New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Ring of Honor (2016–2019) Formation (2016–2017) On January 5, 2016, Omega took over the Bullet Club as its new leader, turning its members, including The Young Bucks, on previous figurehead
A.J. Styles, kicking him out of the group. According to The Young Bucks, they and Omega created The Elite that night without ever asking permission from NJPW bookers. After the rest of Bullet Club had left the ring after turning on Styles, Omega allegedly asked The Young Bucks if just the three of them should return to the ring to continue the attack on Styles as a "signal to the audience that [they were] the three guys". The three agreed to return to the ring and The Elite was born. while Omega did the same with the
IWGP Intercontinental Championship. The Elite won its first title as a trio during the NJPW and
Ring of Honor (ROH) co-produced
Honor Rising: Japan 2016 show on February 20, when they defeated
The Briscoes (
Jay Briscoe and
Mark Briscoe) and
Toru Yano for the
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. They went on to defend the title in the United States for ROH. The Elite lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to
Hiroshi Tanahashi,
Michael Elgin and
Yoshitatsu on April 10 at
Invasion Attack 2016, only to regain it from them on May 3 at
Wrestling Dontaku 2016. Their second reign ended on July 3, when they were defeated by
Matt Sydal,
Ricochet and
Satoshi Kojima. On August 14, Omega made history by becoming the first non-Japanese wrestler to win NJPW's premier tournament, the
G1 Climax, defeating
Hirooki Goto in the finals. For the rest of the year, The Elite was largely inactive, with Omega defending his newly won status as the number one contender to the
IWGP Heavyweight Championship while The Young Bucks concentrated on tag team matches, winning the
ROH World Tag Team Championship in September. On January 4, 2017, The Elite was involved in two championship matches at NJPW's biggest event of the year,
Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome. Early in the show, The Young Bucks lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to
Roppongi Vice (
Beretta and
Rocky Romero) while in the main event of the show Omega unsuccessfully challenged
Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The main event match earned acclaim from journalists and industry veterans with some ranking it among the greatest professional wrestling matches ever.
Tension in The Elite and The Golden Elite (2017–2018) After months of inactivity as a trio, The Elite reunited in April 2017 by embarking on a tour of the United Kingdom, during which they wrestled for Discovery Wrestling, Fight Club: Pro,
Over the Top Wrestling and
Revolution Pro Wrestling. Meanwhile, a storyline had started involving tension between Omega and Bullet Club stablemate
Adam Cole, who had formed his own trio named Superkliq with The Young Bucks, who were now caught in the middle of Omega and Cole. The storyline culminated on May 12, when after teasing dissension with Omega they turned on Cole, who was fired from Bullet Club by Omega. On June 11 at
Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall, The Young Bucks regained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from Roppongi Vice. Over the weekend of July 1 and 2 at
G1 Special in USA, Omega defeated Michael Elgin,
Jay Lethal and finally
Tomohiro Ishii to win an eight-man tournament and become the inaugural
IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. On August 13, The Young Bucks lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to
Funky Future (Ricochet and
Ryusuke Taguchi). Later that same day, Omega was defeated in the finals of the
2017 G1 Climax by
Tetsuya Naito. Upon Omega's return to ROH in October 2017, The Elite started defending the
ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship, which The Young Bucks officially held with Bullet Club stablemate
Adam Page. In January 2018 at
The New Beginning in Sapporo, Omega was betrayed by Bullet Club stablemate
Cody after shoving Matt Jackson and subsequently reunited with his former
Golden Lovers partner
Kota Ibushi, leaving the future of The Elite in jeopardy. On March 28 at
Strong Style Evolved, The Young Bucks faced off against the Golden Lovers in a losing effort. After the match, Nick Jackson shook hands and embraced with Omega, but Matt Jackson refused and rolled out of the ring. During Omega and Cody's bout at Ring of Honor's
Supercard of Honor XII on April 7, The Young Bucks interfered and attempted to turn on Cody, but instead accidentally superkicked Omega, causing Cody to get the pinfall victory. After the match, The Young Bucks attempted to explain what had happened to Omega, but he shoved Matt Jackson and left. On the 100th episode of
Being The Elite, "Finale", Omega declared their friendship over and that "There is no Elite" in anger over the Young Bucks' involvement in his match, apparently ending the stable for the time being while Scurll left to pursue a music career and The Young Bucks, Page and Burnard the Business Bear walked out on Cody's invitation to celebrate his win over Omega, leaving him alone in the locker room to ponder what he's done and what it cost. On June 9 at NJPW's
Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, The Young Bucks won the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and in the main event Omega won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. After the match, The Young Bucks came out, congratulated and hugged it out with Omega and Ibushi, thus mergering the Golden Lovers and Elite into a four-man team now named
The Golden Elite. At a press conference aired on NJPW World, Omega clarified that going forward "Ibushi is a member of the Elite," but not Bullet Club. On July 7, 2018, at
G1 Special in San Francisco, Cody ended his rivalry with Omega after being attacked by the BC Firing Squad after he unsuccessfully challenged him for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Member changes (2018–2019) In July 2018 the Nick and Matt Jackson temporarily fractured from the Bullet Club and formed the "Alpha Club" with Chris Jericho (aka.
