The Elite has been a tremendously successful faction with stints in New Japan, Ring of Honor and now AEW. Talents like Kenny Omega, Adam Cole, Cody Rhodes and the Young Bucks gave their all to make the idea work of a faction within the Bullet Club. Even though the success of the Bullet Club was building, the names in question wanted to have more freedom.
Ring of Honor and other United States promotions booking members of The Elite allowed them to get more success outside of the Japan tours. Each chapter of the stable showed them doing brutal things to their opponents with little respect in play. The following moments show the worst things other wrestlers experienced from The Elite’s actions.
8 Kicking Out AJ Styles
The start of The Elite came when Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks wanted to have their own faction within the Bullet Club. AJ Styles was on the way out of New Japan when he made the call to leave for a WWE contract offer.
The shocking twist happened so fast that The Elite betraying Styles on his final night was still a huge surprise. Omega and the Bucks beating down Styles showed zero love or loyalty to their former friend. Styles ended up leaving NJPW in a memorable fashion before starting his great WWE stint.
7 Alienating Hangman Page
Adam Page winning the AEW World Championship paid off a long story of his falling out with The Elite. Both sides contributed to the issues building before the blood feud placed them against each other. However, it was the Young Bucks who alienated Page before he stood against them.
Hangman’s big opportunity in the first AEW World Championship against Chris Jericho saw the Young Bucks refusing to appear in his corner like they did during Kenny Omega’s title matches. The other members neglected Page to build up the resentment that eventually played out.
6 Invading WWE
The Elite members of the Bullet Club helped make Ring of Honor a much bigger success thanks to their momentum. Cody Rhodes, Adam Page, Marty Scurll, Brandi Rhodes and the Young Bucks appeared outside of WWE Raw with hundreds of fans.
The moment was fun for fans of The Elite, but not everyone was fond of it. WWE felt attacked and even fired writer Jimmy Jacobs for taking a picture with his friends outside of the venue. The Elite knew they would get a lot of heat, but they were mostly looking to create some drama.
5 Kenny Omega Cheating Jon Moxley Out Of Title
AEW bringing back The Elite as a bigger faction started when Kenny Omega defeated Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship. Omega’s friend Don Callis became his manager when interfering by helping Omega use a microphone as a weapon in the match.
Moxley was arguably the most beloved AEW World Champion due to his refusal to back down to challengers. Omega finding such a cheap way to start his title reign and using Callis, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson to get an advantage was true heel work.
4 Young Bucks Setting Up Jon Moxley
The feud between Kenny Omega and Jon Moxley continued to set up The Elite becoming a heel power group. Moxley trusted Omega’s friends the Young Bucks as fellow faces when going against the trio of Omega, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows.
The heel turn was obvious, but that didn’t take away from the ruthless nature of the Young Bucks betraying Moxley. Omega and the Bucks instantly became the most hated talents on the show for manipulating Moxley and other members of the roster.
3 Cody Turning Friends Against Kenny
The Bullet Club civil war storyline of the members choosing sides featured Cody Rhodes playing the heel against Kenny Omega. Rhodes started to create tension with Omega since the two had drastically different characters at the time.
Members like Marty Scurll, Adam Page and the Japanese members started to align with Cody due to Kenny’s friendship with Kota Ibushi. Rhodes did everything possible to ruin Omega during their feud, but they eventually reunited together as faces as the bigger payoff.
2 Vicious Beatdown On Adam Page
Kenny Omega’s feud with Adam Page spanning through many months of 2021 saw Hangman written off television for a while. Fans were shocked when Page lost his assumed title shot for All Out 2021 when The Elite defeated Dark Order in an elimination tag match.
However, it grew more violent the following week when Page was attacked by Omega and the Bucks. A vicious BTE Trigger wrote Hangman off television after his former friends decimated him in the ring. The segment helped add sympathy for Page towards his eventual return months later.
1 Kicking Out & "Killing" Adam Cole
The betrayals of The Elite would see the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega having zero resistance to ending friendships. Adam Cole leaving for WWE presented the same scenario as AJ Styles, but it was even more ruthless this time arounds.
The Young Bucks betrayed Cole after years of teaming together in both Ring of Honor and PWG in various factions to induct Marty Scurll as his replacement. Omega was calling the shots as the boss and grew tired of Cole wanting to challenge him for the top spot. The aftermath saw Cole further getting written out of Being the Elite by drinking a poisoned beverage and “dying” in character until his return to the group in AEW.