User:TylerBlack001/sandbox
| Tyler Black | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Daniel Osborne |
| Born | December 24, 1980 Essex, England |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Christian Daniels Tyler Black |
| Billed height | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) |
| Billed weight | 220 lb (100 kg) |
| Billed from | London, England |
| Trained by | Bret Hart, Hart Dungeon |
| Debut | July 23, 1995 |
Daniel Osborne (born December 24th 1980) is a British professional wrestler, currently working for WWE as a writer and producer for the 'NXT' and 'Raw' brands. He is better known by his ring name Tyler Black but has also worked under the name Christian Daniels
Osborne was trained at the Hart Dungeon in Canada by Bret Hart and wrestled for Stampede Wrestling from 1995 until 2002 under the name Tyler Black. Through his time at the Dungeon and in SW, he struck a close friendship with TJ Wilson and Natalya Neidhart. He left the company in 2002 after signing a deal with Ring Of Honor. Later that year, he signed a deal with NWA Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling and was given the new name Christian Daniels. He would depart ROH in 2004 after signing a new deal with TNA which prohibited him working for them. He later returned in 2005 and remained in both ROH and TNA until 2007.
He decided to head back to his native UK where he has wrestled for the Frontier Wrestling Alliance, 1Pro Wrestling, XWA Wrestling Real Quality Wrestling and IPW:UK which is where he found his fame. Considered a star of the independent scene, Osborne signed a WWE development deal in 2011 and worked for the development systems Florida Championship Wrestling and NXT Wrestling from 2012 until 2015 when he was called up to the main roster.
Just three months into his main roster career, Osborne suffered a serious concussion and neck injury during a match. Two months later, he announced his retirement from in-ring competition and transitioned to a new role as a producer and writer for the company.
Career
[edit]Early Career and Training (1995)
[edit]After moving to Canada in 1990, Osborne took an interest in professional wrestling. He began to hang outside of the Hart Dungeon in Calgary, Alberta where he became friends with TJ Wilson and Nattie Neidhart who would encourage him to go inside and practice with them. He wrestled his first match for Stampede Wrestling against Wilson in July 1995 when he was just 14 years old. In 1996, Bret Hart became his trainer.
Ring Of Honor (2002-04, 2005-07, 2007-10)
[edit]The Prophecy (2002-04)
[edit]In February 2002, Osborne made his first appearance as Tyler Black in the triple threat main event of Ring Of Honor's first show, The Era Of Honor Begins. Wrestling Low Ki and Bryan Danielson, he lost the match and following it broke ROH's Code Of Honor by refusing to shake the hand of his opponents. He then took a microphone and challenged Ki and Danielson to a round robin tournament at the next show. At Round Robin Challenge, Black first defeated Danielson and forced him to shake his hand. He then went on to submit to Ki's Dragon Clutch and again refused to shake his hand claiming that he would have won if he hadn't had another match that night. He also vowed to never wrestle Ki again unless the ROH World Championship was on the line.
At Ring of Honor's third show, A Night of Appreciation, Black lost to Donovan Morgan, with both men showing mutual respect. The two men formed a partnership, eventually adding other members and growing into the stable known as The Prophecy. Black defeated AJ Styles on June 22, to qualify for the first ROH World Championship match, a one-hour Iron Man match against Spanky, Doug Williams, and Low Ki. In this title match, Black scored a pin on the eventual winner, Low Ki, and was the only wrestler to not to lose a fall by pin or submission.
Two months later, Low Ki defended the title against Xavier. During the match, Black came to the ring to distract Low Ki, allowing Xavier to attack the champion with a chair and pin him for the title. Xavier was subsequently announced as the newest member of The Prophecy. Later that night, Black and Morgan defeated Danielson and Michael Modest to become the inaugural ROH Tag Team Champions, giving The Prophecy possession of all championships in Ring of Honor.
At Glory By Honor, Black defeated Doug Williams, who was consequently banned from shaking hands in ROH. The Prophecy recruited the debuting Samoa Joe to take out Low Ki in the first ever Fight Without Honor, a match that does not follow ROH's Code of Honor rules. Low Ki won the match and shook Joe's hand.
