-Man villains Venom and Carnage . Sandman's character name is also based on Spider-Man villain Sandman as well as Rhyno , whose character name was based on a pun on the Spider-Man villain Rhino . Raven's character name was based on DC Comics superhero, Raven . Kenny Omega 's taunts were inspired by video games since he

4641-505: The IWGP Tag Team Championship , held by Ibushi and Tanahashi. In the 2020 New Japan Cup , Sabre was eliminated in the first round by Ibushi. His partner Taichi, however, eliminated both Tanahashi and Ibushi from the tournament before being eliminated himself by Sanada. On 12 July, at Dominion , Sabre and Taichi defeated Tanahashi and Ibushi to win their tag titles, marking Sabre's first title win in NJPW. They retained

4760-650: The NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship , but they were defeated. A few days later at Lonestar Shootout , Sabre defeated Mike Bailey to retain his World Television title. After the match, Sabre challenged Tanahashi to a World Television Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 18 , which was later accepted by Tanahashi and made official for the event. Two days before the event, Sabre returned to Pro Wrestling Noah , at their Noah The New Year 2024 event, teaming with Yoshinari Ogawa to defeat Hayata and Tanahashi. On January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom, Sabre lost

4879-476: The New Japan Cup , he defeated Ryohei Oiwa in the first round and fellow Suzuki-gun stablemate Douki in the second round. He defeated Great-O-Khan in round 3 and Ospreay in the quarter-finals, in a critically acclaimed match. Sabre then defeated Shingo Takagi in the semi-finals to advance to the finals, where he defeated Naito in the tournament finals, to win his second New Japan Cup. Due to winning

Death Riders - Misplaced Pages Continue

4998-596: The RevPro British Heavyweight Championship . Outside NJPW, Sabre performs for British promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro), as part of NJPW's partnership with the promotion. He has also notably wrestled for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG), Progress Wrestling , and the World Wrestling Network (WWNLive) and their brands EVOLVE and Full Impact Pro . Though primarily known for his solo performances, Sabre

5117-630: 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 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

5236-732: The leprechaun Hornswoggle , El Torito and other various dwarfed versions of other various wrestlers . Education is a rare gimmick in wrestling due to the fact that, most times, the wrestler is a former real-life student or scholar of a school , a college , a university , or a TAFE , who also worked as a cheerleader , a coach , a dean , a librarian , a teacher , or even a principal . Wrestlers who used this gimmick include NXT wrestlers, e.g. Alex Riley etc., Bobby "The Brain" Heenan , Sgt. Slaughter , Dean Douglas , Jonathan Coachman , Michelle McCool 's "sexy teacher" character, The Miz 's and Jack Swagger 's "student" amateur background characters, Damien Sandow 's "Intellectual Savior of

5355-420: The 1830s, showmen presented wrestlers under names such as "Edward, the steel eater", "Gustave d’Avignon, the bone wrecker", or "Bonnet, the ox of the low Alps" and challenged the public to knock them down for 500 francs. During the late 19th century-early 20th century, when wrestler Frank Gotch rose to prominence, the focus became on contests largely legitimate (see catch wrestling ), which largely resulted in

5474-596: The 1980s–1990s, a rise of cartoonish, outlandish gimmicks became popular with the increase of the World Wrestling Federation's popularity. The WWF contributed to the explosion of gimmicks by becoming the most colorful and well-known wrestling brand because of its child-oriented characters, soap opera dramatics and cartoon-like personas. Most notable was the muscular Hulk Hogan , who marked the 1980s with his "Real-American" gimmick and made his main events into excellent ratings draws. His dominant role in