"The Bucks of Jericho or is it Y2Jackson") which culminated in a one night match on the
Jericho Cruise against the Bullet Club (represented by Omega, Cody, and Scurll) to reunite the group. On the
Talk is Jericho podcast on October 30 following the match, Matt Jackson confirmed that Cody, Page, and
Marty Scurll were now officially in The Elite, and that The Elite had fully split from Bullet Club, ending a civil war between the Bullet Club "OGs" and The Elite. On November 8, 2018, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced Page and former Bullet Club stablemate
Yujiro Takahashi would represent The Elite at the 2018 World Tag League Tournament. On December 15, 2018, The Elite (minus Scurll, who remained under contract) officially left ROH, following the
Final Battle pay-per-view. They gave a post show speech to the crowd along with
Christopher Daniels,
Frankie Kazarian, and
Scorpio Sky. Scurll went on to form a new faction in Ring of Honor,
Villain Enterprises, with the debuting
PCO, and
Brody King, later adding
Flip Gordon.
All Elite Wrestling (2019–2025) AEW beginnings (2019–2020) On January 1, 2019, The Elite announced the formation of a new wrestling promotion,
All Elite Wrestling (AEW), as well as a follow-up to
All In, called
Double or Nothing. Their promotion was revealed to include Cody, The Young Bucks, Hangman Page,
Pac,
SoCal Uncensored,
Joey Janela,
Britt Baker,
Penelope Ford,
Brandi Rhodes, and
Chris Jericho, among others. The Young Bucks and Kenny Omega had their first match in AEW as The Elite at
AEW Fyter Fest defeating
Lucha Brothers and
Laredo Kid. In 2019, The Elite began a feud with
Chris Jericho and later his
Inner Circle stable, with Omega and Page losing to Jericho at
AEW Double or Nothing and
AEW All Out respectively. At
AEW Full Gear, Cody unsuccessfully challenged Jericho for the AEW World Championship with the condition that he will never challenge for title again while The Young Bucks lost to
Santana and Ortiz. On the January 22, 2020 episode of
AEW Dynamite during
Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea, Omega and Page defeated SoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky) for the
AEW World Tag Team Championship. On the November 18 episode of Being the Elite, Hangman Page attempted to part ways with the group, leading to months of tension between himself, the Young Bucks (especially Matt Jackson), and his tag partner Omega. Following the March 4, 2020 episode of Dynamite (and shown on the March 8 episode of Being the Elite), Hangman Page formally parted ways with The Elite, but still remained a peripheral member on the verge of permanently leaving. In a May 2020 interview, Cody Rhodes discussed the status of the Elite's members, stating that the 'OG' Elite (Bucks, Omega) will always determine who joins the group, and that it's "their world" that he's honored to take part in. He also clarified that Hangman Page and Marty Scurll were part of the "expanded universe" of the group, and that
Matt Hardy also was an honorary member. On the August 27 episode of AEW Dynamite, Page was officially kicked out of The Elite for costing
The Young Bucks a future opportunity to challenge for Page and Omega's World Tag Team Championship.
