As individual (2 reigns):
119-522: The AEW World Trios Championship is a men's professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It is a specialized tag team championship, being contested by teams of three wrestlers, referred to as trios. The current champions are the Death Riders ( Pac , Claudio Castagnoli , and Wheeler Yuta ), who are in their first reign as
238-652: A Blade Runner during Guerrillas of Destiny 's Impact World Tag Team Championship match with The Good Brothers, allowing Gallows and Anderson to retain the titles as well as take G.o.D's place in Bullet Club. On the April 24, 2022 episode of Impact , White returned to Impact and teamed with Chris Bey to defeat Rich Swann and Willie Mack. At Under Siege , Bullet Club (White, Chris Bey, Doc Gallows, El Phantasmo , and Karl Anderson) lost to Honor No More ( Eddie Edwards , Kenny King , Matt Taven , Mike Bennett , and Vincent ) in
357-446: A " gimmick " consisting of a specific persona , stage name , entrance theme , and other distinguishing traits. Matches are the primary vehicle for advancing storylines, which typically center on interpersonal conflicts, or feuds , between heroic " faces " and villainous " heels ". A wrestling ring , akin to the platform used in boxing , serves as the main stage ; additional scenes may be recorded for television in backstage areas of
476-673: A Battle Royal he unsuccessfully challenged Christopher Daniels for The ROH World Championship in a triple threat match. At Best in the World 2017 White, teaming with Search and Destroy defeated The Rebellion in a losers must disband match thus keeping the group together. White debuted for England's Revolution Pro Wrestling on 12 August 2016, defeating Josh Bodom. He returned on 26 August, defeating Mark Haskins . White competed once again for RPW on 21 January 2017, defeating Martin Stone . On 5 November 2017, at Power Struggle , White returned to NJPW as
595-764: A Blade Runner. A day later, he joined the Chaos faction in order to face off against Bullet Club and Kenny Omega, claiming he needed backup in his fight against Bullet Club. On 28 January at The New Beginning in Sapporo , White defeated Omega to become the second IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion in the title's history. On 25 March, he went on to defend the title for the first time against Hangman Page at NJPW Strong Style Evolved Event in Long Beach, California. White would make his second successful title defence against David Finlay at Road to Dontaku. White would make his third defense of
714-413: A background in authentic wrestling no longer mattered. After this time, matches became more outlandish and gimmicky and any semblance professional wrestling had to catch wrestling faded. The personas of the wrestlers likewise grew more outlandish. Gorgeous George , who performed throughout the 1940s and 1950s, was the first wrestler whose entrance into the arena was accompanied by a theme song played over
833-479: A bladerunner. The following week, White confronted Gallows and Anderson, which ended in the two beating down White, until Chris Bey , who White attempted to recruit to Bullet Club following Slammiversary, made the save. On the July 29 episode of Impact , White and Bey lost to Gallows and Anderson. On the next week's episode of Impact , White accompanied Bey to his match against Juice Robinson, which Bey would win. After
952-509: A blue globe at the center with "TRIOS" written across the globe in black with a gold border. Above the globe is a black banner that says "WORLD" in gold while a black banner below the globe says "CHAMPION" in gold. At the top of the plate is AEW's logo while filigree fills out the rest of the plate. Sitting on either side of the center plate are two side plates each. The inner side plates show two wrestlers performing simultaneous superkicks on another wrestler. The outer side plates originally showed
1071-520: A carny term for a shooting gallery gun whose sights were not deliberately misaligned. Wrestling in the United States blossomed in popularity after the Civil War , with catch wrestling eventually becoming the most popular style. At first, professional wrestlers were genuine competitive fighters, but they struggled to draw audiences because Americans did not find real wrestling to be very entertaining, so
1190-513: A central authority. Nor could any of them stomach the idea of leaving the NWA themselves to compete directly with McMahon, for that would mean their territories would become fair game for the other NWA members. McMahon also had a creative flair for TV that his rivals lacked. For instance, the AWA's TV productions during the 1980s were amateurish, low-budget, and out-of-touch with contemporary culture, which lead to
1309-407: A chair, and aligning himself with White. On 8 October, at King Of Pro Wrestling , White was defeated by Hiroshi Tanahashi . After the match, he and Gedo attacked Tanahashi, only for Okada to stop it. They were soon joined by Jado and Bullet Club OG in what turned out to be a setup to attack Okada, with White, Gedo and Jado all completing their defection from Chaos to join Bullet Club, becoming
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#17328524107981428-595: A chair. During his feud with Starks, The Gunns ( Austin and Colten Gunn ) also joined Bullet Club Gold. The eliminator match victory lead to White and Robinson facing FTR in a two out of three falls match for the titles on the July 15, 2023 edition of Collision, where FTR retained their titles after 58 minutes, defeating White and Robinson by 2-1 falls, in a critically acclaimed match. The stable participated at All In , where they teamed with Konosuke Takeshita to defeat Kenny Omega, Adam Page, and Kota Ibusui and All Out , where they defeated FTR and The Young Bucks . As
1547-574: A champion that Curley put forth: Dick Shikat . The National Wrestling Association shut down in 1980. In 1948, a number of promoters from across the country came together to form the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The NWA recognized one "world champion", voted on by its members, but allowed member promoters to crown their own local champions in their territories. If a member poached wrestlers from another member, or held matches in another member's territory, they risked being ejected from
1666-424: A degree. Vince Russo, the boss of WCW in 2000, completely disregarded kayfabe by routinely discussing business matters and office politics in public, which alienated fans. I watch championship wrestling from Florida with wrestling commentator Gordon Solie . Is this all "fake"? If so, they deserve an Oscar . Jay White Jamie White (born 9 October 1992), better known by the ring name Jay White ,
1785-410: A fee, a visitor could challenge the wrestler to a quick match. If the challenger defeated the champion in a short time frame, usually 15 minutes, he won a prize. To encourage challenges, the carnival operators staged rigged matches in which an accomplice posing as a visitor challenged the champion and won, giving the audience the impression that the champion was easy to beat. This practice taught wrestlers