5593-1094: The 1994 movie The Crow , based on the comic book of the same name . Other wrestlers with superhero and supervillain gimmicks include late WWE Hall of Famer Dusty Rhodes ' sons Gold and Stardust , Big Van Vader , Bam Bam Bigelow , Pierre Carl Ouellet , Dr. Luther , the magician Phantasio , Icarus , Super Eric , Dexter Lumis , Samoan Rosey during his "the Super Hero in Training" (the S.H.I.T.) phase and his tag-team partner The Hurricane and valet Super Stacy , Earthquake/Avalanche and his tag-team partner Typhoon in The Natural Disasters stable, and tag-teams The Road Warriors , Demolition , KroniK , The Assassins , The Super Assassins , The Machines , and most recently, The Ascension , and The Viking Raiders/War Machine . Some of these characters are brought during very short periods of time for entertainment value. The Joker and Harley Quinn from

5712-454: The 2 June 2023 episode of Rampage , defeating Action Andretti to retain his NJPW World Television Championship . Due to being called out by Orange Cassidy , Sabre attempted to get a match for Cassidy's AEW International Championship . On the June 21 episode of Dynamite , Sabre teamed with Daniel Garcia to defeat Cassidy and Katsuyori Shibata , after which a four-way match was set up for

5831-934: The 80's, The Honky Tonk Man worked with a Elvisesque character. Elias also works well with his musician guitar character. Rapping was demonstrated by R-Truth / K-Kwik 's original rapper character along with Road Dogg and John Cena worked during the first years of his career with a rapper gimmick. AEW tag team The Acclaimed also begin each of their matches with a different rap. Other music genre types were demonstrated by CM Punk 's straight edge iconoclast hardcore punk , party boys No Way Jose and Adam Rose , Cameron Grimes , Rick Boogs , Rockstar Spud , Heath Slater , Lance Archer , Chris Jericho , Jeff Jarrett , Marty Jannetty , The Honky Tonk Man , Disco Inferno , One Man Gang , Buck Zumhofe , WWE's Brodus Clay and his fun-loving, funk dancing gimmick "The Funkasaurus" and Fandango who includes salsa dancing in his routine, and AEW's Jack Evans who usually does breakdancing in

5950-538: 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

6069-649: 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

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6188-489: 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 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

6307-415: 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 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

6426-793: 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 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

6545-551: 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 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

6664-533: The British Heavyweight Championship to Tanahashi. At Destruction in Beppu , Sabre pinned Tanahashi to regain the British Heavyweight Championship for the fourth time. After retaining against Sanada at Wrestle Kingdom 14 , and Ospreay at The New Beginning in Sapporo , Sabre lost the title to Ospreay on 14 February at an RPW event. Afterwards, he began teaming up with fellow Suzuki-gun stablemate Taichi in pursuit of

6783-575: 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 , the three remaining BCC members continued their assault and attacked Dark Order members Evil Uno and Hangman Page , turning

6902-535: The Giant (7 ft 4 in), The Great Khali (7 ft 3 in), Big Show (7 ft 2 in), Awesome Kong and Nia Jax (123 kg). Similarly to juggernauts, since its beginnings in the circus circuit, the professional wrestler's stereotype has been that of small, but powerful and strong like those of dwarves of Norse mythology . Various wrestlers have banked on the small size which has influenced their in-ring style and persona. Notable examples of these kind include

7021-538: The IWGP World Heavyweight Championship on October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling rather than at Wrestle Kingdom, and he successfully did so by defeating Tetsuya Naito for the title. On 5 November 2018, it was announced that Sabre would make his Ring of Honor (ROH) debut at Final Battle . He defeated Jonathan Gresham . Sabre returned to ROH on February 25, 2023, on the first episode of Ring of Honor, since Tony Khan 's purchase of

7140-521: The Intercontinental Championship from Tanahashi. On 28 February 2018, Sabre was announced as one of the competitors in the 2018 New Japan Cup . Sabre defeated Tetsuya Naito in the first round, Kota Ibushi in the second round and Sanada in the semi-finals, on his way to the final. On 21 March, Sabre defeated Tanahashi in the final, becoming the second gaijin to win the tournament after Giant Bernard in 2006. After