On March 13, 2003, A.J. Styles and Amazing Red defeated Black and Xavier (substituting for Morgan) for the ROH Tag Team Championship. At the next show, The Prophecy also lost the ROH Championship, when former member Samoa Joe defeated Xavier. On April 26, Black won the second Round Robin Challenge by defeating Amazing Red and Paul London in singles matches. On June 14, The Prophecy put their existence in ROH on the line in a six-man tag team match against The Group (Samoa Joe, C.W. Anderson, and Michael Shane). The Prophecy won, and The Group was forced to disband. Black defeated the returning Xavier on August 16 to become number one contender for the ROH World Championship, only to be defeated by champion Samoa Joe on September 20.
After CM Punk declined an offer to join The Prophecy, someone assaulted his girlfriend Lucy backstage, forcing her out of ROH. On December 23, 2003, Black revealed that B.J. Whitmer, the newest member of The Prophecy, had attacked Lucy, starting a rivalry between The Prophecy and Punk's stable, The Second City Saints. On January 10, 2004, at Battle Lines are Drawn, The Prophecy (Black, Whitmer, and Dan Maff) faced The Second City Saints (Punk, Colt Cabana, and Ace Steel) in a six-man tag team main event. The Prophecy was disqualified when Whitmer accidentally hit the referee with a chair. After the match, Punk dropped Black from the ropes through a table with the Pepsi Plunge, putting him out of ROH. In reality, Black's exit was a result of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) not allowing their contracted wrestlers to work ROH shows, in light of a scandal surrounding ROH promoter Rob Feinstein.
Return to ROH (2005-07)
[edit]In the summer of 2005, Ring Of Honor announced that Black would make his return to the company on July 8th. However, on June 18th at Death Before Dishonor III, Black made a surprise return to challenge CM Punk to a match for the ROH World Championship who had threatened to leave the company with the title to go to World Wrestling Entertainment. Punk refused to challenge and left the arena. At the next show, Sign of Dishonor, Black defeated Punk's stablemate, Colt Cabana, when Punk attempted to hit Black with a steel chain, but instead hit Cabana. At Fate of an Angel, Black lost to the debuting Matt Hardy after Punk interfered. Later that night, after Punk's successful defense against James Gibson, Black stole the belt and was granted a title shot.
On July 23, at The Homecoming, Black wrestled Punk to a one-hour time limit draw; the time expired just as Black hit his Angel's Wings finisher. At the next show on August 12, Redemption, Black, Gibson and Samoa Joe challenged CM Punk for the title in a Four-Way Elimination match. While Joe had Black in a submission move, Black put his foot on the rope to force a break. Punk knocked it off before the referee noticed, and Black submitted. Black tried to get revenge, but inadvertently helped Punk eliminate Joe.
Daniels remained a regular member of the ROH roster, while also working other promotions such as TNA and Frontier Wrestling Alliance in the UK. After defeating Matt Sydal in two singles matches and losing to him in a third, they became tag team partners in the summer of 2006. On August 26, they failed in their first shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship, against Austin Aries and Roderick Strong. On November 25, they defeated Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli for the title, making Black a two-time champion. After defending against CIMA and Shingo, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong and Jack Evans and Shingo, Black and Sydal lost the title to The Briscoe Brothers on February 24, 2007.
At Good Times, Great Memories on April 28, Black wrestled a fifteen-minute time-limit draw with Erick Stevens. Following the match, Daniels turned heel and quit ROH.
The Age Of The Fall (2007-09)
[edit]At the Ring Of Honor Man Up pay-per-view in September 2007, Black made his return to the company alongside Jimmy Jacobs and Necro Butcher with the three attacking The Briscoe Brothers, hanging Jay Briscoe from the rigging that had been used during a ladder match earlier that night. Jacobs announced that the three had formed a stabled called The Age of the Fall. The angle was so controversial that ROH decided to remove the footage from the pay-per-view that was being taped at the event. Following its removal, the footage was heavily requested by fans of the promotion and eventually was shown on ROH Videowire. Later in the event, Black faced Jack Evans in a dark match, which ended when Jacobs and Necro Butcher interfered leading The Irish Airborne to help Evans. A six-man tag team match between The Age of the Fall and Jack Evans and The Irish Airborne ended in a no contest when Necro Butcher attacked the referee.
Along with Jimmy Jacobs and Necro Butcher, Black wrestled against The Vulture Squad (Jack Evans and Ruckus) in several handicap matches during early October, Black then teamed with The Age of the Fall against Jack Evans, Ruckus and Jigsaw in a six-man tag team match the following month at Glory by Honor VI: Night One on November 1. The following night, Black defeated Alex "Sugarfoot" Payne, but was attacked by The Briscoe Brothers following the match. He appeared with The Age of the Fall in their match against The Briscoe Brothers during the main event. At Final Battle 2007, Black and Jacobs defeated The Briscoe Brothers to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship.