1904-414: A genuine sport, and the phrase "professional wrestling" therefore has a more literal meaning in those places. A notable example is India's Pro Wrestling League . In numerous American states, professional wrestling is legally defined as a non-sport. For instance, New York defines professional wrestling as: Professional wrestling means an activity in which participants struggle hand-in-hand primarily for
2023-405: A legitimate sport. Firstly, wrestling was more entertaining when it was faked, whereas fakery did not make boxing any more entertaining. Secondly, in a rigged boxing match, the designated loser must take a real beating for his "defeat" to be convincing, but wrestling holds can be faked convincingly without inflicting injury. This meant that boxers were less willing to "take dives"; they wanted to have
2142-754: A match against Gus Sonnenberg in January 1929. Bowser then broke away from the trust to form his own cartel, the American Wrestling Association (AWA), in September 1930, and he declared Sonnenberg to be the AWA champion. This AWA should not be confused with Wally Kadbo's AWA founded in 1960. Curley reacted to this move by convincing the National Boxing Association to form the National Wrestling Association , which in turn crowned
2261-548: A match between The Young Bucks and Roppongi Vice on the February 11 episode of Rampage , White attacked Beretta again, setting up a match between the two on following week's episode, which White won by pinfall, after hitting Beretta with the Bladerunner. White returned on the April 20 episode of Dynamite , alongside Cole, interrupting Tony Khan and Takami Ohbari's announcement of AEW×NJPW: Forbidden Door on June 26, claiming
2380-440: A new city, attendance was high because there was a waiting fanbase cultivated in advance by the cable TV shows. The NWA's traditional anti-competitive tricks were no match for this. The NWA attempted to centralize and create their own national cable television shows to counter McMahon's rogue promotion, but it failed in part because the members of the NWA, ever protective of their territories, could not stomach submitting themselves to
2499-621: A non-title champion vs. champion match. At the G1 Supercard on 6 April, Okada defeated White for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, ending his reign at 54 days and no successful title defenses. White then entered the 2019 G1 Climax , competing in the B Block. Despite losing his first three matches against Hirooki Goto , Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano , White would make a comeback and win his next five matches against Jeff Cobb , Shingo Takagi , Taichi , Jon Moxley (being
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#17328524107982618-506: A quarter final match in the ROH Trios Tag Team Championship Tournament. White, ACH, and Kushida then defeated The Cabinet ( Rhett Titus , Kenny King , and Caprice Coleman ) in the semi-finals, but were defeated by The Kingdom ( Matt Taven , Vinny Marseglia , and T. K. O'Ryan ) in the final at Final Battle . On 6 June, White received his biggest title opportunity in his career at the time when after winning
2737-652: A shot at the IWGP World Heavyweight title on October 10 at Declaration of Power , though at the event White retained the championship. At Wrestle Kingdom 17 on January 4, 2023 at the Tokyo Dome , White lost the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship back to Okada, ending his reign at 206 days. In a post-match press conference, White accepted his loss, although he blamed it on former Bullet club stablemate Hikuleo , who had attacked White and left
2856-606: A singles wrestler, White faced the AEW World Champion , Maxwell Jacob Friedman at Full Gear , where he was defeated, and participated in the Continental Classic tournament, where he finished joint top of his block with 12 pints, allowing him to advance to the semifinal round. In the semifinal round, White lost to Jon Moxley , eliminating him from the tournament. On January 17, 2024, White and The Gunns defeated Mogul Embassy ( Brian Cage , Kaun and Toa Liona ) for
2975-530: A stable named "Search and Destroy" with Jonathan Gresham and Lio Rush . On 8 July, White defeated Lio Rush . At the next set of TV tapings, White defeated Will Ferrara and wrestled Jay Briscoe to a time limit draw. On 19 August, White competed in a fatal four way match against Kamaitachi, Lio Rush, and Donovan Dijak , which was won by Dijak. The following day, White and Rush were defeated by The Briscoe Brothers . On 30 September, White teamed with Kushida and ACH to defeat The Briscoes and Toru Yano in
3094-497: A team, while individually, it is the first for Castagnoli and Yuta and the record-tying second for Pac. They won the title by defeating previous champions The Patriarchy ( Christian Cage , Killswitch , and Nick Wayne ), Bang Bang Gang ( Juice Robinson , Austin Gunn , and Colten Gunn ), and House of Black ( Malakai Black , Brody King , and Buddy Matthews ) in a four-way London Ladder match at All In on August 25, 2024. The title
3213-560: A ten match tag team match. On the May 12 episode of Impact , White and El Phantasmo lost to Josh Alexander and Tomohiro Ishii . On the June 16 episode of Impact , White and Chris Bey lost to The Briscoes ( Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe ). White appeared in AEW on the February 9, 2022, episode of Dynamite , aiding Adam Cole and The Young Bucks in beating down Trent Beretta and Rocky Romero . After
3332-497: A typical American household only received four national channels by antenna, and ten to twelve local channels via UHF broadcasting . But cable television could carry a much larger selection of channels and therefore had room for niche interests. The WWF started with a show called All-American Wrestling airing on the USA Network in September 1983. McMahon's TV shows made his wrestlers national celebrities, so when he held matches in
3451-575: A victory for all the pain to which they subjected themselves. In the 1910s, promotional cartels for professional wrestling emerged in the East Coast (outside its traditional heartland in the Midwest ). These promoters sought to make long-term plans with their wrestlers, and to ensure their more charismatic and crowd-pleasing wrestlers received championships, further entrenching the desire for worked matches. The primary rationale for shoot matches at this point
3570-482: A wrestler performing an electric chair driver, but when the standard belts returned in 2024 after the custom "scissoring" belts had been used, the outer side plates were changed to saying "WORLD TRIOS CHAMPION" (which had first appeared on the scissoring belts). During House of Black 's ( Malakai Black , Brody King , and Buddy Matthews ) reign that began in March 2023, they introduced their own custom "black out" versions of