7259-728: 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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7378-791: The Progress Tag Team Championships but failed to capture the titles. Following the loss, Ciampa beat down Sabre. The two faced each other at Progress' biggest show to date, held at the Brixton Academy in London , in a Two Out of Three falls match which Sabre won. At Chapter 40, Sabre unsuccessfully challenged Pete Dunne for the Progress World Championship. He then entered the Super Strong Style 16 defeating David Starr in

7497-406: The Progress World Championship. Sabre made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) at the 2014 Battle of Los Angeles on night 1 teaming with Chuck Taylor and Kenny Omega and defeating Adam Cole and The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson). In April 2015, he returned to the promotion, answering the challenge from PWG World Champion Roderick Strong in a title match at Don't Sweat

7616-531: The Ruthless Aggression era following the Attitude era, the emphasis of gimmicks became more realistic with wrestlers portraying themselves or actual people without wild exaggeration, freakishness or fantastical qualities. It is also more common for the wrestlers to use their actual names. Wrestlers like Randy Orton , Batista , Bobby Lashley , John Cena , and Brock Lesnar are prime examples. All

7735-672: The Technique in a losing effort. He then entered the 2015 Battle of Los Angeles which he eventually won. On Night 2 of All Star Weekend 12 , Sabre defeated Strong to win the PWG title for the first time. He entered his third Battle of Los Angeles tournament in September 2016, losing to Will Ospreay in the quarterfinals. On 7 July 2017, Sabre lost the PWG World Championship to Chuck Taylor . In September, Sabre entered

7854-637: The United States (Mort Henderson as "Masked Marvel" in 1915) considerably earlier than in Mexico, but it was the latter that popularised the use of masks. This, in some cases to signify a high-flyer style, influenced by Lucha Libre . A specific masked gimmick may be used by more than one wrestler at a wrestling company's request since their identity can be permanently concealed. This is the case of Mexican Sin Cara and Japanese Tiger Mask . Masks also allow

7973-610: The Unwashed Masses" character, and "The Librarian" Peter Avalon and his manager Leva Bates , and tag-teams The Steiner Brothers , The Spirit Squad , and most recently, Team Rhodes Scholars , American Alpha , and Chase University . Bad News reporter characters are a villainous gimmick; due to any "bad news" reported to the fans by a "bad guy" (heel); but is quite rare since that fans are not quite interested in it either. Wrestlers who used this gimmick include Bad News Brown , and most recently, "Bad News" Barrett . Religion

8092-580: The Valley , Sabre made his first title defence in the United States, defeating Clark Connors to retain the title once again. In March, Sabre took part in the New Japan Cup , where he was eliminated in the second round to Shota Umino . This led to a rematch on 8 April at Sakura Genesis , where Sabre defeated Umino to make his fourth successful title defense. Seven days later, at Capital Collision , Sabre made his fifth title defense against Tom Lawlor . On 3 May at Wrestling Dontaku , Sabre faced Jeff Cobb in

8211-483: The World Television Championship to Tanahashi, ending his reign at 365 days. The following day at New Year Dash!! , TMDK faced Bryan Danielson , Jon Moxley , Okada and Ishii in a winning effort. Afterwards, Sabre challenged Danielson to a rematch, after Danielson had previously defeated him at AEW's WrestleDream on October 1, 2023, by knockout blow, leading Sabre to maintain that Danielson

8330-472: The abandoning previous character gimmicks. It was not until the First Golden Age of Professional Wrestling in the United States during the 1940s–1950s, when Gorgeous George created pro wrestling's first major gimmick. His heel character focused on his looks and quickly antagonized the fans with his exaggerated effeminate behavior, drawing jealousy to the fans. Such showmanship was unheard of for

8449-432: The angle or the wrestling promotion that they are working for at that time. Promotions will use gimmicks on more than one person, albeit at different times, occasionally taking advantage of a masked character which allows for the identity of the wrestler in question to be concealed. Razor Ramon was portrayed by both Scott Hall and Rick Bognar and Diesel was portrayed by Kevin Nash and then Glen Jacobs . Occasionally,

