Wrestling / The United Empire

"Yunaiteddo Enpaia CHIKARA!"^TranslationThis is the power of The United Empire!
Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, Will Ospreay, Aaron Henare.
Not pictured: Bea Priestley, Aussie Open (Mark Davis & Kyle Fletcher), Catch 22 (pronounced two-two) (TJP & Francesco Akira), Gideon Grey.

The United Empire is a professional wrestling stable in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, founded by Will Ospreay, The Great-O-Khan, and Bea Priestley in late 2020 and very quickly becoming established as one of the company's most powerful units.

Will Ospreay had been brought into NJPW in 2016 after a match at Revolution Pro Wrestling with then-IWGP Heavyweight Champion and CHAOS leader Kazuchika Okada, who had been so impressed with Ospreay that he asked for him to be brought into the company and immediately recruited him to CHAOS. He spent the next four years proving himself as one of the top competitors in the junior heavyweight division, becoming a three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and two-time Best of Super Juniors tournament champion. Along the way taking interest in evolving beyond the junior heavyweight division and becoming a full heavyweight wrestler, whetting that appetite with a victory over Kota Ibushi for the NEVER Openweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 13, as well as his second BOSJ victory coming against Shingo Takagi, a wrestler also straddling the borderline of weight divisions. He was even able to earn his way into the G1 Climax tournament in 2019 during his third Junior Heavyweight Championship reign, similar to Prince Devitt in 2013. He finally completed his graduation to heavyweight after Hiromu Takahashi took the Junior Heavyweight title from him at Wrestle Kingdom 14.

However, one obstacle to his evolution would emerge: no matter how good Ospreay became, Kazuchika Okada was still his superior. Not only was Okada as the leader of CHAOS ever present in the orbit of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship even when he wasn't champion, he defeated Ospreay every time the two squared off in special exhibition matches. While Okada continuously affirmed his love for Ospreay as a wrestler and as a brother, Ospreay's frustration at being unable prove himself equal to or better than Okada at any point bubbled under the surface.

The Empire's Sunrise

During his final match of the 2020 G1 Climax tournament, Will's first as a heavyweight, Ospreay (with 10 points) faced Okada (with 12 points). Showing surprising viciousness towards his brother-at-arms, Ospreay wanted to beat Okada more than ever before—and if this wasn't evident with his aggressive wrestling style, it became so when a large man in a pinstriped suit and a beautiful raven-haired woman appeared at ringside. The woman, recognized as World Wonder Ring ST★RDOM wrestler Bea Priestley, Ospreay's longtime girlfriend and occasional stablemate in the West, distracted the referee, while the large man, recognized as Tomoyuki Oka, a NJPW Young Lion who had gone on excursion to RevPro and reinvented himself as The Great-O-Khan, attacked Okada with his Eliminator claw slam, allowing Ospreay to pin The Rainmaker. Meeting Priestley and O-Khan at ringside after his victory, Will saw Okada being helped to recover from the effects of the match, and that was when opportunity struck and true colors were shown: with the encouragement of Bea and O-Khan, Will Ospreay came back into the ring and nailed Okada in the back of the neck with his Hidden Blade elbow, transparently declaring his intent to end the career of his former brother-at-arms, betraying CHAOS and forming a new unit all his own, initially coined as The Empire.

In the weeks leading up to Wrestle Kingdom 15, The Empire teased a new addition through O-Khan's participation in the World Tag League tournament, where the slot for his tag team partner was simply labeled "X". In November, the other half of The Empire's tournament duo was revealed to be Jeff Cobb, a Hawaiian wrestler known for his monstrous strength and athleticism who'd toured NJPW as a babyface for several years. Cobb and O-Khan ended the tournament in a four-team tie with 10 points, just shy of the top three teams which each had 12. Wrestle Kingdom 13 saw Ospreay finally get his first grudge match with Okada, intending to destroy him once and for all, whereas O-Khan sought to make his mark to help build The Empire's reign at the expense of the aging ace Hiroshi Tanahashi, while Cobb went after Shingo Takagi for the NEVER Openweight Championship.

In the group's very first Tokyo Dome appearance, all three of The Empire's men lost their matches... but this was only the start of the story.