3689-750: A young lion upon his arrival, and made his debut for NJPW on 30 January 2015, losing to Alex Shelley . White lost all but eight of his matches in 2015, as is common for young lions in NJPW. In 2016, White began gaining more victories, and on 27 March competed in his biggest match to date when he was defeated by then-reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion Kenny Omega in a non-title match. White's final match in NJPW took place on 19 June 2016 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall , when he, David Finlay , and Juice Robinson were defeated by Satoshi Kojima , Hiroyoshi Tenzan , and Manabu Nakanishi . White left for his excursion to
AEW World Trios Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
3808-570: Is a New Zealand professional wrestler . As of April 2023 , he is signed to All Elite Wrestling , where he is the leader of the Bang Bang Gang . White is a former Unified World Trios Champion ( AEW World Trios and ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion ). Prior to signing with AEW, White had a decorated career in New Japan Pro-Wrestling as the first ever NJPW Grand Slam Champion . After starting his career in 2013, White joined NJPW
3927-410: Is a true sport. Wrestlers would at all times flatly deny allegations that they fixed their matches, and they often remained in-character in public even when not performing. When in public, wrestlers would sometimes say the word kayfabe to each other as a coded signal that there were fans present and they needed to be in character. Professional wrestlers in the past strongly believed that if they admitted
4046-400: Is also the shortest at three days while The Acclaimed's (Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, and Billy Gunn) sole reign is the longest at 238 days. Billy Gunn is the oldest champion, winning the title at 59, while Nick Wayne is the youngest at 19. The current champions are Death Riders (Pac, Claudio Castagnoli , and Wheeler Yuta ), who are in their first reign as a team, while individually, it is
4165-505: The COVID-19 pandemic , White returned on the 21 August episode of Strong , teaming with Bullet Club partner Chase Owens in a loss to Villain Enterprises ( Brody King and Flip Gordon ). He then participated in the 2020 G1 Climax in the A Block, which he ended with 12 points (six wins and three losses). At Power Struggle , White defeated Kota Ibushi to become the first wrestler to win
4284-693: The IWGP Intercontinental Championship for the first time in his career in the main event. At Power Struggle on 3 November, White successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Hirooki Goto. However, he lost the championship back to Naito at Wrestle Kingdom 14 on 4 January 2020, ending his reign at 104 days. He followed this with a victory over Kota Ibushi the next day he then defeated Sanada at The New Beginning in Osaka on 9 February. After an absence due to
4403-609: The New Jersey State Athletic Control Board that professional wrestling is not a real sport because its matches have predetermined outcomes. Shortly thereafter, New Jersey deregulated professional wrestling. The WWF then rebranded itself as a " sports entertainment " company. In the early years of the 20th century, the style of wrestling used in professional wrestling matches was catch wrestling . Promoters wanted their matches to look realistic and so preferred to recruit wrestlers with real grappling skills. In
4522-485: The ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship . On the January 20 episode of Collision , Bullet Club Gold joined forces with The Acclaimed to form the "Bang Bang Scissor Gang". On March 13 at Big Business , White defeated Darby Allin . After the match, Bullet Club Gold turned on The Acclaimed, disbanding the “Bang Bang Scissor Gang”. On April 5 at Supercard of Honor , White returned to ROH for
4641-597: The Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships challenge rights certificate from the G1 Climax winner. At Wrestle Kingdom 15, White lost to Ibushi, who had won the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships from previous champion Tetsuya Naito. During a press conference with the company on 5 January, White expressed his desire to quit NJPW after New Year Dash!! , stating that he
4760-762: The United States , Mexico , Japan , and northwest Europe (the United Kingdom , Germany/Austria and France ), which have each developed distinct styles, traditions, and subgenres within professional wrestling. Professional wrestling has developed its own culture and community , including a distinct vernacular . It has achieved mainstream success and influence within popular culture , with many terms, tropes , and concepts being referenced in everyday language as well as in film , music , television , and video games . Likewise, numerous professional wrestlers have become national or international icons with recognition by
4879-577: The 1920s, a group of wrestlers and promoters known as the Gold Dust Trio introduced moves which have since become staples of the mock combat of professional wrestling, such as body slams, suplexes , punches, finishing moves, and out-of-ring count-outs. By the early 1930s, most wrestlers had adopted personas to generate public interest. These personas could broadly be characterized as either faces (likeable) or heels (villainous). Native Americans, cowboys, and English aristocrats were staple characters in
AEW World Trios Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue
4998-400: The 1930s and 1940s. Before the age of television, some wrestlers played different personas depending on the region they were performing in. This eventually came to an end in the age of national television wrestling shows, which forced wrestlers to stick to one persona. Wrestlers also often used some sort of gimmick, such as a finishing move, eccentric mannerisms, or out-of-control behavior (in
5117-506: The 1990s, WCW became a credible rival to the WWF, but by end it suffered from a series of creative missteps that led to its failure and purchase by the WWF. One of its mistakes was that it diminished the glamor of its World Heavyweight Championship . Between January 2000 and March 2001, the title changed hands eighteen times, which sapped fan enthusiasm, particularly for the climactic pay-per-view matches. In professional wrestling, two factors decide
5236-411: The 19th century, who later sought to make matches shorter, more entertaining, and less physically taxing. As the public gradually realized and accepted that matches were predetermined, wrestlers responded by increasingly adding melodrama, gimmickry, and outlandish stunt work to their performances to further enhance the spectacle . By at least the early 20th century, professional wrestling had diverged from
