The United Empire (ユナイテッド・エンパイア Yunaiteddo Enpaiya) is a villainous professional wrestling stable in the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW).
The group was formed in October, 2020, being dubbed as The Empire (ジ・エンパイヤ Ji Enpaiya), when English wrestler Will Ospreay turned on his CHAOS stablemate Kazuchika Okada and came together with English wrestler Bea Priestley and Japanese wrestler Great O-Khan to form a villainous stable. At the end of 2020, The Empire held Revolution Pro Wrestling's British Heavyweight Championship and World Wonder Ring Stardom's SWA World Championship. The stable marked a major turning point for the career of Ospreay, a longtime fan favorite, who began his ascent out of the junior heavyweight division and into the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship picture.
Following Ospreay's feud with Kazuchika Okada in January 2021, the stable entered a rivalry with Tencozy, before being officially named the "United Empire". In March, Priestley left NJPW after Ospreay won the 2021 New Japan Cup. The following month, the stable was joined by New Zealander wrestler Aaron Henare and Ospreay captured the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Shortly after, the stable was also joined by four other members Filipino-American TJP, Australians Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) and Italian Francesco Akira and later by English wrestlers Gideon Grey, who became their manager, mouthpiece and spokesperson and Dan Moloney, who joined the stable for a brief period, and Callum Newman. In February 2024, Ospreay left the stable after his contract with NJPW expired.
Concept[]
The stable's concept is based on the multitude of its members whereabout countries and cultures. So far, the stable has had members from multiple different countries and continents. Will Ospreay, Bea Priestley, Gideon Grey, Dan Moloney and Callum Newman from the United Kingdom, specifically England, Great-O-Khan from Japan; although, his gimmick is primarily based from Mongolia, Jeff Cobb and TJP from the United States; although, the latter is also partially from the Philippines, Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis from Australia, HENARE from New Zealand, and Francesco Akira, from Italy. In total, combining the continents of Europe, North America, Asia and Oceania.
History[]
Background[]
On October 3, 2015, in a Revolution Pro Wrestling event, Will Ospreay faced New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Kazuchika Okada but lost the match. However, Okada was impressed with Ospreay's performance and recommended him to NJPW officials. This eventually led to Ospreay being signed by NJPW. Subsequently, Ospreay was announced as the newest member of Okada's stable, CHAOS. In the following years, Ospreay established himself as a fan favorite in NJPW's junior heavyweight division. He won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship 3 times, with a combined reign of 392 days, and claimed victory in the 2016 and 2019 Best of the Super Juniors tournaments. In February 2020, he made a full transition to the heavyweight division.
Establishment[]
Formation and feud with Kazuchika Okada (2020–2021)[]
On October 16, 2020, Will Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada faced each other in their final block match in the 2020 G1 Climax. Ospreay won the match with help from his girlfriend Bea Priestley and the returning Great O-Khan. Afterwards, Ospreay turned on Okada, announcing his departure from CHAOS, blaming Okada for "holding him back" and the creation of his own stable alongside Priestley and Great O-Khan. The first match between Ospreay and his former CHAOS stablemates took place on the following day, where he and O-Khan defeated Okada and Sho in a tag team match. The new group was subsequently dubbed "The Empire". Following the tournament, Okada began seeking revenge against Ospreay for his actions, leading him to face the Great O-Khan in a winning effort at Power Struggle 2020, as part of a test set up by Ospreay. Afterwards, Ospreay claimed he had used Okada in order to achieve success, before challenged him to a match at Wrestle Kingdom 15, which he accepted. Following the match, in a post-match interview, Ospreay revealed that the stable would be joined by a fourth member. On November 9, NJPW announced the participating teams in the 2020 World Tag League. In the tournament, on November 15, American wrestler Jeff Cobb was revealed as the newest member of the stable, teaming with O-Khan for the tournament. Cobb and O-Khan finished the tournament with a record of five wins and four losses, failing advance to the finals of the tournament. On January 4 and 5, 2021, The Empire walked out winless of Wrestle Kingdom 15 in Tokyo Dome, after Ospreay and O-Khan were defeated by Okada and Hiroshi Tanahashi in their respective matches and Cobb unsuccessfully challenged Shingo Takagi for the NEVER Openweight Championship.
