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United Empire

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United Empire
The unit's logo
Stable
MembersSee below
Name(s)The Empire
United Empire
DebutOctober 16, 2020
Years active2020–present

United Empire (ユナイテッド・エンパイア, Yunaiteddo Enpaia, stylized as UNITED EMPIRE), originally The Empire (ジ・エンパイア, Ji Enpaia), is a villainous professional wrestling faction, performing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and RevPro, the faction is led by Will Ospreay.

The group was formed in October 2020 by Ospreay and Great-O-Khan, when Ospreay turned on his Chaos stablemate Kazuchika Okada during the G1 Climax. Fellow NJPW wrestlers Jeff Cobb and Aaron Henare would join, as well as freelancer TJ Perkins and the team of Aussie Open from RevPro.

History

Formation (2020)

On night 17 of G1 Climax 30, during a match between Chaos members Kazuchika Okada and Will Ospreay, Bea Priestley, Ospreay's girlfriend, made her debut appearance in NJPW, at ringside. As Okada locked his Money Clip submission onto Ospreay, Priestley attempted to enter the ring, distracting the referee in the process. Tomoyuki Oka (now known as Great O-Kharn) then made his surprise return from excursion and entered the ring behind the referee's back, attacking Okada with an iron claw slam, which allowed Ospreay to hit his Storm Breaker finisher, earning him the pinfall victory. After the match, Ospreay turned heel on Okada by attacking him with his Hidden Blade elbow strike to the back of his head. Later, in a backstage interview, Ospreay announced that he would officially leave Chaos to start a new faction with him, Priestley, and O-Khan called The Empire.[1][2][3] O-Kharn would later change the spelling of his name to Great O-Khan, in reference to Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire.[4] Jeff Cobb joined the stable on November 15 when he was revealed to be O-Khan's mystery tag team partner for the annual World Tag League tournament.[5] The duo would score 10 points (5 wins & 4 losses), not making the final, but getting a win over tournament finalists (and the previous year's winners), FinJuice (Juice Robinson & David Finlay).[6]

United Empire (2021–present)

First and current leader of the stable, Will Ospreay.

At Wrestle Kingdom 15, O-Khan, Cobb, and Ospreay lost their matches to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shingo Takagi (for the NEVER Openweight Championship), and Kazuchika Okada, respectively.[7] At New Year Dash!! on January 6, The Empire defeated Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) & Yota Tsuji when O-Khan & Cobb held Tsuji up for a Super OsCutter. After beating down O-Khan's trainer, Tenzan to the point where he had to be stretchered out, Ospreay declared that they would be renamed the United Empire.[8] This change was later reflected on New Japan's websites, along with the group's first logo.[9] After attempting to defend his tag partner from the Empire's attack, Kojima was scheduled to face Ospreay one-on-one at The New Beginning in Nagoya on January 30. O-Khan was also scheduled to face Tenzan one-on-one.[10] All four men squared off a week beforehand in Tenzan's comeback from injury match in Ota City General Gymnasium on January 23, a match won by Ospreay and O-Khan.[11][12] On January 26, new stipulations were added to the Ospreay vs. Kojima and O-Khan vs. Tenzan matches for The New Beginning in Nagoya. The loser of O-Khan vs. Tenzan is forced to retire their Mongolian Chop, while the Ospreay vs. Kojima match will be contested under no-disqualification rules.[13] O-Khan and Ospreay went on to win their respective matches.[14]

At Castle Attack, United Empire beat the team of Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tencozy on night one, but were unable to win their matches on night two. Ospreay and Cobb lost to Tencozy, while O-Khan failed to capture the NEVER Openweight Championship from Tanahashi.[15][16] In March, Ospreay won the 2021 New Japan Cup after defeating Shingo Takagi. After the match, Ospreay hit a Os-Cutter on Bea Priestley, kicking her out of the United Empire and saying that he was "only looking out for number one" from now on.[17] Toa Henare, now going by the ring name Aaron Henare, would become the fourth man to join the faction at Sakura Genesis 2021.[18] On the same show Ospreay would defeat Kota Ibushi to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. At Wrestling Dontaku, Ospreay made his first defense of the title when he defeated Shingo Takagi.[19] However, Ospreay would later vacate the title after sustaining a neck injury.[20] He would make his return at NJPW Resurgence, claiming to be the "real world champion", and announcing to not be returning to Japan for that years G1 Climax.[21]

Despite Ospreay's absence, both O'Khan and Cobb would enter the tournament in the A and B block respectively. O'Khan would finish in the bottom half of his block, scoring just 8 points, however, Cobb would break records in his block, going undefeated for 8 straight wins, before losing on the final deciders to Kazuchika Okada on Day 18, whom he had traded back and forth wins with over the second half of the year.