5355-500: The A Block, where he ended with 12 points (six wins and three losses). In the tournament, he scored major wins over the leader of Chaos, Kazuchika Okada , as well as eventual winner Hiroshi Tanahashi , notably being the only person to defeat Tanahashi in the tournament. At Destruction , White attacked Tanahashi after his defense of his G1 briefcase. He then attacked Okada, and Okada's former manager Gedo ran out to apparently save Okada. However, he turned on him by hitting him with
5474-830: The AEW World Trios Championship in a winners take all championship unification match to unify the titles and become recognized as the Unified World Trios Champions. When Bullet Club Gold (who since became known as the Bang Bang Gang) were stripped of the Unified Trios Titles on July 10, 2024 ( aired July 13), the AEW and ROH titles were separated, thus ending the unification. The standard AEW World Trios Championship belts were made by Ron Edwardsen of Red Leather Belts. They have five gold plates on black leather straps. The circular center plate has
5593-641: The Atlantic Athletic Corporation (AAC). The AAC shut down in 1960. In 1958, Omaha promoter and NWA member Joe Dusek recognized Verne Gagne as the world champion without the approval of the NWA. Gagne asked for a match against the recognized NWA champion Pat O'Connor. The NWA refused to honor the request, so Gagne and Minneapolis promoter Wally Karbo established the American Wrestling Association in 1960. This AWA should not be confused with Paul Bowser's AWA, which ceased operations just two months prior. Gagne's AWA operated out of Minnesota . Unlike
5712-789: The Fallen , All Elite Wrestling (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. Unlike the AEW World Tag Team Championship , which is a standard tag team title contested by teams of two wrestlers, the Trios Championship is contested by teams of three wrestlers, referred to as trios. At All Out, The Elite ( Kenny Omega , Matt Jackson , and Nick Jackson ) defeated "Hangman" Adam Page and The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver ) in
5831-840: The Freebird Rule and stripped them of the Unified World Trios Championship. During this time White was taken off television to deal with a foot injury. On the October 2 episode of Dynamite , White returned from injury and came to the aid of Juice Robinson during an attack by "Hangman" Adam Page , turning into a tweener in the process. This began a feud between White and Page, where White defeated Page on pay-per view twice, at WrestleDream on October 12 and at Full Gear on November 23. On 6 May 2022, White married longtime girlfriend Savanna Price. He holds both New Zealand and Dutch citizenship, with his grandfather being born in
5950-408: The NWA, at which point his territory became fair game for everyone. The NWA would blacklist wrestlers who worked for independent promoters or who publicly criticized an NWA promoter or who did not throw a match on command. If an independent promoter tried to establish himself in a certain area, the NWA would send their star performers to perform for the local NWA promoter to draw the customers away from
6069-477: The NWA, which only allowed faces to be champions, Gagne occasionally allowed heels to win the AWA championship so that they could serve as foils for him. In August 1983, the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), a promotion in the north-east , withdrew from the NWA. Vince K. McMahon then took over as its boss. No longer bound by the territorial pact of the NWA, McMahon began expanding his promotion into
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#17328524107986188-645: The Road to the New Beginning show, attacking Ishii and continuing their feud. At Castle Attack on 27 February, White defeated Ishii. White went on to feud with Hiroshi Tanahashi, from whom he won the NEVER Openweight Championship at Wrestling Dontaku 2021 , making White the fifth man to win the New Japan Triple Crown and the first New Japan Grand Slam champion. On November 13, 2021 at Battle in
6307-496: The United States going forward. This Match would later be changed to a Loser Leaves New Japan Match after a heated exchange between the White and Kingston on Wrestling Observer Live. At Battle In The Valley, White was defeated by Kingston thus forcing him to leave New Japan Pro Wrestling. After the match, White was attacked by David Finlay. Through NJPW's affiliation with Impact Wrestling , White made his unannounced debut for Impact at
6426-589: The United States the following week. Upon moving to the United States, White was first based in New Jersey , before moving to Detroit , where he lived with Alex Shelley . White debuted in Ring of Honor (ROH) at the 25 June TV tapings, defeating Kamaitachi . He teamed with The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin ) to defeat Kamaitachi and The Addiction ( Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian ). White and The Motor City Machine Guns eventually formed
6545-537: The Valley Jay White lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Tomohiro Ishii ending his reign at 195 days with 1 successful defense White returned to Japan on May 1, at Wrestling Dontaku , attacking reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada after his match against Tetsuya Naito , challenging Okada to a match. At Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall , White defeated Okada to win
6664-726: The World Championship for the first time. After the match, White celebrated with the rest of Bullet Club and demanded respect for him being the "creator" of All Elite Wrestling , referring to him beating AEW Vice President Kenny Omega for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at The New Beginning in Sapporo which was near the end of Omega's tenure with NJPW before joining AEW. He also insulted "Hangman" Adam Page, who had called out former champion Okada on Dynamite earlier that week, teasing confrontation leading up to AEW×NJPW: Forbidden Door . Also at
6783-401: The arena's loudspeakers, his being Pomp and Circumstance . He also wore a costume: a robe and hairnet, which he removed after getting in the ring. He also had a pre-match ritual where his "butler" would spray the ring with perfume. In the 1980s, Vince McMahon made entrance songs, costumes, and rituals standard for his star wrestlers. For instance, McMahon's top star Hulk Hogan would delight
6902-418: The art of staging rigged matches and fostered a mentality that spectators were marks to be duped. The term kayfabe comes from carny slang. By the turn of the 20th century, most professional wrestling matches were "worked" and some journalists exposed the practice: American wrestlers are notorious for the amount of faking they do. It is because of this fact that suspicion attaches to so many bouts that
7021-550: The audience by tearing his shirt off before each match. The first major promoter cartel emerged on the East Coast, although up to that point, wrestling's heartland had been in the Midwest. Notable members of this cartel included Jack Curley , Lou Daro, Paul Bowser and Tom and Tony Packs. The promoters colluded to solve a number of problems that hurt their profits. Firstly, they could force their wrestlers to perform for less money. As