United Empire and championship pursuits (2021–Present)[]
Following the event, on January 6 at New Years Dash, The Empire entered a rivalry with Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima). At the New Years Dash, Ospreay, Cobb and O-Khan faced Tencozy and Yota Tsuji in a winning effort. Afterwards, The Empire attacked Tencozy, with Hiroyoshi Tenzan being stretchered out of the arena. Following the attack, Ospreay officially named the stable the "United Empire". After working exclusively against each other in multi-man tag team matches for the last part of January, the rivalry between United Empire and Tencozy built to two singles matches on January 30 at The New Beginning in Nagoya pay-per-view, where O-Khan defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan in a match where the loser of the match would be banned from using the Mongolian Chop. Meanwhile. Ospreay defeated Satoshi Kojima in a no disqualification match. O-Khan then got involved in a rivalry with Hiroshi Tanahashi, after O-Khan challenged Tanahashi to a match for the NEVER Openweight Championship, after the latter had just won the title. On February 28, at Castle Attack, United Empire ended their feud with Tencozy, after Cobb and Ospreay were defeated by them in a match. Later that night O-Khan unsuccessfully challenged Tanahashi for the NEVER Openweight Championship.
In March, Ospreay made it to the finals of the 2021 New Japan Cup, which he eventually won, defeating Shingo Takagi in the finals on March 21, and afterwards challenged Kota Ibushi to a title match for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, stating that he would do anything to win it, for the goal of becoming the top wrestler of the promotion. To prove his point, Ospreay turned on his girlfriend Bea Priestley, kicking her out of the stable. The following day, it was announced that the stable would be joined by a mysterious member on April 4 at Sakura Genesis. At the event, Aaron Henare was revealed to be stable's newest member, facing Los Ingobernables de Japón (Tetsuya Naito, SANADA, and Shingo Takagi) in a winning effort. Later that night, Ospreay defeated Kota Ibushi to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, becoming the first British wrestler to holder of a NJPW's premier championship. Following the match, Ospreay nominated Okada to be his first challenger. However, before Okada could answer Shingo Takagi challenged Ospreay to a title match, claiming that he had defeated Okada in the first round of the 2021 New Japan Cup, while also seeking revenge for losing to Ospreay in the finals of the tournament. This led to Ospreay accepting Takagi as his first challenger, with Okada being next in line. On May 4, on the second night of Wrestling Dontaku, Ospreay defeated Takagi to make his first successful title defense, setting up his match against Okada at Wrestle Grand Slam in Tokyo Dome. However, due to an extension to the of Japan's state of emergency, Ospreay's title match with Okada was canceled. On May 20, it was announced that Ospreay would be vacating the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship due to a neck injury suffered in his match against Takagi and would be returning to the United Kingdom for rehabilitation. On August 14 at Resurgence, Ospreay made his return from injury, announcing that he was medically cleared to return in-ring competition, before citing his disgust on NJPW's favoritism to Jon Moxley for refusing to strip him of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship for not defending the title under a year, while they stripped him of his title, due the time to recover from his neck injury. Ospreay proceeded to reveal that he would not return to Japan until reigning IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi was declared as "interim champion", while also claiming that he was the "real champion", unvielling a replica of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship belt, before stating that he would be appearing on NJPW Strong defending his title. Afterwards, Ospreay called out members of the LA Dojo, being confronted by Clark Connors, Karl Fredericks and TJP. Over the following weeks, Ospreay began actively recruting new members to expand the stable. Due to Ospreay absence from Revolution Pro Westling, Southside Heavyweight Champion Ricky Knight Jr. was recognized as the British Heavyweight Champion, leading to a title unification match at High Stakes, for Ospreay's British Heavyweight Championship and Knight's version of the British Heavyweight Championship. At the event, on September 19, Ospreay defeated Ricky Knight Jr. to unify both championships. Following the match, Ospreay began attacking Knight, before Shota Umino made the save. Young Guns (Ethan Allen and Luke Jacobs), who had previously been auditioning to join the stable, attacked Umino. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis), who appeared to help Umino, ended up turning on him, alongside Ospreay, who turned on Young Guns, becoming the newest members of the stable. On October 10, at Autumn Attack, Ospreay defeated Karl Fredericks. Afterwards, TJP, who had previously align with Fredericks, turned on him, becoming the United Empire's newest member. During this time, five members of United Empire took part in the 2021 G1 Climax with O-Khan wrestling in block A and Cobb in block B. Both failed to advance from their blocks with O-Khan finishing seventh in his block of ten and Cobb second in his block. Cobb was eliminated due to losing to block winner Kazuchika Okada in their head-to-head match. From November 14 until December 12, O-Khan and Henare took part in the 2021 World Tag League finishing the tournament with a record of seven wins and four losses, failling to advance to the finals of the tournament.