They lost the championship one month later on January 26 to the No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards and Rocky Romero) when competing in an Ultimate Endurance match also involving The Hangmen 3 (Brent Albright and BJ Whitmer), and the team of Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson.
At Take No Prisoners, ROH's sixth pay-per-view, Black challenged Nigel McGuinness for the ROH World Championship in a losing effort. At Up For Grabs, Black and Jacobs won an eight-team tournament to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for a second time. The two lost the championship at Driven to the team of Kevin Steen and El Generico. Black had a second chance at the ROH World Championship at Death Before Dishonor VI in New York City, when he faced McGuinness, Danielson and Claudio Castagnoli in a four-way elimination match, but McGuinness retained the title.
At Final Battle 2008, after Black lost a number one contender match to Austin Aries, Jacobs turned on him, and Black was then attacked by Aries. At Full Circle, Black was given a non-title match against then ROH World Champion Nigel McGuinness on January 16, and defeated McGuinness. The following night, number one contender Aries refused to face McGuinness, so Black faced McGuinness instead, but was unsuccessful as the match ended in a time limit draw. On June 26 at Violent Tendencies, Black defeated Jimmy Jacobs in a steel cage match to end their feud.
ROH World Champion (2009-10)
[edit]In September 2008, Black had surgery on a bulging disc in his neck. On October 10, Black defeated Kenny King in a first round match and then then Claudio Castagnoli, Colt Cabana, Delirious, Chris Hero and Roderick Strong in the finals to win the 2009 Survival of the Fittest tournament, which earned him a match for the ROH World Championship. On December 19 at Final Battle 2009, ROH's first live pay-per-view, Black wrestled then ROH World Champion Austin Aries to a 60-minute time limit draw. Because of this draw, then ROH commissioner Jim Cornette booked the two in a rematch between February 13, 2010 for the company's Eighth Anniversary Show. The booking saw Cornette set up a judging panel with himself on and one person picked by each competitor, in order for there to be a decisive winner in case of another draw. Aries picked Kenny King while Black picked Roderick Strong, whom he guaranteed an ROH World Championship title shot should he win. At the event, Black pinned Aries to win the ROH World Championship.
On April 3, Black retained the title in a three-way elimination match against Austin Aries and Roderick Strong at The Big Bang! pay-per-view, thereby depriving Strong of his championship chance in a singles match. He also retained the title on June 19 at the following pay-per-view, Death Before Dishonor VIII, in a match against Davey Richards. Black turned into a villain at the August 20 tapings of Ring of Honor Wrestling after news broke that he had signed a developmental contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). His new villainous character involved him criticizing the fans who were labeling him a sell-out for signing with WWE, a feeling Osborne has stated was based on true feelings. He also threatened to take the ROH World Championship with him to WWE and refused to put the championship at stake in a match with Davey Richards on August 28 which he then lost by submission. On September 11 at Glory By Honor IX, in what would have been his final ROH appearance, Black lost the ROH World Championship to Roderick Strong in a no disqualification match with Terry Funk as a guest enforcer, ending his reign at 210 days after seven successful title defenses.
Total Non-Stop Action Wrestling (2002-07)
[edit]X Division and Tag Team Division (2002-07)
[edit]In 2002, Osborne joined the newly founded NWA-TNA where he was given the gimmick of Christian Daniels. He was part of Vince Russo's Sports Entertainment Xtreme stable within which he, Low Ki and Elix Skipper were put together in a team called Triple X which won the NWA World Tag Team Championship three times. Triple X disbanded in June 2003 after Low Ki began primarily wrestling in Japan and Daniels and Skipper lost a match to America's Most Wanted.
Daniels briefly feuded with Jeff Jarrett in August/September 2003. He then regularly wrestled singles matches in the X Division, before rejoining with Skipper in July 2004. They were forced to disband after losing to America's Most Wanted again, on December 5 at Turning Point.