7140-412: The broader public. In the United States, wrestling is generally practiced in an amateur context. No professional league for competitive wrestling exists due to a lack of popularity. For example, Real Pro Wrestling , an American professional freestyle wrestling league, dissolved in 2007 after just two seasons. In other countries, such as Iran and India , wrestling enjoys widespread popularity as
7259-424: The cartel grew, there were fewer independent promoters where independent wrestlers could find work, and many were forced to sign a contract with the cartel to receive steady work. The contracts forbade them from performing at independent venues. A wrestler who refused to play by the cartel's rules was barred from performing at its venues. A second goal of the wrestling cartels was to establish an authority to decide who
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#17328524107987378-418: The case of heels). The matches could also be gimmicky sometimes, with wrestlers fighting in mud and piles of tomatoes and so forth. The most successful and enduring gimmick to emerge from the 1930s were tag-team matches. Promoters noticed that matches slowed down as the wrestlers in the ring tired, so they gave them partners to relieve them. It also gave heels another way to misbehave by double-teaming. Towards
7497-412: The championship belts. The belts featured mostly the same basic design as the standard belts, but with silver plates instead of gold (the globe was also black instead of blue). The side plates were also changed to The House of Black's logos with a vertical "HOB" tooled into the leather between the outer side plates and the button snaps. After The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens, Max Caster, and Billy Gunn) won
7616-423: The character in shows must be considered fictional, wholly separate from the life of the performer. This is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers also incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and their in-ring persona have different names. Kayfabe is the practice of pretending that professional wrestling
7735-461: The commission. The Commission did on very rare occasions hand out such authorizations, such as for a championship match between Jim Londos and Jim Browning in June 1934. This decree did not apply to amateur wrestling, which the commission had no authority over. Wrestling fans widely suspected that professional wrestling was fake, but they did not care as long as it entertained. In 1933, a wrestling promoter named Jack Pfefer started talking about
7854-468: The competitive sport to become an artform and genre of sports entertainment . Professional wrestling is performed around the world through various " promotions ", which are roughly analogous to production companies or sports leagues . Promotions vary considerably in size, scope, and creative approach, ranging from local shows on the independent circuit , to internationally broadcast events at major arenas. The largest and most influential promotions are in
7973-540: The current fashion of wrestling is the universal discussion as to the honesty of the matches. And certainly the most interesting phrase of this discussion is the unanimous agreement: "Who cares if they're fixed or not—the show is good." Newspapers tended to shun professional wrestling, as journalists saw its theatrical pretense to being a legitimate sport as untruthful. Eventually promoters resorted to publishing their own magazines in order to get press coverage and communicate with fans. The first professional wrestling magazine
8092-486: The end of the Slammiversary event on July 17, 2021, confronting former Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega, Don Callis and former Bullet Club members The Good Brothers ( Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson ). Callis, Gallows and Anderson attempted to 'too sweet' White but the group was attacked by Sami Callihan , Juice Robinson and future NEVER Openweight Championship contender David Finlay , after which White hit Finlay with
8211-405: The end of the 1930s, faced with declining revenues, promoters chose to focus on grooming charismatic wrestlers with no regard for their skill because it was charisma that drew the crowds, and wrestlers who were both skilled at grappling and charismatic were hard to come by. Since most of the public by this time knew and accepted that professional wrestling was fake, realism was no longer paramount and
8330-521: The episode's scheduled six-man tag team match between Death Triangle ( Pac , Penta El Zero M , and Rey Fénix ) and Best Friends ( Chuck Taylor , Trent Beretta , and Orange Cassidy ) would be for the vacant Trios Championship, which was won by Death Triangle. During Dynasty : Zero Hour on April 21, 2024, Ring of Honor World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bullet Club Gold ( Jay White , Austin Gunn , and Colten Gunn ) defeated The Acclaimed ( Anthony Bowens , Max Caster , and Billy Gunn ) to win
8449-490: The event would be "all about" The Undisputed Elite and the Bullet Club . White once again returned to AEW on the June 15th special Road Rager edition of Dynamite along with his newly won IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, where with a distraction from Cole, he attacked "Hangman" Adam Page from behind with a Bladerunner . He announced that he would not defend the World Championship against Page, before refusing to defend
8568-474: The event, White was announced to be a part of the G1 Climax 32 tournament in July, where he would compete in the B Block. Initially, White went undefeated for 5 straight matches, however a loss to former Bullet Club stablemate Tama Tonga on the block finals day, caused White to be eliminated from the tournament, finishing with 10 points and failing to advance to the semi-finals. This result led to Tonga receiving
8687-597: The facade of kayfabe as best as they could. In 1989, Vince McMahon testified before the New Jersey government that professional wrestling was not a true sport and therefore should be exempted from sports-related taxes. Many wrestlers and fans resented McMahon for this, but Lou Thesz accepted it as the smart move as it gave the industry more freedom to do as it pleased, and because by that point professional wrestling no longer attempted to appear real. The demise of WCW in 2001 provided some evidence that kayfabe still mattered to
8806-478: The first for Castagnoli and Yuta and the record-tying second for Pac. They won the titles by defeating previous champions The Patriarchy ( Christian Cage , Killswitch , and Nick Wayne), Bang Bang Gang ( Juice Robinson , Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn), and House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) in a four-way London Ladder match at All In on August 25, 2024 in London, England . They originally won