Members

* Founding members
L Leader

Current

Member Joined
Aaron Henare April 4, 2021
Francesco Akira April 9, 2022
Great-O-Khan * October 16, 2020
Jeff Cobb November 15, 2020
Kyle Fletcher September 19, 2021
Mark Davis September 19, 2021
T.J. Perkins September 26, 2021
Will Ospreay *L October 16, 2020

Former

Member Joined Left
Bea Priestley * October 16, 2020 March 21, 2021

Sub-groups

Current

Affiliate Members Tenure Type
Aussie Open Kyle Fletcher
Mark Davis 		2021–present Tag team
Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb Great-O-Khan
Jeff Cobb 		2020–present Tag team

Timeline

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ YouTube (October 17, 2020). "A new faction is born? Ospreay abandons CHAOS! |G1 CLIMAX30". YouTube. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  2. ^ YouTube (October 18, 2020). "G1 CLIMAX 30 FINAL（Oct 18）Post match comments: 4th match［日本語字幕・English sub］". YouTube. Retrieved October 18, 2020.
  3. ^ "G1 CLIMAX 30 – 東京・両国国技館 2020/10/18". www.njpw.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2020-10-19.
  4. ^ "グレート-O-カーン on Twitter". Twitter. Retrieved 2020-10-18.
  5. ^ "Jeff Cobb is 'X'! Cobb joins The Empire!". NJPW Official. Retrieved 2020-11-15.
  6. ^ "WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2020 & BEST OF THE SUPER Jr.27 – 長野・佐久市総合体育館 – 第5試合 30分1本勝負 – 『WORLD TAG LEAGUE 2020』公式戦". www.njpw.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  7. ^ NJPW. "2021.01.04 Varsan presents WRESTLE KINGDOM 15 in Tokyo Dome | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-01-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  8. ^ "NEW YEAR DASH!! – 東京・TOKYO DOME CITY HALL 2021/1/6 – 第3試合後". www.njpw.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  9. ^ "選手プロフィール一覧". www.njpw.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  10. ^ "【1月30日（土）愛知大会の全カードが決定！】メインで、棚橋が鷹木のNEVER王座に注目の初挑戦！ セミで小島とオスプレイがシングル戦！ 復活の天山が因縁のオーカーンと一騎打ち！". www.njpw.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  11. ^ "【1月23日（土）大田区の全カード決定！】メインは、デスペラード＆金丸vs石森＆ファンタズモのIWGPジュニアタッグ戦！ 本隊＆CHAOSvsL・I・Jがイリミネーション戦！ 天山が復帰戦!!". www.njpw.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-01-12.
  12. ^ NJPW. "2021.01.23 Road to THE NEW BEGINNING | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-01-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ^ NJPW. "Major stipulations added to New Beginning in Nagoya | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  14. ^ NJPW. "2021.01.30 THE NEW BEGINNING in NAGOYA | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-01-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. ^ NJPW. "2021.02.27 CASTLE ATTACK | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-03-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  16. ^ NJPW. "2021.02.28 CASTLE ATTACK | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-03-01.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  17. ^ NJPW. "Will Ospreay captures New Japan Cup 2021 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
  18. ^ NJPW. "Results for Sakura Genesis 2021 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-04-04.
  19. ^ NJPW. "2021.05.04 Wrestling Dontaku 2021 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-08-15.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  20. ^ NJPW. "Will Ospreay injured; vacates world title | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-05-20.
  21. ^ NJPW. "Will Ospreay Returns With 'Real' World Title, Declares War on LA Dojo 【NJoA】 | NEW JAPAN PRO-WRESTLING". NJPW. Retrieved 2021-08-15.
  22. ^ "IWGP title changes hands NJPW Sakura Genesis". fightful.com. April 4, 2021. Retrieved April 4, 2021.
  23. ^ "RevPro High Stakes 2020 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database". Cagematch.net. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  24. ^ "RevPro High Stakes 2020 « Events Database « CAGEMATCH – The Internet Wrestling Database". Cagematch.net. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
  25. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (May 8, 2021). "PWA Tag Team Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved September 20, 2021.
  26. ^ Richards, Alex (October 3, 2020). "Stardom Yokohama Cinderella 2020 News Roundup". Last Word on Pro Wrestling. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
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