8568-406: The announcement of Forbidden Door , Sabre had consistently called out "The American Dragon", hinting to challenging Bryan Danielson to a match at Forbidden Door. This led to, on the June 22 episode of Dynamite , Danielson acknowledging Sabre's challenge, however he also announced that he was injured and not medically cleared to compete at Forbidden Door, due to his loss at Double or Nothing in

8687-657: The camera, "Rishi Sunak – pay nurses, dickhead! Pay nurses a living wage!" Sabre's technical style is based on World of Sport wrestling, with plentiful chain wrestling and submissions. He has cited Bret Hart , Koji Kanemoto , Johnny Kidd , Shinjiro Otani , Jushin Liger and Johnny Saint as inspirations for his wrestling style. He has won the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Bryan Danielson Award ( Best Technical Wrestler ) for seven consecutive years. Sabre has been

8806-584: The case of Rey Mysterio . Other wrestlers who have used masks in their performances include: The Masked Superstar , Mexican-American Kalisto , Lince Dorado , Gran Metalik , or Japanese legend Jushin Thunder Liger . A high number of wrestlers who start their careers in another sport incorporate their athletic abilities as part of their act. That is the case for Olympic medallist Kurt Angle , who previously competed in freestyle wrestling and alludes to it in his attire and wrestling style. Brock Lesnar

8925-776: The championship in a match against the former champions at Summer Struggle in Jingu . After one more successful defense, they lost the titles to G.O.D. at Wrestle Kingdom 15 . However, on June 1, he and Taichi regained the IWGP Tag Team Championship. They would lose them to World Tag League winners Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi at Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 1. On Night 2, Suzuki-gun lost to Los Ingobernables de Japon , in an 8-man tag team match. On Night 3, Sabre and fellow Suzuki-gun stablemate Yoshinobu Kanemaru lost to Pro Wrestling Noah 's Naomichi Marufuji and Yoshinari Ogawa . In March, Sabre participated in

9044-638: The company. At the event, he successfully defended the NJPW World Television Championship against Blake Christian . Sabre returned on 18 May, defending his title once more against AR Fox . After the match Sabre claimed to be the best television champion in all of professional wrestling, causing the ROH World Television Champion , Samoa Joe to confront Sabre. As Joe questioned Sabre's earlier statement, Christopher Daniels and Matt Sydal interrupted

9163-707: The country. Eatwell is outspoken about his political views; he is a socialist , a supporter of the Labour Party , and a staunch opponent of the Conservative Party . In 2019, following the news that child poverty in the UK had reached record highs under the Conservatives, he began selling a custom anti-Conservative T-shirt with a percentage of the profits going to the Trussell Trust . After he

9282-480: The crowded independent circuit by adopting absurdist comedy gimmicks intended to be understood by post-kayfabe fans as purely fictional characters. Two such wrestlers whose independent-scene popularity got them noticed and eventually signed by the internationally televised promotion All Elite Wrestling are Orange Cassidy , an emotionless slacker who puts as little effort as possible into his matches and frequently wrestles with his hands in his pockets; and Danhausen ,

9401-406: The duo, as Sydal sought a title shot at either the television championship. Sabre proposed a tag-team match between himself and Joe and Sydal and Daniels, where if the latter won, Sydal would earn a title future television title shot. The following week, Sabre and Samoa Joe defeated Sydal and Daniels. On 1 June, Sabre defeated Rocky Romero to retain his NJPW World Television Championship. Since

9520-517: 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

9639-802: The fans being over with getting used to watching sheer violence as they don't shy away from it either. These include Abdullah the Butcher , and Bruiser Brody , which came popular into other professional wrestling companies like ECW wrestlers, e.g. Terry Funk , Hardcore Holly , New Jack , and Mick Foley/Mankind/Cactus Jack , etc., CZW wrestlers, e.g. John Zandig , Necro Butcher , Wifebeater , Nick Mondo , and Nick Gage , etc., AEW wrestlers, e.g. The Blade and The Butcher , etc., Japanese Wrestlers Atsushi Onita , Toshiaki Kawada , and Jun Kasai , and tag-teams The Motor City Machine Guns , and most recently, The Mechanics , and Heavy Machinery . Music influences are another popular choice for gimmicks. In

