The Elite (professional wrestling)

On January 5, 2016, Omega took over the leadership of Bullet Club, turning its members, including The Young Bucks, on previous leader A.J. Styles and kicking him out of the group.[8][9] 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 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.[1]

During the first months of The Elite's existence, The Young Bucks, who were the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions when the group was formed,[10] both lost and regained the title[11][12] while Omega did the same with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.[12][13] 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.[14][15] They went on to defend the title in the United States for ROH.[16] 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,[17][18] only to regain it from them on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016.[19][20] Their second reign ended on July 3, when they were defeated by Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima.[21]

On August 14, Omega made history by becoming the first non-Japanese wrestler to win NJPW's premier tournament, the G1 Climax, defeating Hirooki Goto in the finals.[22][23] 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[24] while The Young Bucks concentrated on tag team matches, winning the ROH World Tag Team Championship in September.[25] On January 4, 2017, The Elite 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)[26][27] while in the main event of the show Omega unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.[26][28] The main event match earned acclaim from journalists and industry veterans with some ranking it among the greatest professional wrestling matches ever.[29][30][31][32]

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.[33][5] 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 the middle of Omega and Cole.[34] The storyline culminated on May 12, when after teasing dissension with Omega they turned on Cole, who was fired from Bullet Club by Omega.[35][36] 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.[37] 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 the inaugural IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion.[38] On August 13, The Young Bucks lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Funky Future (Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi).[39] Later that same day, Omega was defeated in the finals of the 2017 G1 Climax by Tetsuya Naito.[39] 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 a six-man tag team main event.[40]

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.[41][42]

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 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 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 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 reuniting The Elite as a four-man team now named The Golden Elite.[43][44][45]

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.

On the Talk is Jericho podcast on October 30 held at Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, Matt Jackson confirmed that Cody, Page, and Marty Scurll are now officially in The Elite. In addition, The Elite have left Bullet Club, ending a civil war between the Bullet Club OGs and The Elite.[46]

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.[47]

On December 15, 2018, The Elite, minus Scurll who remains under contract, officially left ROH, following the Final Battle (2018) pay-per-view. They gave a post show speech to the crowd along with Christopher Daniels, Frankie Kazarian, and Scorpio Sky.[48][49] 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 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.[50] 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 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 the Elite, Hangman Page attempted to part ways with the group,[51] 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,[52] but still remained a peripheral member on the verge of permanently leaving.

In 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.[53] On the August 27 episode of AEW Dynamite, Page 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.[54]

Kenny Omega, with assistance from Don Callis defeated Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship on December 2, 2020.[55] On the December 15, 2020 edition of Impact Wrestling, Omega allied with former Bullet Club teammates Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson.[56] On the January 5 episode of Impact Wrestling, a re-united Kenny Omega, Gallows, and Anderson stated they were "Bullet Club for life."[57] The following day on AEW Dynamite, Gallows & Anderson saved Omega from an attack by Moxley, and reunited with the Young Bucks to form a five man group.[58] 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." NJPW Bullet Club founding member Tama Tonga addressed this faction of former Bullet Club members on Twitter, calling them a "bootleg Bulletclub.".[59] On the January 13 episode of Dynamite, Omega, Anderson, and Gallows teamed together as "The Elite".[60]

At Impact Wrestling's Hard to Kill PPV Omega, Anderson, and Gallows defeated Rich Swann, Chris Sabin, and Moose[61]. On the January 21st episode of Dynamite, Anderson, Gallows, and the Young Bucks teamed together to defeat the Dark Order. At AEW Beach Break on February 3rd, Omega, Anderson, and Gallows defeated the team of Jon Moxley, Rey Fenix, and PAC.[62] 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.[63] After the match, Omega said he would team with Kenta in a match against Moxley and Lance Archer.[64]

As of February 8, 2020.