Championship dominance and Super Elite (2020–2022) At
Full Gear, The Young Bucks won the
AEW World Tag Team Championships in a match against champions
FTR. Omega, with assistance from
Don Callis defeated
Jon Moxley for the
AEW World Championship on December 2, 2020. On the December 15, 2020, edition of
Impact Wrestling, Omega allied with former Bullet Club teammates
Doc Gallows and
Karl Anderson, with Omega stating he had "reformed the old Bullet Club." The re-united Bullet Club would continue its presence into the new year, and on the January 6 episode of AEW Dynamite Gallows and Anderson saved Omega from an attack by Jon Moxley, and reunited with the Young Bucks to merge into a five-man group. On the January 11 episode of Being The Elite ("The Band is Back Together"), Matt Hardy asked Matt Jackson "Is the Bullet Club back together?" to which he replied, "it's complicated." On January 15, a match involving 'The Elite' was billed, but last minute was changed by Callis to be Omega and the Good Brothers. NJPW Bullet Club founding member Tama Tonga addressed this faction of former Bullet Club members on Twitter, calling them a "bootleg Bullet Club.". At Impact Wrestling's
Hard to Kill PPV Omega, Anderson, and Gallows defeated
Rich Swann,
Chris Sabin, and
Moose, notably now wearing Bullet Club themed attire. At
Beach Break on February 3, Omega, Anderson, and Gallows defeated the team of Jon Moxley,
Rey Fenix, and PAC. After the match,
Bullet Club member
Kenta appeared and launched a sneak attack on current
IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley after Moxley attacked Kenny Omega. After the show, Omega said he would team with Kenta in a match against Moxley and
Lance Archer. In April 2021, The Young Bucks, who had been wary of Omega's relationship with Callis, Gallows, and Anderson, would cement their commitment to Omega by turning on
Jon Moxley during a six-man tag team match on
Dynamite, when they wrestled against Omega, Anderson, and Gallows. In September 2021, at
All Out, The Young Bucks lost their AEW world tag team championships to
Lucha Brothers in a Steel Cage. After Omega retained the AEW World championship against
Christian Cage in a title match in the main event, the Elite came out to attack Cage.
Jurassic Express ran in to aid Cage, but was outnumbered. The Elite was interrupted by the debuting
Adam Cole, who hit the superkick to
Jungle Boy, joining the Elite. As the Elite was about to end the show, the debuting
Bryan Danielson attacked the Elite, aiding Cage and Jurassic Express. Danielson, Cage and Jurassic Express stood tall at the end of the show. In October 2021, following Impact's
Bound for Glory pay-per-view, it was reported that the partnership between AEW and Impact had ended, and with that, Gallows and Anderson quietly were removed from the Elite. After losing the
AEW World Championship to Adam Page at
Full Gear, Omega announced on the following Dynamite that he would be taking a leave of absence, leaving The Young Bucks to "hold down the fort". Cole, however, would add former
Undisputed Era stablemates
Bobby Fish and
Kyle O'Reilly to the group.
Return to original line-up and suspensions (2022–2023) On the July 27, 2022
special episode of
Dynamite titled
Fight for the Fallen, 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. On the August 3rd episode of
Dynamite, Adam Cole made his return from injury with the rest of The Undisputed Elite, stating his intentions to win the new AEW World Trios Championship with
Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish. Cole, Fish and O'Reilly then attacked the Young Bucks, turning them face as
Cole, Fish, and O'Reilly left The Elite. 'Hangman' Adam Page would save the Bucks from a further attack. Later that night The Bucks would try and thank Page for his help, but were interrupted by
The Dark Order. On the August 10th episode of
Dynamite, The Young Bucks once again asked Page to join them in the Trios tournament. Page turned down the offer saying he would be in the corner of The Dark Order. On the August 17 episode of
Dynamite, the Young Bucks were joined by the returning Omega; his first match in over nine months. Omega and the Bucks advanced to the tournament finals where they defeated the team of the Dark Order (
Alex Reynolds and
John Silver) and Adam Page to become the inaugural AEW Trios Champions. On the September 7 episode of
Dynamite, due to an altercation with
CM Punk after the media scrum following
All Out, Tony Khan announced that all members of The Elite were stripped of the AEW World Trios Championship. It was reported earlier from multiple sources that all members of The Elite were suspended because of the altercation. At