United by Fury

The 2021 New Year Dash saw an absolutely furious Will Ospreay captain The Empire in tearing through Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) and Young Lion Yota Tsuji, not only destroying Tsuji with an aided Super Os-Cutter, but also beating up Tenzan, Oka's former mentor, to the point he had to be stretchered out. In a screed which would be a harbinger of future events, Ospreay ranted that they were not weak, Wrestle Kingdom proved nothing, and they would now be known fully as The United Empire.

After coming out on top in a fiery short feud with Kojima, Ospreay and company moved on to the New Japan Cup. While Cobb and O-Khan both fell in the second round, Ospreay went on to win the tournament, once again defeating Shingo Takagi in the end. However, the title shot he earned for his victory would be for Kota Ibushi's newly-minted IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.^note This controversial new title was the end result of the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles being held and defended by a single champion simultaneously for over a year as well as Ibushi's self-declared godhood. Confronting Ibushi in the ring after his victory, Ospreay shockingly struck his own girlfriend with an Os-Cutter and exited the ring without her in tow, all ostensibly to prove the point that being the best wrestler in the world meant more to him than anything and he would stop at nothing to tear the title off of Ibushi and take it for himself.^note In real life, and possibly in the background of the storyline, she had suggested the idea after deciding to leave Japan.

Ospreay's title opportunity would come at Sakura Genesis, but before Ospreay could get going, O-Khan and Cobb would team up with yet another "X" to be revealed against three members of Los Ingobernables de Japon. A certain former Young Lion with a long-documented struggle to prove himself among the elite roster of NJPW suddenly appeared as X, wearing a trenchcoat with The Empire's trademark colors, long tights instead of trunks, and black sunglasses. Gone was the jobber-to-the-stars Toa Henare; in his place was "The Ultimate Weapon" Aaron Henare.

This night, United Empire dominated. Henare picked up the scalp of SANADA, pinning him after hitting the Street of Rage, following which UE continued to assault LIJ, in particular targeting the knee of Tetsuya Naito. And then...in Kota Ibushi's first official defense of the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship... Will Ospreay brutalized, overwhelmed, and conquered a very much fighting champion, becoming the first man to take the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship off a defending titleholder.

Expansion of Power

While Ospreay would be forced to vacate the championship not too long after due to a neck injury, this presented another opportunity. The United Empire's ranks would continue to grow with Ospreay traveling the globe and scouting talent that could benefit their cause, still carrying the title belt and calling himself the "real world champion" as he did so. September 2021 saw the addition of the premier Australian tag team aptly known as Aussie Open (Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher) during a tour of the UK, while TJP betrayed the NJPW LA Dojo to join in as the group's first junior heavyweight. Ospreay would ride his claim to the title all the way into the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 16, where he was defeated again by Okada, who retained as the official recognized champion. Still, the following year saw the group's ranks in the juniors division bolstered further; Francesco Akira was brought in from his stint in All Japan Pro Wrestling, handpicked by Ospreay himself as a protégé that would dominate the junior heavyweight scene he felt to have deteriorated since his graduation from it two years prior. While neither Akira or TJP won the subsequent Best of the Super Jrs. tournament, the newly-dubbed Catch 2/2 would later capture the Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team championships to establish a lengthy reign with them. The Royal Quest tour saw the further addition of Lord Gideon Gray from Revolution Pro Wrestling in the UK as the group's manager and personal commentator.

The group also expanded into All Elite Wrestling when Aussie Open signed with the company in 2023, and Ospreay began making appearances for AEW beyond the AEW×NJPW Forbidden Door crossover season. While all three would still represent The Empire with its "Crowns Up" symbol, an affiliation would also be formed with Don Callis and his new "family" (also including Konosuke Takeshita, Sammy Guevara, and Powerhouse Hobbs). After defeating both Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho in bouts for the IWGP United States Championship with the backing of Callis, Ospreay was officially inducted into the Don Callis Family, making him a simultaneous member of both stables. Davis, meanwhile, fell to an injury, leading to a storyline where Fletcher attempted to prove himself to the Don Callis Family before ultimately being accepted into the group as a dual member as well. Ospreay would officially join AEW in February 2024.