9758-403: The fans. Gimmicks can be designed to work as good guys/heroes ( babyfaces ) or bad guys/villains ( heel ) depending on the wrestler's desire to be popular or hated by the crowd. A tweener gimmick falls between the two extremes, such as wrestlers who manifests many heel and face traits such as Randy Orton 's viper gimmick. A wrestler may portray more than one gimmick over their career depending on

9877-428: The first round and Jack Sexsmith in the second round, before losing to Travis Banks in the semi-final. Sabre entered the Super Strong Style 16 2018, defeating Chuck Mambo in the first round, Starr in the second round, Keith Lee in the semi-final and Kassius Ohno in the final, thus winning the tournament for the first time in his career. At Chapter 77, Sabre was defeated by Walter, his former wXw tag team partner, for

9996-448: 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

10115-477: The inaugural NJPW World Television Champion . After the match, Sabre was approached by Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste , who offered him a TMDK t-shirt. Sabre accepted the shirt and embraced the two men, joining the stable. Since Sabre was being friendly towards young lion Kosei Fujita , he too joined the stable the next day by the request of Sabre. He made his first title defence, successfully defeating Tomohiro Ishii in February. On 18 February, at Battle in

10234-592: The industry at that time led to this era to be also known as "Hulkamania". Around this time, wrestling became a form of entertainment rather than an official sport. Other wrestlers from this era with similarly vivid and outlandish characterization include The Iron Sheik , The Ultimate Warrior , Randy Savage , The Undertaker , Sting , Goldust , Roddy Piper , Ric Flair , "The Heartbreak Kid" Shawn Michaels , Big Daddy Cool Diesel , Kwang , The Bushwhackers , Big Boss Man , Tatanka , Razor Ramon , Sgt. Slaughter , Irwin R. Schyster , among many others. Beginning with

10353-511: 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

10472-409: The match, each of the Suzuki-gun members spoke about their memories as a part of the group and thanked leader Suzuki. The night ended with all members posing with the Suzuki-gun flag, only to be interrupted by former member Takashi Iizuka , causing all nine men to pose in the ring, behind the Suzuki-gun flag, which was raised by Michinoku. At Wrestle Kingdom 17 , Sabre defeated Ren Narita to become

10591-446: The match, he challenged IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada for a title shot at Sakura Genesis on 1 April. At the event, Okada defeated Sabre to retain the title. Sabre competed in the 2018 G1 Climax where he finished with 12 points, failing to advance due to his losses against Ibushi and Kenny Omega . At Wrestle Kingdom 13 , he defeated Ishii to regain the British Heavyweight Championship. In March 2019, Sabre entered to

10710-527: The name "Bollywood" was borrowed from the word "Hollywood" but with a "B" instead of a "H" to describe a famous filming district in Mumbai (Bombay), in India, which it was named after). Authority figures are apparently villainous but sometimes as heroic characters as wrestlers and non-wrestlers (e.g. referees , general managers, security , police , etc.) as well depending on the storyline. Some wrestlers also use

10829-474: 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,

10948-400: The past before debuting in WWE along with Mojo Rawley 's "hyperactive" wrestling style due to being a former NFL player before debuting WWE as well as the stable The Four Horsemen . The theatrical nature of professional wrestling easily blends with comic hero and villain characters , made popular in the 1980s by legend The Ultimate Warrior and Sting , whose character was inspired by

11067-512: 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 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

11186-582: The promotion's 45th anniversary show on 6 March, where he would challenge Katsuyori Shibata for the RPW British Heavyweight Championship . Sabre won the match with help from Minoru Suzuki and Davey Boy Smith Jr. , joining the Suzuki-gun stable in the process. The following day, Sabre pinned NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto in an eight-man tag team match. This led to Sabre unsuccessfully challenging Goto for