8925-479: The first person to beat Moxley by pinfall) and Juice Robinson . He would then defeat Tetsuya Naito to win the B Block and advance to the tournament finals. However, he would be unsuccessful in winning the tournament after losing to A Block winner Kota Ibushi , finishing with an overall record of 12 points (six wins and three losses). In the main event of Destruction in Kobe on 22 September, White defeated Naito to win
9044-470: The first place. "Double-crosses", where a wrestler agreed to lose a match but nevertheless fought to win, remained a problem in the early cartel days. At times a promoter would even award a victorious double-crosser the title of champion to preserve the facade of sport. But promoters punished such wrestlers by blacklisting them, making it quite challenging to find work. Double-crossers could also be sued for breach of contract, such as Dick Shikat in 1936. In
9163-648: The first time since 2017, teaming with The Gunns to retain the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championships against Monstersauce ( Lance Archer and Alex Zayne ) and Minoru Suzuki . At Dynasty Zero Hour, Bullet Club Gold defeated The Acclaimed to unify the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championships with the AEW World Trios Championships as the Unified World Trios Championships. During this time, Bullet Club Gold
9282-726: The following year as a Young Lion . In June 2016, White left for an overseas excursion, in which he worked for the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and the British Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW) promotions through NJPW's international partnerships. White returned to NJPW in November 2017 and won the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship the following January. In 2018, he betrayed his fellow Chaos stablemates to join Bullet Club , and becoming
9401-610: The game is not popular here. Nine out of ten bouts, it has been said, are pre-arranged affairs, and it would be no surprise if the ratio of fixed matches to honest ones was really so high. The wrestler Lou Thesz recalled that between 1915 and 1920, a series of exposés in the newspapers about the integrity of professional wrestling alienated a lot of fans, sending the industry "into a tailspin". But rather than perform more shoot matches, professional wrestlers instead committed themselves wholesale to fakery. Several reasons explain why professional wrestling became fake whereas boxing endured as
9520-455: The government. They pledged to stop allocating exclusive territories to its promoters, to stop blacklisting wrestlers who worked for outsider promoters, and to admit any promoter into the Alliance. The NWA would flout many of these promises, but its power was nonetheless weakened by the lawsuit. Paul Bowser's AWA joined the NWA in 1949. The AWA withdrew from the Alliance in 1957 and renamed itself
9639-662: The group's fifth leader. White is also a former IWGP Heavyweight Champion , IWGP Intercontinental Champion , and NEVER Openweight Champion , making him the fifth NJPW Triple Crown Champion and the first NJPW Grand Slam Champion . In 2022, White also captured the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship . White initially trained under The UK Kid at Varsity Pro Wrestling in early 2013, and made his professional debut on 19 February, working for VPW as well as All Star Wrestling , among other promotions. In an interview on Chris Jericho's podcast, White acknowledged that he
9758-513: The independent. By 1956, the NWA controlled 38 promotions within the United States, with more in Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. The NWA's monopolistic practices became so stifling that the independents appealed to the government for help. In October 1956 the US Attorney General's office filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NWA in an Iowa federal district court. The NWA settled with
9877-492: The individual wrestlers are paid or have been paid for their performance in a professional wrestling exhibition. All engagements of professional wrestling shall be referred to as exhibitions, and not as matches. In the industry's slang, a fixed match is referred to as a worked match, derived from the slang word for manipulation, as in "working the crowd". A shoot match is a genuine contest where both wrestlers fight to win and are therefore "straight shooters", which comes from
9996-471: The industry was anything but a competitive sport. The first wrestling promoter to publicly admit to routinely fixing matches was Jack Pfefer . In 1933, he started talking about the industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , resulting in a huge exposé. The exposé neither surprised nor alienated most wrestling fans, although some promoters like Jack Curley were furious and tried to restore
10115-487: The industry's inner workings to the New York Daily Mirror , maintaining no pretense that wrestling was real and passing on planned results just before the matches took place. While fans were neither surprised nor alienated, traditionalists like Jack Curley were furious, and most promoters tried to maintain the facade of kayfabe as best they could. Not the least interesting of all the minor phenomena produced by
10234-570: The match, White would hand Bey a Bullet Club shirt, officially welcoming Bey into the group. On the August 12 episode of Impact , Bullet Club (White and Bey) lost to FinJuice ( David Finlay and Juice Robinson ) by disqualification. on the February 3, 2022 episode of Impact , Bullet Club (Chris Bey, Jay White, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa ) defeated Ace Austin , Jake Something , Madman Fulton and Mike Bailey . At No Surrender , White defeated Eric Young . Later that night, White attacked Tama Tonga with
10353-498: The members of wrestling cartels as the champion drew big crowds wherever he performed, and this would occasionally lead to schisms. By 1925, this cartel had divided the country up into territories which were the exclusive domains of specific promoters. This system of territories endured until Vince McMahon drove the fragmented cartels out of the market in the 1980s. This cartel fractured in 1929 after one of its members, Paul Bowser , bribed Ed "Strangler" Lewis to lose his championship in
10472-569: The mysterious "Switchblade.” He had been teased for the past several months, challenging Hiroshi Tanahashi to a match for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome , before attacking him. The following day, NJPW officially announced the match between Tanahashi and White for Wrestle Kingdom 12. On 4 January, White was defeated by Tanahashi in the title match. On 5 January, Jay teased joining Bullet Club ; however, White then betrayed Kenny Omega by attacking him with
