Inner Circle (professional wrestling)
Inner Circle | |
---|---|
Stable | |
Leader(s) | Chris Jericho |
Members | Jake Hager Santana Ortiz Sammy Guevara MJF Wardlow |
Name(s) | Inner Circle |
Debut | October 9, 2019 |
Disbanded | March 9, 2022 |
Years active | 2019–2022 |
The Inner Circle was an American
The stable was formed during the first episode of
History
Origins
At
On the premiere episode of AEW Dynamite on October 2, at the main event of the night, Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks were defeated by Jericho and Santana and Ortiz. After the match, Jake Hager made his AEW debut by helping Jericho, Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz by attacking The Young Bucks, Dustin Rhodes and Cody.[2] October 9, On the following episode of Dynamite, Jericho officially unveiled the new stable as "The Inner Circle".[3]
Prominence
The Inner Circle's success continued at the
During the following weeks, The Inner Circle feuded with The Elite and
MJF and The Pinnacle
On November 7 at Full Gear, MJF and Wardlow became the newest members of The Inner Circle after MJF defeated Jericho.[13] On AEW's New Year's Smash, Wardlow defeated Jake Hager with mutual respect shown afterward. On the February 10, 2021, edition of AEW Dynamite, following weeks of growing tension between MJF & Guevara, Guevara attacked MJF following a backstage confrontation which gave MJF a kayfabe rib injury. Later on in the episode, Guevara announced his departure from The Inner Circle.[14]
On the March 10, 2021, edition of Dynamite, a "War Council" was called by the Inner Circle after Chris Jericho and MJF failed to capture the AEW World Tag Team Championship over The Young Bucks at Revolution. During the segment, Guevara came out and revealed that MJF had been planning a coup of the Inner Circle against Jericho and thought he'd convinced Hager, Santana and Ortiz to join him, only to discover that Guevara had secretly taped it, and the three were faking it to expose MJF's duplicity, leading Jericho to fire MJF from the group. MJF then revealed that he had created his own stable (which would subsequently be named The Pinnacle) consisting of Wardlow, FTR, Shawn Spears, and Tully Blanchard who appeared and violently attacked The Inner Circle, ending with Wardlow powerbombing Jericho off the stage and through a table. This betrayal and attack resulted in the entirety of the Inner Circle turning face. The entire group returned on the March 31 episode of Dynamite after weeks of absence, hiding in their old dressing room which was previously taken over by the Pinnacle. They then proceeded to violently attack each member of the group, and reclaim their dressing room.
The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle fought at
Independent endeavors
Jericho then began pursuing another match with MJF, who stated that he would first have to defeat a gauntlet of opponents selected by MJF, in a series dubbed the "Labors of Jericho". Jericho defeated each of MJF's handpicked opponents (Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera and Wardlow) and faced MJF in the final labor on the August 18 episode of Dynamite, but he was defeated. Jericho demanded one more match, stipulating that if he lost, he would retire from in-ring competition, which MJF accepted. At All Out on September 5, Jericho defeated MJF to maintain his career and end their feud.
On the June 30th edition of AEW Dynamite, Sammy Guevara lost to MJF after Spears hit him with a chair to the head. On the August 18th episode of Dynamite, Guevara announced his engagement to his girlfriend. Later in the night, Guevara defeated Shawn Spears.
Guevara then began a feud with Miro, who'd attacked and embarrassed Fuego Del Sol. Guevara was subsequently granted a match for the TNT Championship on Dynamite, and on September 29, Guevara won the AEW TNT Championship at Dynamite by defeating Miro.
Proud and Powerful began a lengthy feud with FTR.