In 2005, Daniels had a long feud with A.J. Styles over the TNA X Division Championship. He won the title at Destination X in an Ultimate X Challenge with a screwjob ending. Styles had retrieved the belt, but the referee was unconscious. Daniels hit Styles with his Angel's Wings finisher and took the belt when the ref woke. He became the longest-reigning X Division champion, holding the belt for over 150 days. During this run, he defended against Elix Skipper, Shocker, Petey Williams, Matt Bentley, Chris Sabin, and Austin Aries. On September 11, at Unbreakable, he lost the title to Styles in a three-way dance (with Samoa Joe), when Styles reversed an Angels Wings attempt into a pin. This match received a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer.
On November 13, 2005, at Genesis, Daniels sustained a (storyline) concussion after being attacked by Samoa Joe and taking a Muscle Buster onto a chair, following a tag match together. At Turning Point, when Joe tried to similarly injure A.J. Styles after winning the X Division Championship from him, Daniels returned and attacked Joe, enabling security guards to protect Styles and restrain Joe. At Final Resolution, Daniels lost to Joe when Styles threw in the towel to protect Daniels, badly beaten and defenseless, from further damage. The next week, Daniels accused Styles of doing this to get the number one contendership for the X Division Title. That night, he cost Styles a match against Shannon Moore by throwing in the towel. At Against All Odds, Joe retained the title in a three-way match against Daniels and Styles. Daniels won the title in an Ultimate X match the next month, and lost it to Joe on April 13, after taking a second rope Island Driver.
Daniels was then scheduled to face Jushin Thunder Liger in a cage match at Lockdown, but Liger pulled out of the match. Instead, he faced a mystery opponent, who turned out to be the returning Low Ki (now named Senshi), who defeated him. Daniels turned face by teaming with A.J. Styles and becoming the number one contender for the NWA Tag Team Championship, held by America's Most Wanted. Daniels and Styles won the title at Slammiversary. They then feuded with The Latin American Xchange (LAX), trading the title back and forth with Homicide and Hernandez.
On November 16, Daniels defeated Styles and Chris Sabin in a three-way match on the primetime debut of TNA Impact! on Spike TV, by pinning Sabin, to win his third TNA X Division Championship. He lost it to Sabin in a three-way bout at Final Resolution, also involving Jerry Lynn.
Daniels then took time off from TNA. He made his return, as a heel, at Destination X, distracting Lynn during his match with Sabin. After the match, the newly bearded Daniels, sporting tribal-styled paint on one side of his face, hit Sabin with the Angel's Wings and Lynn with the X Division title belt. At Lockdown, Daniels pinned Jerry Lynn in a cage match. At Sacrifice, Daniels pinned Rhino after hitting him with a baseball bat.
Daniels then feuded with Sting, costing him a King of the Mountain match qualifier by hitting him with a baseball bat. Sting attacked him the next week on Impact!. On June 17, 2007, at Slammiversary, Sting pinned him after the Scorpion Death Drop. According to Daniels, the feud ended before start because Vince Russo did not know what to do with his Fallen Angel gimmick.
At Victory Road, Daniels won a 10-Man Ultimate X Gauntlet Match to become the number one contender for the X Division Championship. Senshi and Elix Skipper helped Daniels to win the match, resulting in the reunion of Triple X. At Bound for Glory on October 14, Daniels unsuccessfully challenged for Jay Lethal's X Division Championship. On the December 6 episode of TNA Impact!, Daniels beat Senshi in a match for his "Feast or Fired" briefcase, refereed by Elix Skipper. The next week, the briefcase was revealed to contain a pink slip, meaning Daniels was fired from TNA.
New Japan Pro Wrestling (2006-14)
[edit]Control Terrorism Unit and RISE (2006-08)
[edit]In April 2006, he made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling under the new name of Prince Devitt, in a match against El Samurai. He went on to state in a later interview that Ring Of Honor had refused to allow him to use the Tyler Black name outside of the promotion. He was originally going to be called King David until people started questioning why the 24-year-old would be a king already. Eventually, Simon Inoki came up with the name Prince Devitt, which Devitt himself also preferred. In May 2006, New Japan started holding brand–exclusive events, and Devitt was assigned to the Wrestle Land brand, debuting under a mask as the second Pegasus Kid, which led to comparisons between Devitt and the original Pegasus Kid, Chris Benoit.