On January 5, 2022, on the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 16, Ospreay unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. In March, Cobb, Henare, O-Khan, and Ospreay represented the United Empire in the 2022 New Japan Cup. All members of United Empire failed to win the tournament with only Ospreay being the only United Empire member to reach the quarterfinals. On March 28, in a pre-taped vignette, Ospreay teased a new member for the junior heavyweight division as his protègè under the mysterious person dubbed "Bruciare" (Italian for "Burning"). On April 9 at Hyper Battle, Cobb and O-Khan defeated Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Shortly after, Francesco Akira was revealed to be the mysterious "Bruciare", who had been teased for the past month, before announcing his participation in the 2022 Best of the Super Juniors. On May 1 at Wrestling Dontaku, Cobb and O-Khan lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens) in a three-way match also involving Goto and Yoshi-Hashi. On May 15, United Empire produced their own event, as part of the NJPW Strong televisions series, with the three matches of the show featured all members of the stable, including Ospreay facing Homicide in a winning effort at the main event. On the May 25 episode of AEW Dynamite, Cobb and O-Khan made their for All Elite Wrestling debut attacking FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) and Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero), during a title match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, causing the match to end in a no contest, before posing with the titles. During this month, Akira and TJP took part in th 2022 Best of the Super Juniors, wrestling in seperate blocks. Both failed to advance from their blocks with Akira and TJP finishing tied third in their block of ten. On the June 8th episode of Dynamite, Ospreay, Aussie Open and Henare made their debut for All Elite Wrestling debut attacking both FTR (Dash Harwood and Cash Wheeler) and Beretta, which led to a match on June 10th episode of Rampage, where Ospreay and Aussie Open made their AEW in-ring debuts losing to FTR and Beretta in a six-man tag team match. On June 12 at Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, Cobb and O-Khan defeated Bad Luck Fale and Chase Owens to regain the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Later that night, Ospreay defeated SANADA to win the vacant IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. On June 20, TJP and Akira defeated Six or Nine (Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Six days later at Forbidden Door, Cobb and O-Khan lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) in a winner takes all match also for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, which involved Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero). On June 19 at Ignition, Aussie Open competed in a tournament to crown the inaugural Strong Tag Team Champions. In the first round, they defeated The Dark Order's Evil Uno and Alan Angels and the Stray Dog Army's Barrett Brown and Misterioso in the semi-finals. In the finals at High Alert, on August 13, Davis and Fletcher defeated Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura to become the inaugural champions. During this time, four members of the United Empire took part in the 2022 G1 Climax with Cobb, O-Khan, Henare and Ospreay wrestling in seperate blocks. Cobb, O-Khan, and Henare failed to advance from their blocks. Meanwhile, Ospreay won his block with a record of four wins and two losses, advancing to the semifinals. In the semifinals on August 17, Ospreay defeated Tetsuya Naito, but was defeated in the final by Kazuchika Okada on August 18. After his match, Ospreay teased a new member for the stable. Shortly after, David Finlay again challenged him to a title match in post-match interview. On August 21, at RevPro's Ten Year Anniversary, Ospreay lost the Undisputed British Heavyweight Champion to Ricky Knight Jr., ending his record breaking title reign at 919 days. On August 22, it was announced that Gideon Grey would be joining the stable, after being teased by Ospreay. On October 28 at Rumble on 44th Street, Davis and Fletcher lost the Strong Tag Team Championship to The Motor City Machine Guns (Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley). From November 22 until December 14, two teams of United Empire took part in the 2022 World Tag League, with Fletcher and Davis and O-Khan and Henare competing in the tournament. Fletcher and Davis finished on top in the final standings with a record of seven wins and two losses, while O-Khan and Henare finished close behind with six wins and four losses. Meanwhile, Akira and TJP took part in the 2022 Super Jr. Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record six wins and three losses, but were left behind them in the final standings due to losing to Ace Austin and Chris Bey on the final day. On December 14, Aussie Open were defeated in the finals of the 2022 World Tag League tournament by Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi. Three days later, at Revolution Pro Wrestling's Uprising, O-Khan defeated Zak Knight, who was replacing Ricky Knight Jr. to win British Heavyweight Championship.
