One of the main driving forces behind AEW’s launch back in 2019 was the popularity surrounding the group that partially share’s the company’s name, The Elite. Initially a subsection of Bullet Club, the faction found success in the late 2010s thanks to their bookings in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ring of Honor along with the successful YouTube series Being The Elite. They announced in October 2018 that The Elite was breaking off from Bullet Club, and at the time the group was composed of Kenny Omega, The Young Bucks, Kota Ibushi, Marty Scurll, Cody Rhodes and “Hangman” Adam Page. The group changed numerous times in the years that followed — wrestlers like The Good Brothers, Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish outright joined the faction, nearly a dozen wrestlers and managers became associated with the group for a time and it even took on new names like The Golden Elite, The Super Elite and The Undisputed Elite.
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But over time the group’s numbers have dwindled. Rhodes, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson have since gone back to WWE, Bobby Fish left AEW in August, Adam Cole and Kyle O’Reilly both betrayed the group and both are out of action with injuries, Scurll hasn’t been used in any major US promotion ever since being named in the Speaking Out Movement in the Summer of 2020 and Ibushi never left New Japan even after AEW launched (his status with that company is also seemingly up in the air).
All Elite Wrestling Without The Elite
Reddit user u/LittleGreyCurse pointed out on the SquaredCircle subreddit on Thursday that, despite The Elite’s importance to the young promotion, their presence on AEW programming has almost been completely wiped out. The only current members — Omega and The Bucks — are still serving indefinite suspensions for what happened with the “Brawl Out” incident following last month’s All Out pay-per-view. Their associates — Don Callis (Kenny’s manager) Michael Nakazawa and Brandon Cutler (the Elite’s “stooge”) haven’t appeared on AEW Dynamite or Rampage in over a month despite the latter two’s “Brawl Out” suspensions having already been lifted. And then there’s Hangman Page, the only former member still on AEW’s roster.
Page competed in the main event of this week’s AEW Dynamite for the AEW World Championship, but sadly suffered a concussion late into the match when he landed on the side of his head after taking a King Kong lariat from Jon Moxley. AEW confirmed late Tuesday night that Page had been released from the hospital following his concussion diagnosis, and it’s unclear what his return timetable will be.
Will AEW’s product suffer without The Elite’s presence? How much longer do you think Omega and The Bucks will be suspended? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!