Feud with Men of the Year and American Top Team
Dan Lambert introduced the stable American Top Team. The team consists of UFC fighters Andrei Arlovski, Junior Dos Santos, Jorge Masvidal, and Paige Vanzant, with the stable also being allied with the Men of the Year, Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky. Lambert's consistent bashing of AEW and its roster instantly drew the ire of Jericho, who would challenge the Men of the Year to a tag match against himself and Hager on Rampage: Grand Slam, but due to the various interference by American Top Team, Men of the Year ultimately emerged as the victors. A rematch was set with a 6-man tag team match that consisted of the Men of the Year alongside
Betrayal and Jericho Appreciation Society
On the March 9, 2022, episode of Dynamite after the fallout of
Members
* | Founding member |
---|---|
L | Leader |
Former
Member | Joined | Left | |
---|---|---|---|
Chris Jericho (L) | * | October 9, 2019 | March 9, 2022 |
Jake Hager | * | October 9, 2019 | March 9, 2022 |
Ortiz | * | October 9, 2019 | March 9, 2022 |
Santana | * | October 9, 2019 | March 9, 2022 |
Sammy Guevara | * | October 9, 2019[note 1] | February 9, 2022 |
MJF | November 7, 2020 | March 10, 2021 | |
Wardlow | November 7, 2020 | March 10, 2021 |
Honorary
Member | Joined |
---|---|
Mike Tyson | April 7, 2021 |
Timeline
As of July 2, 2024
Sub-groups
Affiliate | Members | Tenure | Type |
---|---|---|---|
Santana and Ortiz | Santana Ortiz |
2019–2022 | Tag team |
Championships and accomplishments
- All Elite Wrestling
- broken anchor]) – Jericho[16]
- AEW TNT Championship (2 times) – Guevara[17]
- Interim AEW TNT Championship (1 time) – Guevara[18]
- Dynamite Diamond Ring (2020) – MJF[19]
- Dynamite Award(2 times)
- "Stadium Stampede match (The Elite vs. The Inner Circle) at Double or Nothing
- "Biggest Beatdown" (2021) – The Inner Circle jumping Orange Cassidy on Dynamite(June 10)
- "
- CBS Sports
- Worst Moment of the Year (2020) – Guevara vs. Matt Hardy at All Out[20]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Faction of the Year (2021)[21]
- Feud of the Year (2021) vs. MJF – Jericho[21]
- Ranked Jericho No. 3. of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500in 2020
- Ranked Guevara No. 61 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2020
- Ranked Santana No. 126 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2020
- Ranked Ortiz No. 128 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2020
- Ranked Hager No. 176 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2020
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Wrestler of the Year (2019) – Jericho[22][23]
- Best on Interviews (2019) – Jericho[22]
- United States/Canada MVP (2019) – Jericho[23]
- Most Charismatic (2019) – Jericho[23]
- Best Box Office Draw (2019) – Jericho[23]
- Most Charismatic (2020) – MJF
Notes
- ^ On February 10, 2021, Sammy Guevara quit the Inner Circle. He would return to the group a month later on March 10 when it was revealed that his departure was part of a plan to expose MJF's attempted coup.
References
- ^ Powell, Jason (August 31, 2019). "AEW All Out results: Powell's live review of Chris Jericho vs. Hangman Page to become the first AEW Champion, Pentagon Jr. and Fenix vs. The Young Bucks in a ladder match for the AAA Tag Titles, Cody vs. Shawn Spears, Kenny Omega vs. Pac". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 31, 2019.
- ^ "AEW Dynamite results, recap, grades: Jon Moxley returns, Jack Hager debuts in first TNT episode". CBS Sports. October 2, 2019. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
- ^ Barnett, Jake (October 9, 2019). "10/09 AEW Dynamite TV results: Barnett's live review of Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara vs. Hangman Page and Dustin Rhodes, Jon Moxley vs. Shawn Spears, The Young Bucks vs. Private Party in an AEW Tag Title tournament match, Riho and Britt Baker vs. Bea Priestly and Emi Sakura". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
- ^ Powell, Jason (November 9, 2019). "AEW Full Gear results: Powell's live review of Chris Jericho vs. Cody for the AEW Championship, Kenny Omega vs. Jon Moxley, Hangman Page vs. Pac, Riho vs. Emi Sakura for the AEW Women's Championship, The Young Bucks vs. Santana and Ortiz". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
- ^ "Scorpio Sky Pins Chris Jericho In Jericho's First AEW Loss | Fightful Wrestling". www.fightful.com. Retrieved December 17, 2019.