On January 4, 2023, at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Tokyo Dome, Ospreay lost the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship to the returning Kenny Omega. The following day, Ospreay, Akira and TJP faced the newly formed Just 4 Guys' Taichi, DOUKI and Yoshinobu Kanemaru in a losing effort. Following the match, DOUKI and Kanemaru challenged Akira and TJP to a title match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, before a brawl broke out between both sides. The attack saw DOUKI and Kanemaru target IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Akira and TJP and Taichi targeting Ospreay. On February 4, at The New Beginning in Sapporo, Akira and TJP successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships against DOUKI and Kanemaru. Later that night, Ospreay defeated Taichi in their singles match. In March, six members of United Empire took part in the 2023 New Japan Cup, with Cobb, Fletcher, O-Khan and Henare being eliminated in the second round. Meanwhile, Davis reached the semifinals; in the second round Ospreay suffered a shoulder injury against Davis, leading him to announce in an interumptum press-conference that Ospreay would be forfeiting the tournament, with him being his replacement. On March 19, Davis was eliminated by eventual winner SANADA in the semifinals. On March 26, at Revolution Pro Wrestling event, Ospreay offered Dan Maloney to join the stable, which he accepted. On April 8 at Sakura Genesis, Aussie Open defeated Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Four days later, they made their first title defense at AEW Rampage against the Best Friends (Beretta and Chuck Taylor). Seven days later, at Capital Collision, Aussie Open won the Strong Tag Team Championship by defeating The Motor City Machine Guns and Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada in a three-way match, making them double champions, in the process. The following night at Collision in Philadelphia, Aussie Open made their first title defense of the Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions against Tomohiro Ishii and Lio Rush. On April 27, Akira and TJP lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Kevin Knight and KUSHIDA in their fifth title defense, ending their reign at 311 days. Later that month, three members of United Empire took part in the 2023 Best of the Super Juniors with TJP wrestling in block A and Akira and Moloney in block B. All three failed to advance from their blocks, finishing the tournament with a record of four wins and five losses. On May 21 at Resurgence, Fletcher and Davis vacated the IWGP and Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships, after Davis was sidelined with an injury. On June 4 at Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall, TJP and Akira defeated KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight in a rematch to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. After the match, they were confronted by Clark Connors, who teased a challenge alongside a mystery partner, before Moloney, was revealed to be Connors' partner, after he turned on Akira and TJP to join Bullet Club. On June 18 at Revolution Pro Wrestling event, after facing Callum Newman in a winning effort, Ospreay recruited him into the United Empire. On June 25 at Forbidden Door, Ospreay defeated Kenny Omega to regain the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. On July 4 at NJPW Strong Independence Day, Akira and TJP lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney. On July 9 at RPW's Epic Encounter, O-Khan lost the Undisputed British Heavyweight Championship to Michael Oku. Shortly after, four members of United Empire took part in the 2023 G1 Climax with Ospreay and O-Khan in block B, HENARE in block C and Cobb in block D. With the exception of Ospreay, all members were left behind in the final standings, with Cobb leading his block heading to the final day, where he wrestled Shane Haste to a double count out and thus missed the quarterfinals of the tournament by a single point. In the quarterfinals, on August 10, Ospreay defeated David Finlay, but lost to eventual tournament winner Tetsuya Naito in the semifinals, on August 12, eliminating him from the tournament. From October 21 to November 2, TJP and Akira took part in the 2023 Super Jr. Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record six wins and three losses, advancing to the finals. From November 25 until December 6, O-Khan and HENARE took part in the 2023 World Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record of four wins, and three losses, failing to advance to the semifinals of the tournament.
On January 4, 2024, at Wrestle Kingdom 18, TJP and Akira defeated Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Later that night, Ospreay failed to become the inaugural IWGP Global Heavyweight Champion, as it was won by David Finlay. The following day, at New Year Dash, United Empire faced Bullet Club War Dogs in a no contest. Afterwards, Ospreay announced that his last match in NJPW would be on February 11, before challenging them to a match, with David Finlay choosing the stipulation. Finlay accepted the challenge and decided the match would be contested steel cage match. However, Akira was against their feud with Bullet Club Wars Dogs, claiming that United Empire were going to far. On January 22 at The New Beginning in Nagoya, O-Khan defeated Taiji Ishimori to win the provisional KOPW 2024 Championship in a 10 Minute Ishimori Ring Fit match. On February 4, United Empire faced Bullet War Dogs in a series of matches, culminating on TJP and Akira losing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship back to Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney. After working exclusively against each other in multi-man tag team matches during match of January, the rivalry between United Empire and Bullet Club War Dogs built to a Dog Pound Cage match on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, which United Empire lost, marking Ospreay's last match at the promotion.