Full Gear 2022, The Elite returned in a trios match against
Death Triangle for the AEW World Trios Championship, where they were unsuccessful after
Rey Fenix used the ring hammer against Kenny Omega to knock him out and win the match. The match at Full Gear would be the start of a
best of seven series between The Elite and Death Triangle, which spanned two months and culminated in a seventh and deciding match on the January 11, 2023 edition of
Dynamite, where, in a
ladder match, The Elite would win the series 4-3, and their second AEW World Trios Championship. The Elite lost the titles to
The House of Black at
AEW Revolution, ending their second reign at 53 days. In March, The Elite entered a feud with the
Blackpool Combat Club (BCC). The feud began on the March 15 edition of
Dynamite where, after failing to regain the AEW World Trios Championship in a three-way match, between House of Black and
The Jericho Appreciation Society, The Dark Order and "Hangman" Adam Page began brawling with BCC at ringside, leading to The Elite standing alongside Page, causing the BCC to flee. Despite this, Omega refused to further embrace his former tag-team partner. The feud continued between the sides of Page and The Elite and the BCC over the coming weeks, although Page and Omega were unable to get on the same page, due to the antics of Omega's advisor Don Callis. After Omega successfully defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against
Jeff Cobb on the March 29 edition of
Dynamite, the BCC ambushed and attacked Omega, only for BCC member Bryan Danielson to return, seemingly to aid Omega, only to attack him moments later, thus reuniting all 4 members of the Blackpool Combat Club. The following week, Danielson insulted The Elite and Page, labeling them "amateurs", leading to Page attacking the BCC, only to be beaten down and further attacked by Danielson who gouged Page's eye with a
screwdriver. The week after this, BCC (Jon Moxley and
Claudio Castagnoli), brutally defeated The Elite's close associates, Brandon Cutler and Michael Nakazawa, leading to Omega and The Young Bucks to return fending off the BCC, with Omega almost impaling Moxley with a screwdriver. On the April 19 edition of
Dynamite, BCC attacked The Elite during an in-ring promo, leading to Callis bringing out his protege
Konosuke Takeshita to save the group. The following week, Omega and Takeshita defeated
The Butcher and The Blade. Following the match, The BCC attacked Omega and The Young Bucks and attempted to recruit Takeshita to their group, although after begging the two factions to stop the brawling, BCC's
Wheeler Yuta hit Takeshita with a low blow, before Takeshita was attacked by Danielson with a screwdriver once more. A few days later, a Steel Cage match between Omega and Moxley was announced. During the closing moments of the match on the May 10 episode of
Dynamite, Omega pinned Moxley following a One-Winged Angel, only for Don Callis to betray Omega, by breaking up the pin, attacking Omega with a screwdriver, leading to Moxley pinning a knocked out Omega to win the match. The following week, on the May 17 edition of
Dynamite Callis attempted to explain his betrayal, but was interrupted by Omega. Shortly after, The BCC attacked Omega before entering the ring, warning Omega that they had won the "war" against The Elite. This led to The Young Bucks and a returning "Hangman" Adam Page coming to the aid of Omega, attacking the BCC. In the ring, Page claimed that he, Omega, and The Young Bucks, were The Elite, leading to him re-joining the stable after a near 3-year absence. Page also challenged the BCC to an
Anarchy in the Arena match at
Double or Nothing, which was soon after made official for the event. At the event, The Elite lost after
Konosuke Takeshita, who had aligned himself with The Elite in recent weeks, attacked Omega, turning heel and ending his brief association with the stable. Page and the Young Bucks would then compete in a ten-man tag team match alongside
Eddie Kingston and
Tomohiro Ishii against Takeshita, the BCC and
Shota Umino at
Forbidden Door, which they won. Meanwhile, on the same card, Omega unsuccessfully defended the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship against
Will Ospreay. At
Blood & Guts, The Elite, now including
Kota Ibushi, defeated the BCC, Takeshita, and
Pac in a
Blood and Guts match. In November 2023, tension within The Elite began to rise as Omega formed a tag team with Chris Jericho and defeated The Young Bucks at
Full Gear to earn a future shot at the AEW World Tag Team Championship.