11305-758: The quarterfinal round. In the quarterfinal round, Sabre lost to Kazuchika Okada , eliminating him from the tournament. On October 14 at Royal Quest III , Sabre challenged Will Ospreay for the IWGP United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship , which Ospreay had rebranded from the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. At the event, Sabre was defeated by Ospreay, failing to win the title. The following month at Power Struggle , Sabre teamed with TMDK stablemates, Nicholls and Haste, challenging Okada, Ishii and Hiroshi Tanahashi for

11424-406: 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 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

11543-540: The ring during entrances or when he's won a match, and tag-teams The Public Enemy , Badd Company , The Rockers , The Rock 'n' Roll Express , The Rhythm and Blues , and most recently, The Vaudevillains . AEW 's Adam Williams is also a professional wrestler and a real-life guitarist. Whilst humor has long been present in professional wrestling matches and many wrestlers incorporate elements of comedy in their act, full-on comedic gimmicks are not commonly seen. These are sometimes reserved for wrestlers who not always have

11662-407: The said wrestlers are depicted as less-exaggerated average people. Although rare, colorful and cartoon-like characters remain in the WWE, such as Shinsuke Nakamura (a wildly random, erratic mixed martial arts enigma, emotionally charged by the sound of violins) and Matt Riddle (a stereotypical carefree, barefoot surfer Valley boy ). Outside WWE, some wrestlers have made names for themselves on

11781-528: The same things that Bray Wyatt would do. Since its beginnings in the circus circuit, the professional wrestler's stereotype has been that of large, powerful and strong, most notably Kane upon his arrival to the WWF/E. Various wrestlers have banked on the larger size which has influenced their in-ring style and persona. Notable examples of these kind include Swede Tor Johnson (181 kg), Gorilla Monsoon (182 kg), Giant González (8 ft 0 in), André

11900-440: The semifinals of the tournament, where he was defeated on 14 September by Gran Metalik . Afterwards, it was reported that Sabre's loss was due to him not agreeing to a contract with WWE unlike the two tournament finalists. He later revealed he turned down the WWE contract to sign for New Japan Pro Wrestling instead. On 21 February 2017, it was announced that Sabre would be making his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) at

12019-460: The semifinals, before losing to Tomohiro Ishii . On 17 July, Sabre scored a major win in his first G1 Climax match by submitting the reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi . Sabre went on to finish the tournament with a record of five wins and four losses, failing to advance to the finals. On 16 September at Destruction in Hiroshima , Sabre failed in his attempt to capture

12138-497: 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 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

12257-794: The stereotypical physique required in the industry and instead exploit their entertainment abilities. Initiated by English wrestler Les Kellett , wrestlers who fall under this category are Doink The Clown which was majorly portrayed by Matt Osborne until his death in 2013, which inspired others like Scottish comedian and actor Grado , Ring of Honor 's Colt Cabana , Santino Marella , James Ellsworth , and Eugene's "mentally disabled boy" character, Japanese Wrestlers Stalker Ichikawa , Gran Naniwa , Kuishinbo Kamen and Toru Yano , Charlie Haas during his impersonations run, and WWE 's 1990s turkey character Gobbledy Gooker , and rooster character Red Rooster , WCW's Brian Pillman , and Al Snow along with his mannequin prop called "Head" which he used as

12376-430: The time; and consequently, arena crowds grew in size as fans turned out to ridicule George. Gorgeous George's impact and legacy on wrestling gimmicks was enormous, demonstrating how fast television changed the product from athletics to performance. Before him, wrestlers' gimmicks imitated "ethnic terrors"—Nazis, Middle Eastern Muslims (Arabs, Turks, Persians, Afghans, etc.), Japanese, Russians, etc.—but his success birthed

