Golden☆Elite was a professional wrestling group, made up of Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) were they primarily work for the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. The group's name consists of Omega and Ibushi team the Golden☆Lovers and Omega and The Young Bucks trio The Elite. The stable was formed during the Bullet Club Civil War, where Omega reformed the Golden☆Lovers and The Young Bucks were caught in the middle, between a feud with Omega and Cody over the leadership of Bullet Club. Omega and Ibushi eventually made peace with The Young Bucks and formed the stable.
While part of the stable, The Young Bucks held the IWGP Tag Team Championship, Omega held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and Ibushi the NEVER Openweight Championship. The stable disbanded on January 4, 2019, when Omega and The Young Bucks made their last appearances for NJPW.
History[]
The Golden Elite celebrating, after Kenny Omega winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
On January 28 at The New Beginning in Sapporo, Kenny Omega lost the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship to Jay White. Immediately after the match, Hangman Page would confront White, but Omega stopped him and handed White his newly-won championship. More members of Bullet Club came to the ring, including Cody. Cody berated Omega for not letting Page have his moment to challenge White, leading to Omega inadvertently shoving down Matt Jackson. The remaining Bullet Club members decided to leave the ringside area to let Cody and Omega discuss their differences, but instead Cody turned on Omega, which was followed by Page, until Kota Ibushi made the save, reuniting the Golden☆Lovers. The Young Bucks were caught in the middle, between a feud with Omega and Cody over the leadership of Bullet Club. During this time, Cody tried to split up Omega and The Young Bucks. On February 24 at Honor Rising: Japan, the Golden☆Lovers made their tag team return defeating Cody and Marty Scurll. After the match, Omega claimed that Golden☆Lovers were the best tag team in the world. This led to The Young Bucks moving to the heavyweight tag team division and challenging the Golden☆Lovers to a match. On March 25, at Strong Style Evolved the Golden☆Lovers defeated The Young Bucks. After the match, Omega offered a handshake to The Young Bucks, but Matt refused. Nick, however, reconciled with Omega. On June 9, at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, after Omega defeated Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, The Young Bucks reunited with Omega and Ibushi. Later that night, Omega dubbed the stable as the "Golden Elite" consisting of Omega and Ibushi team the Golden☆Lovers and Omega and The Young Bucks trio The Elite. From July 14 until August 11, Omega and Ibushi took part in the 2018 G1 Climax on block B. Both Omega and Ibushi finished the tournament with a record of six wins and three losses, but Ibushi advanced to the finals of the tournament after defeating Omega in their head-to-head match. On August 12, Ibushi was defeated by Hiroshi Tanahashi in the finals. The Young Bucks lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) on September 30 at Fighting Spirit Unleashed. On December 9, Ibushi defeated Hirooki Goto to win the NEVER Openweight Championship. The Elite would leave the Bullet Club in October, but were recognized as part of the Bullet Club and being called Bullet Club Elite until January 4, 2019. At the event on January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome, Ibushi lost the NEVER Openweight Championship to Will Ospreay. In the main event, Omega lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi. The event was notable for being the last appearance of Golden☆Elite in NJPW.
In wrestling[]
- Triple-team finishing moves
- Omega and The Young Bucks
- One-Winged Meltzer Driver (Aided electric chair driver)
- Tiger Hattori Special (Rolling fireman's carry slam into a springboard moonsault by Omega followed by a high-angle senton bomb by Nick followed by a 450° splash by Matt)
- Omega and The Young Bucks
- Triple-team signature moves
- Omega and The Young Bucks
- Triple superkick
- Omega and The Young Bucks
- Double-team finishing moves
- The Young Bucks
- Cease and Desist (Sharpshooter (Nick) / Crossface (Matt) combination)
- Early-Onset Alzheimer's (Double or stereo superkicks to one or two opponents respectively)
- Herbert Meltzer Driver (Springboard suicide somersault spike tombstone piledriver)
- Indytaker / More Bang for Your Fuck (Springboard spike kneeling reverse piledriver)
- Meltzer Driver (Springboard somersault spike kneeling reverse piledriver)
- More Bang for Your Buck (Rolling fireman's carry slam by Matt followed by a 450° splash by Nick followed by a moonsault by Matt)
- Omega and Ibushi
- Golden Shower (Simultaneous 450° splashes from the same turnbuckle)
- Golden Trigger (Simultaneous wrist-locks into knee strikes)
- The Young Bucks
- Omega's finishing moves
- Croyt's Wrath (Electric chair dropped into a bridging German suplex)
- Katayoku no Tenshi / One-Winged Angel (One-handed electric chair driver)
- Aoi Shoudou (Cross-legged fisherman buster sometimes dropped onto the knee or into a sitout position)
- Ibushi's finishing moves
- Kamigoye (Double wrist-lock knee strike)
- Golden Star Powerbomb (Elevated sitout powerbomb)
- Phoenix-Plex (Bridging package fallaway powerbomb, sometimes from the middle rope)
- Phoenix Splash (Corkscrew 450° splash)
- Matt Jackson's finishing moves
- Diving corkscrew somersault into a cutter
- Sharpshooter
- Nick Jackson's finishing moves
- 450° splash
- Sharpshooter
Championships and Accomplishments[]
- New Japan Pro Wrestling
- IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – Omega
- IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time) – The Young Bucks
- NEVER Openweight Championship (1 time) – Ibushi
- Tokyo Sports
- Best Bout Award (2018) Kenny Omega vs. Kazuchika Okada on June 9