Changes in formation and various feuds (2024–present) After a brief hiatus, The Young Bucks returned in January 2024 as heels and embraced their roles as AEW executive vice presidents, individually preferring to be called Matthew and Nicholas Jackson. (back) confronting The Elite at
All In in August 2024|thumb On the March 6 episode of
Dynamite,
Kazuchika Okada was announced as having signed full-time with AEW. After this, The Young Bucks revealed that Okada was the newest member of The Elite, with Okada attacking
Eddie Kingston, who was confronting The Young Bucks. On the same episode, The Young Bucks took over leadership of The Elite and fired Omega from the group, while Page was suspended. On the March 20 episode of
Dynamite, Okada defeated Kingston to win the
AEW Continental Championship. At
Dynasty, The Young Bucks defeated FTR to win the vacant AEW World Tag Team Championships for a record setting third time in a
ladder match, with the help of a returning Jack Perry. On the April 24 episode of
Dynamite, The Elite arrived to the arena with Perry, confirming his status in the group. At the end of the episode, The Elite attacked AEW President and CEO
Tony Khan. At
Double or Nothing on May 26, The Elite defeated Team AEW (
Bryan Danielson,
Darby Allin, and FTR) in an
Anarchy in the Arena match. On June 30 at
Forbidden Door, Perry won a
six-way ladder match to capture the vacant
AEW TNT Championship. Page returned from his suspension on the July 3 episode of
Dynamite, defeating
Jeff Jarrett in the first round of the
Owen Hart Cup. At
Blood & Guts on July 24, The Elite were defeated by Team AEW (Darby Allin,
Swerve Strickland, and
The Acclaimed) in a Blood and Guts match. Afterwards, Page quietly left The Elite for a second time. At
Fright Night Dynamite on October 30, The Young Bucks lost their titles to Private Party, and the took an hiatus from wrestling, allowing Nicholas to heal a shoulder injury. On November 23 at
Full Gear, Perry lost the TNT Championship to
Daniel Garcia. On April 6, 2025 at
Dynasty, The Young Bucks returned and assisted Jon Moxley retain his
AEW World Championship against
Swerve Strickland, forming an alliance between The Elite and Moxley's stable the
Death Riders. On June 11 at
Dynamite: Summer Blockbuster, Okada aligned the
Don Callis Family during his feud with Kenny Omega and officially joined the group on the June 21 episode of
Collision, leaving The Elite in the process, though he would maintain his alliance with The Young Bucks. On July 12 at
All In, The Young Bucks were defeated by
Will Ospreay and Swerve Strickland. Per the added the stipulations of the match, The Young Bucks were stripped of their executive vice president positions of AEW (in
kayfabe). After losing their EVP positions, The Young Bucks went back to being called by their shortened names "Matt and Nick Jackson". Prior to
Forbidden Door in August 2025, the Young Bucks revived
Being The Elite on a sporadic schedule; in an episode that aired on the week of
All Out, Matt Jackson received a package containing a knife and a threatening letter, which was hinted to have been sent by Perry, who himself had posted on social media about his
blacksmithing hobby during his hiatus. This episode was followed at All Out on September 20, 2025 with Perry's return; with the help of his former
Jurassic Express tag team partner
Luchasaurus, he attacked The Young Bucks, and left The Elite, which left The Young Bucks as the two remaining members. At
Full Gear on November 22, the Young Bucks teamed with
Josh Alexander to defeat Omega and Jurassic Express; post-match, Alexander and the Don Callis Family (
Trent Beretta,
Rocky Romero and
Hechicero) attacked Omega and Jurassic Express until the Young Bucks returned to aid them, thus turning face in the process. The Young Bucks and Omega then embraced, reuniting the original trio of The Elite. On December 15, 2025 at
Dynamite: Holiday Bash, Omega and The Young Bucks reunited as The Elite to defeat
Konosuke Takeshita,
Hechicero, and
Kazuchika Okada.
Return to NJPW (2024–2025) On May 11, 2024 at
Resurgence, the stable made their return to NJPW, where the Young Bucks and Jack Perry attacked
Eddie Kingston. On January 5, 2025 at
Wrestle Dynasty, The Young Bucks defeated
United Empire (
Great-O-Khan and
Jeff Cobb) and
Los Ingobernables de Japon (
Tetsuya Naito and
Hiromu Takahashi) to win the
IWGP Tag Team Championship for the second time, while Perry unsuccessfully challenged
Yota Tsuji for the
IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship. On February 11 at
The New Beginning in Osaka, The Young Bucks lost their titles to Naito and Takahashi, ending their reign at 37 days. ==
Being The Elite ==