During his tour of New Japan in late August and early September, he started competing again as his Prince Devitt identity, utilizing an Irish superstar gimmick. He eventually turned heel and started teaming with the Control Terrorism Unit (CTU) in an apprentice–type role. While teaming with CTU, he began a losing streak, aggravating his teammates to such a degree that they did not want anything to do with him anymore. This led to him being given one final chance on 6 October, where he rose to the occasion and impressed his CTU teammates enough to continue his association with them. To solidify his status with the stable, Devitt teamed with CTU leader, Jyushin Thunder Liger to take on Wataru Inoue and Ryusuke Taguchi. In a huge twist, Devitt was the one to make the final cover on Inoue following a stiff brainbuster. From then on he was officially recognized as a member of the CTU.
His momentum was halted in January 2007, when he suffered a serious knee injury, sidelining him from in-ring action in New Japan until early May of that year. Following the injury, he returned to action, showing great improvement and was touted by fellow CTU teammate, Minoru, as the future winner of the 2007 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. However, when the tournament was held in June 2007, Devitt scored no points and was eliminated early from the competition. Following the folding of CTU in August 2007, Devitt and Minoru joined the new RISE stable, forming a tag team named "Prince Prince", a reference to both Devitt's ring name and Minoru's nickname, "Black Prince". In November 2007, TNA made a tour of Japan, during which Devitt and Minoru were defeated by TNA wrestlers..
On 27 January 2008, Devitt and Minoru won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, this served as Devitt's first major tag title reign. They lost the championship to Akira and Jyushin Thunder Liger in February, before regaining the title on 21 July. After a near three-month reign they lost the championship to No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro) in October.
Apollo 55 (2009-13)
[edit]Devitt's next step was to form the tag team Apollo 55 alongside Ryusuke Taguchi and, on 5 July 2009 at Circuit2009 New Japan Soul, they defeated The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On 30 May, Devitt entered the 2009 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. After winning his block in the round-robin stage of the tournament, Devitt advanced to the semifinals, where he defeated Kota Ibushi. In the end, Devitt was defeated in the finals of the tournament by Koji Kanemoto. In December, Devitt entered the 2009 Super J-Cup. After defeating Atsushi Aoki, Danshoku Dino and Yamato, Devitt was once again defeated in the finals of the tournament, this time by Naomichi Marufuji. On 4 January 2010, at Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome, Devitt and Taguchi successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Averno and Último Guerrero. On 21 April, Devitt and Taguchi were stripped of the title, after not defending them for 30 days. On 8 May, the two entered the Super J Tag Tournament in an attempt to regain the championship, but were defeated in the finals by the team of El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto.
On 30 May, Devitt entered the 2010 Best of the Super Juniors tournament and two weeks later finished second in his block with five victories, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On 13 June, Devitt first defeated Taiji Ishimori in the semifinals and then Kota Ibushi in the finals to win the tournament and earn a shot at Naomichi Marufuji's IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. On 19 June at Dominion 6.19, Devitt defeated Marufuji to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the first time. Eleven days later, Devitt, Taguchi and Hirooki Goto won the J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament, defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi, TAJIRI and Kushida in the finals. Devitt made his first successful Junior Heavyweight Championship title defense on 11 July, defeating Pro Wrestling Noah's Atsushi Aoki. Just over a week later, on 19 July, Devitt and Taguchi defeated Koji Kanemoto and El Samurai to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time as a team. In August Devitt entered New Japan's biggest tournament of the year, the G1 Climax, as a substitute for the injured Naomichi Marufuji. Devitt managed to win four out of his seven matches in the round-robin stage of the tournament, including a major victory over former four-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, but finished fifth in his block and missed advancing to the finals by a single point. On 3 September, Devitt made his second successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, defeating DDT Pro-Wrestling representative Kenny Omega, that he won on 11 November 2012. Omega and Kota Ibushi, the team known collectively as the Golden☆Lovers, came back on 11 October at Destruction '10 and defeated Devitt and Taguchi to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
On 11 December, Devitt made his third successful IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship defense, defeating another New Japan outsider, Davey Richards. On 4 January 2011, at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, Devitt successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Kota Ibushi, avenging the loss from the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship match. On 23 January at Fantastica Mania 2011, a New Japan and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) co–promoted event in Tokyo, Devitt and Taguchi defeated Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, making Devitt a double IWGP champion for the second time. Devitt continued his streak of defending the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against New Japan outsiders, when he successfully defended the title against Taka Michinoku on 20 February and Kushida on 19 March. In May, Devitt took part in the Invasion Tour 2011, New Japan's first tour of the United States, during which he successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Low Ki on 14 May in New York City and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against the Strong Style Thugz (Homicide and Low Ki) on 15 May in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. On 26 May, Devitt entered the 2011 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. After losing his opening match against Davey Richards, Devitt went on a seven match winning streak to finish first in his block in the round-robin stage of the tournament. On 10 June, Devitt was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by his own tag team partner, Ryusuke Taguchi. On 18 June at Dominion 6.18, Devitt lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Best of the Super Juniors winner, Kota Ibushi, ending his reign at 364 days.