12495-609: The title on 9 April at Sakura Genesis . Sabre was left out of the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors as NJPW had decided to categorise him as a heavyweight wrestler going forward. Instead, he was announced for NJPW's premier singles tournament, the 2017 G1 Climax . Prior to the G1 Climax, Sabre took part in a tournament to crown the inaugural IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at G1 Special in USA , where he made it to

12614-535: The title until 1 June 2008 when it was vacated . At International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom (IPW:UK), Sabre most notably won the IPW:UK Tag Team Championship twice along with Marty Scurll in 2009 and 2010. At Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), Sabre most notably won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship twice with Yoshinari Ogawa in 2013 and 2014. At Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), Sabre won both

12733-471: 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

12852-465: The tournament finals, facing Ren Narita at Wrestle Kingdom 17 . In December, at the World Tag League and Best of the Super Juniors finals, Suzuki announced the disbandment of Suzuki-gun by the end of the year. The final match between the faction took place on 23 December, where the team of Taichi, Sabre, Kanemaru and Douki defeated Suzuki, Archer, Desperado and Taka Michinoku . After

12971-413: The tournament, Sabre earned an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match. At Hyper Battle , Sabre lost to Okada. At Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall , Sabre teamed with Kanemaru and El Desperado to challenge for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship in a losing effort to House of Torture . Also at the event, Sabre was announced to be competing in the G1 Climax 32 tournament in June, as

13090-419: The upcoming Forbidden Door PPV. At the event, Cassidy retained his championship. On the September 9 episode of Collision , Danielson said that with his career winding down, the next person he wanted to face was Sabre. Later, a match between the two was officially announced for AEW WrestleDream . At the event, Sabre was defeated by Danielson. On the June 8, 2024 episode of Collision , Sabre would release

13209-638: The wXw World Lightweight Championship and the wXw World Heavyweight Championship in 2010 unifying the titles to become the inaugural wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion . He lost the championship in the same year to Big van Walter . Sabre also won the 2015 World Tag Team Tournament for the vacant wXw World Tag Team Championship together with Walter. Sabre made two appearances for Glasgow's Insane Championship Wrestling promotion. At their premiere annual event ICW: Fear & Loathing 4 on 23 October 2011, Sabre entered an elimination triple threat match with Liam Thomson and his former trainee Andy Wild, which

13328-408: Was a big fan of them. Mantaur 's character name was also based on a pun on the word Minotaur , a half-man, half-bull creature from Greek Mythology . Luchasaurus ' character name is a portmanteau of " lucha libre " and " dino saurus ". Tag-team The Super Smash Brothers 's name was based on the video game franchise Super Smash Bros. Nikki Cross also changed her gimmick and name like that of

13447-520: 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 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

13566-443: Was eliminated from that year's G1 Climax tournament, he performed an in-character rant blaming his loss on being distracted by the news that the next UK Prime Minister would be Boris Johnson , whom he called "Boris toffing Eaton [ sic ] wanker Johnson". During his entrance at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in 2023, he addressed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the healthcare worker strikes that began in 2022 by shouting into

13685-432: 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 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

13804-451: 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 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

13923-411: 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 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

14042-461: Was unable to tap him out and he was the best technical wrestler in the world. Sabre defeated Danielson, on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka . On April 12 at Windy City Riot , Sabre defeated Matt Riddle to regain the World Television Championship for the second time. On 3 May at Wrestling Dontaku , Sabre lost the championship to Cobb, ending his second reign at 21 days. Sabre would enter

14161-465: Was won by Wild. In 2015, Sabre took part in the first ever Progress Wrestling Super Strong Style 16 tournament, competing in four matches over the weekend – defeating Zack Gibson , Tommaso Ciampa and Scurll before losing to Will Ospreay in the final. Sabre had a rematch with Ciampa in November at the first ever Manchester Progress show, which Ciampa won. In March 2016, Sabre and Ciampa teamed up to face The Origin ( El Ligero and Nathan Cruz) for

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