The Elite is a professional wrestling faction containing several key members and associated with three acts: Bullet Club (from which they spawned), Being the Elite (their webshow), and All Elite Wrestling (the wrestling promotion they founded and help run as Executive Vice Presidents).
Born in 2016 out of a creative partnership both in the ring and behind the scenes between Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks in their days in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, The Elite bills itself as being a true representation of their name: the best of the best of pro wrestling put together. And going by their meteoric rise in popularity both in Japan and in the US, they might be right.
Their origins stem from the likewise incredibly popular NJPW faction Bullet Club, when the aforementioned Kenny Omega and Young Bucks turned against faction leader AJ Styles (and likely prefaced by The Young Bucks' earlier turn against founder Prince Devitt), announced themselves as "The Elite" and usurped leadership of the Club, starting what's commonly known as "The Elite Era", during which they also recruited members Cody Rhodes, Marty Scurll and Adam Page. Thinking The Elite as spotlight thieves who were propping themselves up at the expense of the remainder of the Bullet Club, there was a civil war in Bullet Club between The Elite and the non-Elite members, where the latter proclaimed themselves the "OGs" of the Bullet Club. The result was The Elite wholly splitting off and striking out on their own in 2018.
During their time as free agents they set the indie scene ablaze, culminating in their primary role in historically massive Indie PPV event All In, one of the biggest ever non-WWE PPVs in North America. The huge success of this led to the birth of the (aptly-named) All Elite Wrestling, the greatest North American rival to WWE's hegemony since the days of the WCW, in which The Elite acts as Vice-Executives in charge alongside owner Tony Khan. During its first year, Adam Page and Kenny Omega won the AEW World Tag Team Championship, conquering the first AEW belts for The Elite, with Cody Rhodes becoming the inaugural AEW TNT Champion a few months thereafter, and Kenny Omega becoming the third AEW World Champion later that year.
Since becoming internationally known, the Elite has gone through a few different variations and incarnations as they've invited various new members and associates into their ranks. They've partnered with Kota Ibushi (Kenny Omega's partner in the famed "Golden☆Lovers" tag team) to become the "Golden☆Elite", they've teamed with their old Bullet Club stablemates Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson to become the "Super Elite", and they've teamed with Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly of The Undisputed Era to become the "The Undisputed Elite".
And in a rather amusing footnote: Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks are (as of this writing) the only non-WWE wrestlers who have their own Funko Pop! figurines.
Barring their internal conflict keeping them from dominating the world, The Elite is..well...elite.
- The Young Bucks, the tag team that rounded out The Elite's founding trio and are largely responsible for much of their merchandising success.
- Kazuchika Okada, "The Rainmaker", formerly of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, who signed with All Elite Wrestling after AEW Revolution 2024 by joining The Young Bucks, his old compatriots from New Japan.
- Jack Perry, "The Scapegoat", formerly known as "Jungle Boy" and one half of the "Jurassic Express" tag team; due to the events at AEW All In 2023, Perry was absent from AEW programming, but returned at the inaugural Dynasty pay-per-view by aligning with The Young Bucks and Okada.
- Brandon Cutler, who's serving as a "young boy" and the Elite's official cameraman.
- Michael Nakazawa, Omega's old friend from Japan who is often seen associating with the Elite backstage.
- Kota Ibushi, Omega's old tag team partner in Golden Lovers. Made his AEW debut at Blood and Guts 2023 helping The Elite defeat The Blackpool Combat Club, regularly giving assistance to Omega against the Don Callis family afterwards.
- Marty Scurll, the eccentric Evil Brit whose tendencies tend to be played both seriously and for comic relief. Currently on the outs with the others, as he is still contracted with Ring of Honor where he leads his own stable called Villain Enterprises. In 2020 sexual harassment allegations against Scurll came out, making his return to the Elite unlikely.
- Cody Rhodes, the ex-WWE associate with devious ambitions which initially endangered the group before becoming healthier over time. Quietly left the group in early 2020 to focus on his own stable, The Nightmare Family.
- Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, Omega's old cohorts who joined him after his trip to Impact Wrestling. Quietly left the group in October 2021, after AEW ended its partnership with Impact.
- Adam Cole, who was formerly kicked out from Bullet Club by Kenny and the Bucks and seemingly "killed" only to come back to AEW. Left the group in August 2022 after betraying the Young Bucks.
- Jay White, Bullet Club's post-Omega leader who has made a surprise appearance in AEW and allied himself with Cole, even allowing the Bucks to rejoin Bullet Club for one night only. Later signed to AEW and formed Bullet Club Gold, antagonizing The Elite in the process.
- reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly), Cole's cohorts from his previous stint in NXT, where all three men formed The Undisputed Era.
- Don Callis, Kenny's main stooge and Sycophantic Servant. Left the group in May 2023 after betraying Kenny during his steel cage match against Jon Moxley.
- Konosuke Takeshita, who was recruited by Don Callis into becoming an ally of The Elite. Severed ties with the group in May 2023 after betraying them during Anarchy in the Arena against The Blackpool Combat Club.