On 23 June, Devitt, Taguchi and Hirooki Goto won their second J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament in a row by defeating the team of Giant Bernard, Jyushin Thunder Liger and Karl Anderson in the finals of the three-day-long tournament. On 24 July, Devitt received his rematch for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship at Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2011, but was unable to regain the title from Ibushi. This led to a match on 14 August, where Apollo 55 successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against the Golden☆Lovers. On 11 September, Apollo 55 defeated Taichi and Taka Michinoku to make their seventh successful IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship defense, breaking the record for most defenses during a single reign. When Kota Ibushi was forced to vacate the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship after dislocating his left shoulder, Devitt, as the previous champion, was ushered into a decision match to determine a new champion. On 19 September, Devitt defeated Kushida to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the second time. On 10 October at Destruction '11, Devitt and Taguchi lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to the No Remorse Corps (Davey Richards and Rocky Romero).
Devitt made the first successful title defense of his second IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship reign on 12 November at Power Struggle, defeating Taka Michinoku, and followed that up by defeating the man who had pinned him for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, Davey Richards, in his second defense on 4 December. On 23 December, Devitt defeated the other half of No Remorse Corps, Rocky Romero, to make his third IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship defense. On 4 January 2012 at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, Devitt and Taguchi defeated Richards and Romero to once again regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, starting Devitt's record-breaking sixth reign as one half of the champions. On 12 February at The New Beginning, Apollo 55 lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship back to the No Remorse Corps in their first defense. This led to a match on 10 March, where Devitt defeated Davey Richards to make his fourth successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
On 14 March 2012, Devitt traveled to Mexico for his first tour of the country with the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre promotion, as part of a working relationship between New Japan and CMLL. After being sidelined from in-ring action due to a calf injury for his first week in Mexico, Devitt made his CMLL debut on 23 March, teaming with Marco Corleone and Rush in a six-man tag team main event, where they faced Mephisto, Último Guerrero and Volador Jr. After pinning Volador Jr. for the win, Devitt challenged him to a match for the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship. On 30 March, Devitt defeated Volador Jr. to become the new NWA World Historic Middleweight Champion. On 3 May at Wrestling Dontaku 2012, Devitt lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Low Ki in his fifth defense, ending his second reign at 227 days. On 27 May, Devitt entered the 2012 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, which he started off with losses against Kushida and Taichi. Devitt bounced back, winning five out of his six remaining matches, including a win over Jyushin Thunder Liger in the final round-robin match of the tournament on 9 June, to finish second in his block and advance to the semifinals of the tournament. The following day, Devitt was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Low Ki. On 8 July, Devitt defeated Taichi to make his first successful defense of the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship. His second successful title defense took place on 29 July, when he defeated previous champion Volador Jr. in a rematch in the main event of a New Japan event in Korakuen Hall. On 12 September, Devitt returned to Mexico for another tour with CMLL. Devitt wrestled his first match back in CMLL two days later at the 79th Anniversary Show, where he, Atlantis and Místico II were defeated in a six-man tag team match by Dragón Rojo Jr., Negro Casas and Último Guerrero, when Rojo pinned Devitt for the win. On 21 September, Devitt was again pinned by Rojo in a six-man tag team match, where he teamed with Blue Panther and La Sombra to face Rojo, Mr. Águila and Taichi. Afterwards, Devitt accepted Rojo's challenge for the NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship. On the 28 September CMLL Super Viernes show, Devitt lost the title to Rojo, ending his reign at 182 days.
Devitt returned to New Japan on 8 October at King of Pro-Wrestling, challenging IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Low Ki to a title match, after he had regained the title from Kota Ibushi. On 21 October, Apollo 55 entered the 2012 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, defeating Chaos World Wrestling Warriors (Brian Kendrick and Low Ki) in their first round match. On 2 November, Devitt and Taguchi defeated the reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, the Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero), to advance to the finals of the tournament, where, later that same day, they were defeated by the Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida). On 11 November at Power Struggle, Devitt defeated Low Ki to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the third time.