10591-520: The new leader of the faction. At Wrestle Kingdom 13 on 4 January 2019, White defeated Okada. At New Year Dash!! , White would defeat Tanahashi in a 6-Man Tag match and would challenge Tanahashi for his newly won IWGP Heavyweight Championship at The New Beginning in Osaka . At the event, he defeated Tanahashi to win his first world title . At the NJPW Anniversary Event in March, White defeated NEVER Openweight Champion Will Ospreay in
10710-421: The outer side plates were changed to saying "WORLD TRIOS CHAMPION". AEW's logo was also added to the top of each side plate. During Dynasty: Zero Hour in April 2024, ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bullet Club Gold (Jay White, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) defeated The Acclaimed to win the AEW World Trios Championship, holding and defending both titles under the Unified World Trios Championship banner, using
10829-512: The premise that the performers are competitive wrestlers. Professional wrestling is distinguished by its scripted outcomes and emphasis on entertainment and showmanship . The staged nature of matches is an open secret , with both wrestlers and spectators nonetheless maintaining the pretense that performances are bona fide competitions, which is likened to the suspension of disbelief employed when engaging with fiction . Professional wrestlers perform as characters and usually maintain
10948-714: The promotion's closing in 1991. In the spring of 1984, the WWF purchased Georgia Championship Wrestling (GCW), which had been ailing for some time due to financial mismanagement and internal squabbles. In the deal, the WWF acquired the GCW's timeslot on TBS . McMahon agreed to keep showing Georgia wrestling matches in that timeslot, but he was unable to get his staff to Atlanta every Saturday to fulfill this obligation, so he sold GCW and its TBS timeslot to Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP). JCP started informally calling itself World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1988, Ted Turner bought JCP and formally renamed it World Championship Wrestling. During
11067-439: The purpose of providing entertainment to spectators and which does not comprise a bona fide athletic contest or competition. Professional wrestling is not a combative sport. Wrestling constituting bona fide athletic contests and competitions, which may be professional or amateur combative sport, shall not be deemed professional wrestling under this Part. Professional wrestling as used in this Part shall not depend on whether
11186-527: The stable in September. This led to White challenging Hikuleo to a "Loser Leaves Japan Match", which took place on February 11, where Hikuleo defeated White, forcing White to leave Japan. White was scheduled to compete against Eddie Kingston at the Battle in the Valley Event on February 18. White has claimed that if he won this match, Gedo will join him in the United States and that he will wrestle for New Japan in
11305-440: The stamina for an hours-long fight. Audiences also preferred short matches. Worked matches also carried less risk of injury, which meant shorter recovery. Altogether, worked matches proved more profitable than shoots. By the end of the 19th century, nearly all professional wrestling matches were worked. A major influence on professional wrestling was carnival culture. Wrestlers in the late 19th century worked in carnival shows. For
11424-498: The standard AEW Trios belts, the ROH World Six-Man belts, and The Acclaimed's custom "scissoring" belts to represent the collective accolade. This would continue until July 2024 when Bullet Club Gold (who had since become known as the Bang Bang Gang) were stripped of the Unified World Trios Championship. This subsequently ended the unification of the AEW and ROH titles with the custom "scissoring" belts also being dropped in favor of
11543-402: The standard AEW World Trios Championship belts. As of November 25, 2024, there have been eight reigns between seven teams composed of 20 individual champions, and two vacancies. The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) were the inaugural champions and they have the most reigns as a team at two, while individually, all three and Pac are tied, also at two. The Elite's inaugural reign
11662-426: The territories of his former NWA peers, now his rivals. By the end of the 1980s, the WWF would become the sole national wrestling promotion in the U.S. This was in part made possible by the rapid spread of cable television in the 1980s. The national broadcast networks generally regarded professional wrestling as too niche an interest, and had not broadcast any national wrestling shows since the 1950s. Before cable TV,
11781-465: The title against Cole as well, much to the latter's dismay. White appeared on the June 22 edition of Dynamite interrupting Cole and Page once more. White and Cole beat down Page, only for Kazuchika Okada to make his AEW debut, attacking White and Cole. Soon after a four-way match between White, Page, Cole and Okada for White's IWGP World Heavyweight Championship was announced for Forbidden Door. White retained his championship after pinning Adam Cole for
11900-428: The title as Blackpool Combat Club, but changed their team name to Death Riders on November 6, 2024. As of November 25, 2024 Professional wrestling Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Professional wrestling (often referred to as pro wrestling , or simply, wrestling ) is a form of athletic theater that combines mock combat with drama , with
12019-640: The title beating Punishment Martinez on night 2 of the ROH/NJPW War of the Worlds Tour in May. At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall , White was pinned in a tag team match by Juice Robinson . Because of this, White defended and lost the title to Juice at the G1 Special in San Francisco , ending his reign at 160 days and three successful title defenses. White then competed in 2018 G1 Climax , where he competed in
12138-410: The title in August 2023, they introduced their own custom "scissoring" championship belts. They featured the same basic design as the standard belts, but with pink straps. Additionally, the ends of the belts were shaped like scissors and said "Scissor Me" on one side and "Daddy Ass" on the other side, referencing their " scissoring " gimmick. The inner side plates were the same as the standard belts, but
12257-475: The tournament final to become the inaugural champions. Following berating comments made by reigning AEW World Champion CM Punk at the All Out post-event media scrum on September 5, a legitimate physical altercation occurred between Punk and The Elite. As a result, AEW president Tony Khan suspended all involved. On the September 7 episode of Dynamite , Khan announced that both the World Championship and Trios Championship were vacated. Khan then announced that
12376-505: The trial, witnesses testified that most of the "big matches" and all of the championship bouts were fixed. By the 1930s, with the exception of the occasional double-cross or business dispute, shoot matches were essentially nonexistent. In April 1930, the New York State Athletic Commission decreed that all professional wrestling matches held in the state had to be advertised as exhibitions unless certified as contests by