- Kenny Omega, the lead founding member and ace wrestler of The Elite, heralded by many as the very best in the world. Unfortunately, due to his mounting injuries in 2023, The Young Bucks "fired" him from The Elite following AEW Revolution 2024.
- Adam Page, the young Virginia upstart being groomed for major success, though he too is… not without his issues. Was kicked out of the group in 2020 due his allegiance with FTR, but rejoined in 2023 to help fight against The Blackpool Combat Club. However, The Young Bucks had Page "suspended" indefinitely from The Elite due to him putting his hands on officials at AEW Revolution 2024.
- Bullet Club, a larger stable within New Japan Pro-Wrestling which they were leading members of for the first three years of their existence as a group.
- Being the Elite, a YouTube video series launched by Elite members The Young Bucks chronicling an exaggerated version of their real-life and in-ring stories, including branching out as their own stable.
- All Elite Wrestling, a US-based promotion officially announced and launched in 2019, with most of the members of The Elite as key performers and/or executives.
"The! Tropes! The The Tropes!":
- Aborted Arc: The Undisputed Elite betrayed the Young Bucks on August 8th, 2022 which also led "Hangman" Adam Page to help his former faction. This supposedly setup an Elite vs. Undisputed Elite match in the future, likely with the AEW World Trios Championship along the line, as well as Page rejoining the Elite. However, Cole and O'Reilly were out of action due to injuries while Fish's contract with AEW ended a month later, ending the storyline in less than a month. Meanwhile, Page didn't rejoin the Elite until May 2023, during their feud with The Blackpool Combat Club.
- Arch-Enemy:
- In their NJPW days, their nemesis soon became the non-Elite members of Bullet Club, particularly Tama Tonga.
- In AEW, they have been at constant odds with their dark counterpart the Inner Circle.
- Big Good: Framed as the main heroic faction of All Elite Wrestling of course, so whoever is "in charge" of The Elite at the moment tends to be framed as such. They resumed this role upon turning face in August 2022.
- Big Bad: Unfortunately by April 2021, they turned heel and have been dominating both singles and tag team division for most of the year with an iron fist. They returned to this role with a vengeance by April 2024, with the Young Bucks firing Kenny Omega, suspending Adam Page, recruiting Kazuchika Okada and Jack Perry and cemented their status as the Big Bad by attacking AEW owner, Tony Khan, all part of their vision to reshape AEW in their image.
- Dick Dastardly Stops to Cheat: Even when they do not need to, the Elite will still use underhanded tactics to win their match. At All Out 2021 for example, the Young Bucks order Brandon Cutler to throw in a shoe rigged with thumbtacks in the middle of the match despite having the upper hand against the Lucha Brothers.
- Face–Heel Turn:
- After Omega won the AEW World Championship at the end of 2020, all members subsequently turned heel by April 2021.
- Don Callis alone turned Heel in May 2023, attacking Kenny Omega with a screwdriver right as he was about to defeat Jon Moxley, and nearly gouging Kenny's eye out before being stopped by the referees.
- Foil: The Inner Circle evidently parallels The Elite. The Inner Circle are ruthless cheaters but very closely-knit while The Elite is a team of dashing aces of wrestling who keep bickering among themselves.
- Inverted in 2021, as both teams have switched to the other side of the heel/face spectrum.
- Ended in 2022, when The Inner Circle retooled into the undeniably heel Jericho Appreciation Society (and got a new foil in the Blackpool Combat Club).
- Heel–Face Turn: After spending most of 2021 as a dominant heel faction, the group would return to being face by August 2022.
- The Young Bucks turned on the 8/3/22 episode of Rampage when Adam Cole, Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly turned on them and attacking them, only for "Hangman" Adam Page to come to the Bucks' rescue.
- After spending much of 2022 inactive due to an assortment of injuries, Kenny Omega made his in-ring return on the 8/17/22 episode of Dynamite as the Bucks' third partner for the World Trios Championship tournament. As the Bucks had already turned face, Kenny (and by extension, their manager, Don Callis) returned to being a fan favorite for the first time since December 2020.
- Renegade Splinter Faction: They technically split off from Bullet Club to form their own deal (and indeed, to fight Bullet Club itself).
- Rhymes on a Dime: Their motto, per the page quote.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: They aren't always the most harmonious bunch and often bicker with one another.
- Token Good Teammate: Hangman Page, especially during the stable's run in AEW. While he operated briefly as a heel during the Elite's days in Bullet Club, he has more or less become one of AEW's biggest babyfaces since the promotion's formation. This does actually coincide with the times the Elite have been face; Hangman's excommunication from the group began during the Elite's slow descent to villainy in late 2020, only to rejoin them again as faces in mid-2023.
- Unsportsmanlike Gloating: As heels, whenever one of them wins a title, they celebrate by ganging up on their defeated foe.
- We ARE Struggling Together: The only thing that keeps The Elite from ruling supreme is their vulnerability to internal bickering and conflict. Despite being the cream of the crop of wrestling, their egos tend to get in the way.
- Wild Card: They've been Faces, Heels and everything in-between. Sometimes they have Heel members and Face members in the same faction.