On 4 January 2013 at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, Devitt defeated Low Ki and Kota Ibushi in a rare three-way match for his first successful defense of the title. Following his win, Devitt accepted a challenge for the title made by his tag team partner, Ryusuke Taguchi. On 3 February, Devitt picked up a big win, when he pinned reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in a tag team match, where he and Karl Anderson faced Tanahashi and Taguchi. Seven days later, Devitt defeated Taguchi at The New Beginning for his second successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. On 3 March, Devitt main evented New Japan's 41st anniversary event, losing to Hiroshi Tanahashi in a non-title match. Following the loss, Devitt began portraying a more cocky and villainous persona, regularly disrespecting both partners and opponents, with the exception of Ryusuke Taguchi, whom he tried to get to go along with his new attitude. On 5 April, Devitt defeated Alex Shelley for his third successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Two days later at Invasion Attack, Apollo 55 unsuccessfully challenged Time Splitters for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, after which Devitt turned on Taguchi, ending the longtime partnership between the two, and debuted Bad Luck Fale as his new "bouncer", while also dubbing himself the "Real Rock 'n' Rolla".
Bullet Club (2013-14)
[edit]
The first match between the former members of Apollo 55 took place on 3 May at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, where Devitt and Fale defeated Taguchi and Captain New Japan in a tag team match. Later in the event, Devitt and Fale were joined by Karl Anderson and Tama Tonga for an attack on Hiroshi Tanahashi. The new group was subsequently named "Bullet Club". On 24 May, Devitt entered the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors, where he ended up winning his block with a clean record of eight wins, though often using outside help from his Bullet Club stablemates to win his matches. On 9 June, Devitt first defeated Kenny Omega in the semifinals and then Alex Shelley in the finals to win his second Best of the Super Juniors. Following his win, Devitt challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi, while also naming his next goal; becoming the first wrestler to hold the IWGP Junior Heavyweight and IWGP Heavyweight Championships simultaneously.
On 22 June at Dominion 6.22, Devitt defeated Tanahashi with help from Bullet Club to earn his first shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Later in the event, reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada accepted Devitt's challenge for his title on the condition that he first defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against his Chaos stablemate Gedo. On 5 July, Devitt defeated Gedo in his fourth successful title defense, advancing to the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against Okada. The title match between the two took place on 20 July and saw Okada defeat Devitt, despite interference from the rest of Bullet Club, to retain his title. On 1 August, Devitt defeated Okada, with help from Fale, in the main event of the first day of the 2013 G1 Climax. Despite three other big wins over former IWGP Heavyweight Champions Hiroshi Tanahashi, Satoshi Kojima, and Togi Makabe, Devitt failed to advance from his block, finishing with a record of five wins and four losses. The rivalry between Devitt and Tanahashi culminated in a Lumberjack Deathmatch on 29 September at Destruction, where Tanahashi was victorious.
With the Tanahashi rivalry behind him, Devitt moved onto a new rivalry with Togi Makabe, who played a big part in him losing the Lumberjack Deathmatch. Meanwhile, Devitt also found himself a new challenger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, recent NJPW signee Kota Ibushi, who pinned him a tag team match on 9 November at Power Struggle, where he and Bad Luck Fale were defeated by Ibushi and Makabe. From 23 November to 7 December, Devitt and Fale took part in the 2013 World Tag League, where they finished with a record of three wins and three losses, with a loss against the previously winless Captain New Japan and Hiroshi Tanahashi on the final day costing them a spot in the semifinals.
On 4 January 2014 at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, Devitt's fourteen-month reign as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion came to an end when he lost the title to Kota Ibushi in his fifth defense. Devitt wrestled the entire match in a full face and body paint, which he continued using for his bigger matches for the rest of his NJPW run. The following day, Devitt was attacked by the returning Ryusuke Taguchi, who had been sidelined with an injury for the past seven months, re-igniting the rivalry between the two former partners. On 6 April at Invasion Attack 2014, one year after the break-up of Apollo 55, Devitt faced Taguchi in a singles grudge match. During the match, Devitt repeatedly told The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson), the two newest members of Bullet Club, not to interfere in the match, which eventually led to them turning on him. In the end, Taguchi defeated Devitt, after which the two men shook hands, ending their rivalry with each other. The following day, New Japan announced Devitt's resignation from the promotion.