Meanwhile back in NJPW, with Ospreay no longer part of the New Japan roster, TJP proclaimed himself as the new leader of the NJPW branch, but initially faced push back by the others, especially Great-O-Khan. On April 22 however, after defeating Just 5 Guys in a gauntlet match, the remaining members appear to have fully accepted TJP as the new leader.

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"Our tropes are on another level":

• Big Bad: Will Ospreay became this to NJPW very quickly after forming the group.
• Color Motif: Theirs is green and gold, representing their desire for dominance and wealth as the ruling faction in NJPW.
• The Dragon: If Jeff Cobb wasn't already this from the moment he joined by virtue of being someone who's beaten Ospreay for championship gold in their babyface days, he's certainly risen to it by his feud with Okada during the time Ospreay was forced to relinquish his World Heavyweight Championship to injury and then returned via the company's United States territory NJPW Strong. Cobb can often be seen directing traffic whenever Ospreay isn't around, but settles in nicely as a second when he is, all genuinely based on the best interest of the team.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: One of Henare's driving reasons for becoming The Ultimate Weapon. He said it both to Cobb and O-Khan as his new music died down and in the backstage presser after his first win with The Empire.
  Henare: Those fans clapping tonight, where was that clapping two weeks ago?
• Equal-Opportunity Evil: Members hail from England (Ospreay, Priestley, Gray), Japan (O-Khan^*Though in Kayfabe, he is supposed to be from Mongolia), America (Cobb^*Hawaii, but was born in Guam and was partially raised there; he is also part-Filipino on his mother's side, TJP ^*Also represents the Philippines due to his heritage), New Zealand (Henare^*Cook Islands), Australia (Davis, Fletcher), and Italy (Akira).
• Expy: Great-O-Khan is basically an updated version of Killer Khan.
• Foreign Wrestling Heel: Is one of their calling cards in that all of the group's members are foreigners^note O-Khan is Japanese, but claims Mongolian heritage in-character, much like NJPW's initial premier gaijin-led faction. What sets the Empire apart from the Club though is that while Bullet Club does maintain an over-the-top air of being American-style heels in a puroresu environment which includes a fair share of cheating and bragging, United Empire is slightly more honorable in that their brand of heel behavior consists of being absolutely brutal in the ring rather than any cheating or dishonorable tactics.
• Gray-and-Grey Morality: The fact is, this is a group composed almost entirely of people who were last seen as babyfaces prior to joining, and despite having major chips on their shoulders and being unscrupulous jerkasses to everyone who's not with them, the one thing that puts them well above the likes of Bullet Club or Suzuki-gun is that they are not cheaters. As such, the group can operate well as either babyfaces or heels, mainly in response to whoever they're put up against.
• Irony:
  • For a team called The United Empire, there is a lot of face-to-heel betrayal involved in its foundation. Not only did Ospreay turn his back on a stable called CHAOS who he'd ran with for five years in order to form the group with Bea and O-Khan, the latter of whom was also a graduated Young Lion suddenly returned as an accomplice to both a threat on NJPW's ace and an injurious attack on his own mentor. When Cobb and Henare joined the group, both had betrayed the longtime trust of the main unit. Literally the only person who didn't fundamentally betray anyone in forming or joining the group was Bea Priestley, and even she had switched out on one ST★RDOM heel stable (Queen's Quest) for another (Oedo Tai) a short few months prior.
  • And yet despite The Empire's treacherous beginnings, within their own ranks there is much unity, with plenty of background to establish why they would all want to team together. Cobb and Henare were both friends and often teamed back when they were faces, with Cobb describing Henare as "[his] ultimate weapon" and talking to Henare about how winning feels good in such a way that makes it obvious they've had the conversation; Ospreay knows O-Khan from RevPro, having corresponded with him backstage despite the two being in separate locker rooms at the time; Cobb's highest accomplishment in NJPW saw him be the man who defeated Ospreay for the NEVER Openweight Championship and therefore earn his respect; and while the messaging is mixed now that he struck her from the group, Priestley is the woman Ospreay moved to Japan with and for whom he openly professed his love.
• It's Personal:
  • Between the group's leader Ospreay and Kazuchika Okada. Mainly because Ospreay is an Ungrateful Bastard to the man that brought him into NJPW in the first place and supported his continuous rise to becoming its top foreign star, instead being plain out envious that Okada would always be the greatest instead of him as long as they ran together. Even while celebrating his victory of the IWGP World Heavyweight Title, Ospreay used the championship as bait to draw Okada into another match, wanting revenge for his Wrestle Kingdom loss to The Rainmaker.
  • Henare also has this towards Tanahashi and the rest of NJPW's Hontai veterans, who he felt held him down or allowed him to flounder because they were scared that he would overtake their spots in the company.
• Mouth of Sauron: While Ospreay does his fair share of talking in English, O-Khan is this to the group when it comes to relaying their message of power and dominance to the homebase fans in Japan, given he's their only Japanese member.
• Papa Wolf: Outside the ring, Great-O-Khan was at a train station in Kawasaki City on March 29, 2022 when he saw a teenage girl about to be snatched by an obviously drunk man. He prevented the apparent kidnap attempt, receiving a letter of appreciation from the local authorities for his efforts. He even at one point brought it on stage during Hyper Battle 2022.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • While the group had shown its true vicious nature from the moment O-Khan and Priestley appeared, losing every match at Wrestle Kingdom 15 set them, especially Ospreay, over the edge. From that point on they have been relentless in tearing through the NJPW roster to achieve the dominance that fits their name.
  • Toa Henare's bubbling rage over being a jobber-to-the-stars and seldom picking up any meaningful wins finally boiled over when he got rolled up by SANADA, losing his six-man tag match with FinJuice against LIJ the night of the 2021 New Japan Cup final without taking a single bit of prior offense. Two weeks later, Aaron Henare took another shot at LIJ as the newest member of The United Empire and proceeded to destroy SANADA to pick up the win for his team.
• Red Baron:
  • The Commonwealth Kingpin for Will Ospreay, replacing his babyface moniker The (Aerial) Assassin. He's since gone by both in RPW and AEW, with The Aerial Assassin gradually returning as his main handle to match the group's tweener state by the time of his NJPW departure.
  • The Dominator for Great-O-Khan. Has also been tangentially called The Great Protector after the train station rescue.
  • The Hatchet and The Imperial Unit for Jeff Cobb, replacing his babyface moniker Mr. Athletic.
  • The Ultimate Weapon for Aaron Henare, later upgraded to The Face of Fury as the Mataora-marked HENARE.
  • The Top Gaijin for Bea Priestley.
  • The Public Enemy for TJP, later The Aswang in 2024.
  • The Nova Fireball for Francesco Akira.
  • The Orchestrator for Gideon Grey.
• Self-Sacrifice Scheme: Priestley herself was the one who gave Ospreay the idea to attack her in front of Ibushi to prove the point that he would do anything to beat him and become World Heavyweight Champion, since she knew she was going to leave Japan soon anyway. This set an even more dangerous tone for The Empire as a group moving forward, especially as Ospreay kept his word and captured the championship.
• The Smurfette Principle: Bea Priestley served as the group's only female member, justified primarily by NJPW being an all-male promotion while she primarily wrestled in their sister company STARDOM.
• Start My Own: Will Ospreay defected from CHAOS to start his own faction with Bea Priestley and The Great-O-Khan.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Played for Laughs by Great-O-Khan where he recounts a story where both Ospreay and Cobb told him to turn off his phone because they're about to have a match (he was showing them some hololive videos of Sakura Miko and Gawr Gura playing WWE 2K22). His reaction can only be described as this.
• Villainous Friendship: With a name like United Empire, they should embody this trope. Despite seeming to be very disparate pieces on paper, the members do come off as a true unit. Not only is their chemistry strong enough to match teams that have been together for years, there actually are a few links in the faction's chain that do go back awhile, such as Ospreay and Priestley's relationship and Cobb and Henare's alliance.
• Villainous Valour: In contrast to Bullet Club and Suzuki-gun, they are not notorious cheaters, instead standing out as more traditional puroresu style villains with a hallmark of callous brutality rather than cheap tricks.
• We Used to Be Friends: Aside from the obvious with Ospreay and Okada, Henare used to look up to NJPW's elder statesmen such as Tanahashi, Tencozy, and Togi Makabe, but now claims he held himself back to fit their image of him only to receive little to no help in his development.