12495-471: The truth, their audiences would desert them. Today's performers don't "protect" the industry like we did, but that's primarily because they've already exposed it by relying on silly or downright ludicrous characters and gimmicks to gain popularity with the fans. It was different in my day, when our product was presented as an authentic, competitive sport. We protected it because we believed it would collapse if we ever so much as implied publicly that it
12614-405: The venue, in a format similar to reality television . Performers generally integrate authentic wrestling techniques and fighting styles with choreography , stunts , improvisation , and dramatic conventions designed to maximize entertainment value and audience engagement. Professional wrestling as a performing art evolved from the common practice of match-fixing among American wrestlers in
12733-488: The victory. After leaving NJPW, White appeared on the April 5, 2023 edition of Dynamite , reuniting with former Bullet Club stablemate Juice Robinson as Bullet Club Gold by aiding his attack on Ricky Starks . Shortly after, it was announced by AEW President, Tony Khan that White had officially been signed by the company. After weeks of brawling, White and Starks faced off on the May 17 edition of Dynamite , where White won by disqualification after Starks attacked him with
12852-535: The way of proceedings: the "in-show" happenings, presented through the shows; and real-life happenings outside the work that have implications, such as performer contracts, legitimate injuries, etc. Because actual life events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines of performers, the lines between real life and fictional life are often blurred and become confused. Special discern must be taken with people who perform under their own name (such as Kurt Angle and his fictional persona ). The actions of
12971-420: The wrestlers quietly began faking their matches so that they could give their audiences a satisfying spectacle. Fixing matches was also convenient for scheduling. A real ("shoot") match could sometimes last hours, whereas a fixed ("worked") match can be made short, which was convenient for wrestlers on tour who needed to keep appointments or share venues. It also suited wrestlers who were aging and therefore lacked
13090-425: Was Wrestling As You Like It , which printed its first issue in 1946. These magazines were faithful to kayfabe . Before the advent of television, professional wrestling's fanbase largely consisted of children, the elderly, blue-collar workers and minorities. When television arose in the 1940s, professional wrestling got national exposure on prime-time television and gained widespread popularity. Professional wrestling
13209-445: Was "as close to death as he had ever been, and he would hopefully ever be." At New Year's Dash the following day, White participated in a ten-tag team match with Bullet Club teammates Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Evil , and Yujiro Takahashi , against Chaos members Yoshi-Hashi , Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto and Toru Yano, which they lost after Ishii pinned White. After a month long hiatus, White returned on February 1 on
13328-546: Was able to train in the UK because he held a Dutch passport. Being a citizen of the Netherlands allowed him access to the UK, which was a part of the EU at the time. In early 2014, White met New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)'s Prince Devitt and competed alongside him in a tag team match for VPW. After the match, Devitt gave White his card and told him to keep in touch. Shortly thereafter, White
13447-488: Was challenges from independent wrestlers. But a cartelized wrestler, if challenged, could credibly use his contractual obligations to his promoter as an excuse to refuse the challenge. Promotions would sometimes respond to challenges with "policemen": powerful wrestlers who lacked the charisma to become stars, but could defeat and often seriously injure any challenger in a shoot match. As the industry trend continued, there were fewer independent wrestlers to make such challenges in
13566-534: Was contacted by Bad Luck Fale , who said that Devitt had spoken to NJPW officials about White and that he could get him a place as a young lion in the dojo if he wanted it. Several months later, White met with Fale, Devitt, and Shinsuke Nakamura in London, where White accepted their offer and began finalizing his visa to leave for the NJPW Dojo . White left for Japan on New Year's Eve 2015, began further training as
13685-401: Was established on July 27, 2022, and the inaugural champions were The Elite ( Kenny Omega , Matt Jackson , and Nick Jackson ). From April until July 2024, the AEW World Trios Championship and Ring of Honor 's World Six-Man Tag Team Championship were held and defended together as the Unified World Trios Championship. On the July 27, 2022, special episode of Dynamite titled Fight for
13804-636: Was previously considered a niche interest, but the TV networks at the time were short on content and thus were willing to try some wrestling shows. In the 1960s, however, the networks moved on to more mainstream interests such as baseball, and professional wrestling was dropped. The core audience then shrunk back to a profile similar to that of the 1930s. In 1989, Vince McMahon was looking to exempt his promotion (the World Wrestling Federation ) from sports licensing fees. To achieve this, he testified before
13923-735: Was silently renamed to the Bang Bang Gang. On the June 5 Rampage tapings, a returning Robinson wrestled his first match since his return, teaming with The Gunns to win a trios match. After the match, White announced that he was giving Robinson a share of the Unified Trios Championship held by White and the Gunns, thus invoking the Freebird Rule . However, on the July 13 episode of Collision , interim AEW Executive Vice President Christopher Daniels overruled Bang Bang Gang's attempt to invoke
14042-415: Was something other than what it appeared to be. I'm not sure now the fear was ever justified given the fact that the industry is still in existence today, but the point is no one questioned the need then. "Protecting the business" in the face of criticism and skepticism was the first and most important rule a pro wrestler learned. No matter how aggressive or informed the questioner, you never admitted
14161-417: Was the "world champion". Before the cartels, there were multiple wrestlers in the U.S. simultaneously calling themselves the "world champion", and this sapped public enthusiasm for professional wrestling. Likewise, the cartel could agree on a common set of match rules that the fans could keep track of. The issue over who got to be the champion and who controlled said champion was a major point of contention among
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