Members[]
| * | Founding member |
|---|---|
| I | Leader |
Current[]
| Member | Joined | |
|---|---|---|
| Callum Newman | June 18, 2023 | |
| Francesco Akira | April 9, 2022 | |
| Great-O-Khan | * | October 16, 2020 |
| HENARE | April 4, 2021 | |
| Jeff Cobb | November 15, 2020 | |
| TJP | October 10, 2021 | |
Former[]
| Member | Joined | Left | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bea Priestley | * | October 16, 2020 | March 21, 2021 |
| Dan Moloney | March 26, 2023 | June 4, 2023 | |
| Gideon Grey | August 22, 2022 | November 20, 2022 | |
| Kyle Fletcher | September 19, 2021 | May 21, 2023 | |
| Mark Davis | September 19, 2021 | May 21, 2023 | |
| Will Ospreay | * I | October 16, 2020 | February 11, 2024 |
Associates[]
| Member | Duration |
|---|---|
| Jessie Vargas | June 12, 2022 |
| Matt Riddle | January 13, 2024–Present |
Sub-groups[]
| Affiliate | Members | Tenure | Type | Promotion(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aussie Open | Kyle Fletcher Mark Davis |
2021–2023 | Tag team | AEW IMPACT RevPro ROH NJPW |
| Catch 2/2 | Francesco Akira TJP |
2022–Present | Tag team | NJPW |
Timeline[]
In wrestling[]
- Double-team finishing moves
- Akira and TJP
- The Leaning Tower (Electric chair drop (TJP)/Springboard avalanche cutter (Akira) combination followed by an arm trap cross-legged STF (TJP))
- 2x2 (Running knee strike to an opponent's head from opposite directions)
- Davis and Fletcher
- Coriolis[Note 1] (Double elevated pumphandle half nelson lift dropped into a sided Death Valley driver)
- Aussie Arrow (Over the shoulder facebuster by Davis dropped into a diving cutter by Fletcher)
- Assisted double underhook spinebuster
- Akira and TJP
- Nicknames
- "Imperial Unit"
- Entrance music
- "Empirical Anthem" by Yonosuke Kitamura (NJPW)
- "Bring It Down -Zenith of God-" by Yonosuke Kitamura feat. Eiki (AEW)
Championships and accomplishments[]
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- IWGP World Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – Ospreay
- IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship (2 times) – Ospreay
- IWGP Tag Team Championship (3 times) – Cobb and O-Khan (2) and Fletcher and Davis (1)
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (3 times) – Akira and TJP
- Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship (2 times, inaugural) – Fletcher and Davis
- Provisional KOPW 2024 Championship (1 time, current) – O-Khan
- New Japan Cup (2021) – Ospreay
- Strong Tag Team Championship tournament (2022) – Fletcher and Davis
- Third Grand Slam Champion – Ospreay
- Sixth Triple Crown Champion – Ospreay
- One Pro Wrestling
- 1PW Championship (1 time) – Ospreay
- PWA Black Label
- PWA Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Fletcher and Davis
- Warriors of Wrestling
- Warrior Wrestling Championship (1 time) – Ospreay
- Revolution Pro Wrestling
- British Heavyweight Championship (2 times) – Ospreay (1) and O-Khan (1)
- British Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Fletcher and Davis
- Tokyo Sports
- Technique Award (2021) – O-Khan
- Fighting Spirit Award (2022) – O-Khan
- Tag Team of the Year (2022) – Cobb and O-Khan
- Best Bout Award (2022) Ospreay vs. Kazuchika Okada on August 18
- World Wonder Ring Stardom
- SWA World Championship (1 time) – Priestley
Gallery[]
Notes[]
- ↑ The name of the finishing maneuver has been spelled as both "Corealis" and "Coriolis". NJPW originally used the spelling Corealis but have since switched to Coriolis, while some promotions have used both spellings such as AEW, Impact Wrestling and Revolution Pro-Wrestling.
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