- ^ Boutwell, Josh (November 27, 2019). "AEW Dynamite Results – 11/27/19 (AEW World Championship match, Omega vs. PAC)". WrestleView. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
- ^ "AEW DYNAMITE Results December 11, 2019". www.allelitewrestling.com. December 11, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
- ^ "AEW DYNAMITE Results December 18, 2019". www.allelitewrestling.com. December 18, 2019. Retrieved December 23, 2019.
- ^ "AEW DYNAMITE Results January 8, 2020". allelitewrestling.com. January 8, 2020. Retrieved January 11, 2020.
- ^ Barnett, Jake (February 12, 2020). "2/12 AEW Dynamite TV results: Barnett's live review of Kenny Omega and Hangman Page vs. Frankie Kazarian and Scorpio Sky for the AEW Tag Titles, Riho vs. Nyla Rose for the AEW Women's Title, Jon Moxley vs. Santana, MJF vs. Jungle Boy, Dustin Rhodes vs. Sammy Guevara". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
- ^ Barnett, Jake (February 19, 2020). "2/19 AEW Dynamite TV results: Barnett's live review of Cody vs. Wardlow in a steel cage match, Jon Moxley vs. Jeff Cobb, Kenny Omega and Hangman Page vs. Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix for the AEW Tag Titles, Tag Team battle royal for a tag title shot at AEW Revolution". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved March 1, 2020.
- ^ Powell, Jason (February 29, 2020). "AEW Revolution results: Powell's live review of Chris Jericho vs. Jon Moxley for the AEW Championship, Kenny Omega and Hangman Page vs. The Young Bucks for the AEW Tag Titles, Cody vs. MJF, Nyla Rose vs. Kris Statlander for the AEW Women's Championship, Pac vs. Orange Cassidy". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
- ^ "MJF Joins the Inner Circle After Defeating Chris Jericho at Full Gear". November 8, 2020.
- ^ "AEW Dynamite Results for February 10, 2021". All Elite Wrestling. February 10, 2021.
- ^ Rose, Bryan (March 9, 2022). "Chris Jericho forms 'Jericho Appreciation Society' group on AEW Dynamite". Wrestling Observer Newsletter/Figure Four Wrestling. Retrieved March 10, 2022.
- ^ "AEW World Championship Title History". All Elite Wrestling. Retrieved February 27, 2020.
- ^ Barnett, Jake (September 29, 2021). "9/29 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review Miro vs. Sammy Guevara for the TNT Championship, Jungle Boy vs. Adam Cole, Cody Rhodes and Lee Johnson vs. Dante Martin and Matt Sydal, Penelope Ford and The Bunny vs. Tay Conti and Anna Jay, sixteen-man tag match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
- ^ "AEW TNT Championship". All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
- ^ AEW Staff (November 27, 2019). "AEW DYNAMITE Results November 27, 2019". all elite wrestling.com. Retrieved December 4, 2019.
- ^ Brookhouse, Brent (January 2, 2021). "2020 CBS Sports Wrestling Awards: Drew McIntyre stands out as Wrestler of the Year". CBSSports.com. Retrieved January 2, 2021.
- ^ a b Grifol, Ignacio (January 14, 2022). "Pro Wrestling Illustrated anuncia los ganadores de sus PWI Awards 2021". Solowrestling.com. Retrieved January 15, 2022.
- ^ ISSN 1083-9593.
- ^ a b c d Meltzer, Dave (March 5, 2020). "March 13, 2020 Observer Newsletter: 40th Annual Awards Issue". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved March 8, 2020.
External links
- Inner Circle's profile at Cagematch.net