Remove ads
The AEW World Trios Championship is a men's professional wrestling world tag team championship created and promoted by the American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW). It is a specialized tag team championship, being contested by teams of three wrestlers, referred to as trios. The current champions are the Death Riders (Pac, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta), who are in their first reign as a team, while individually, it is the first for Castagnoli and Yuta and the record-tying second for Pac. They won the title by defeating previous champions The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch, and Nick Wayne), Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn), and House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) in a four-way London Ladder match at All In on August 25, 2024.
| AEW World Trios Championship | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The standard AEW World Trios Championship belts | |||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | All Elite Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||
| Date established | July 27, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | Death Riders (Pac, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta) | ||||||||||||||||
| Date won | August 25, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||
| Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
The title was established on July 27, 2022, and the inaugural champions were The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson). From April until July 2024, the AEW World Trios Championship and Ring of Honor's World Six-Man Tag Team Championship were held and defended together as the Unified World Trios Championship.
Remove ads
.jpg)
On the July 27, 2022, special episode of Dynamite titled Fight for the Fallen, All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced a tournament for the inaugural AEW World Trios Championship, which would culminate at the All Out pay-per-view on September 4, 2022. Unlike the AEW World Tag Team Championship, which is a standard tag team title contested by teams of two wrestlers, the Trios Championship is contested by teams of three wrestlers, referred to as trios.[1][2] At All Out, The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) defeated "Hangman" Adam Page and The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver) in the tournament final to become the inaugural champions.[3]
Following berating comments made by reigning AEW World Champion CM Punk at the All Out post-event media scrum on September 5, a legitimate physical altercation occurred between Punk and The Elite. As a result, AEW president Tony Khan suspended all involved.[4] On the September 7 episode of Dynamite, Khan announced that both the World Championship and Trios Championship were vacated. Khan then announced that the episode's scheduled six-man tag team match between Death Triangle (Pac, Penta El Zero M, and Rey Fénix) and Best Friends (Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and Orange Cassidy) would be for the vacant Trios Championship, which was won by Death Triangle.[5]
During Dynasty: Zero Hour on April 21, 2024, Ring of Honor World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bullet Club Gold (Jay White, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) defeated The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens, Max Caster, and Billy Gunn) to win the AEW World Trios Championship in a winners take all championship unification match to unify the titles and become recognized as the Unified World Trios Champions.[6][7]
When Bullet Club Gold (who since became known as the Bang Bang Gang) were stripped of the Unified Trios Titles on July 10, 2024 (aired July 13), the AEW and ROH titles were separated, thus ending the unification.
Inaugural tournament
| Quarterfinals Dynamite (August 17 and 24, 2022) Rampage (August 19 and 26, 2022) | Semifinals Dynamite (August 31, 2022) Rampage (September 2, 2022) | Finals All Out (September 4, 2022) | ||||||||||||
| Death Triangle (Pac, Penta El Zero M, and Rey Fénix) | 24:51[8] | |||||||||||||
| United Empire (Kyle Fletcher, Mark Davis, and Will Ospreay) | Pin | |||||||||||||
| United Empire | 18:59[9] | |||||||||||||
| The Elite | Pin | |||||||||||||
| La Facción Ingobernable (Andrade El Idolo, Dragon Lee, and Rush) | 20:50[10] | |||||||||||||
| The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) | Pin | |||||||||||||
| The Elite | Pin | |||||||||||||
| "Hangman" Adam Page and The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver) | 19:50[3] | |||||||||||||
| The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) | 9:03[11] | |||||||||||||
| The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, John Silver, and Preston Vance) | Pin | |||||||||||||
| "Hangman" Adam Page and The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver)[b] | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Best Friends | 11:10[13] | |||||||||||||
| The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari, Parker Boudreaux, and Slim J) | 10:32[14] | |||||||||||||
| Best Friends (Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and Orange Cassidy) | Pin | |||||||||||||
Remove ads
The standard AEW World Trios Championship belts were made by Ron Edwardsen of Red Leather Belts. They have five gold plates on black leather straps. The circular center plate has a blue globe at the center with "TRIOS" written across the globe in black with a gold border. Above the globe is a black banner that says "WORLD" in gold while a black banner below the globe says "CHAMPION" in gold. At the top of the plate is AEW's logo while filigree fills out the rest of the plate. Sitting on either side of the center plate are two side plates each. The inner side plates show two wrestlers performing simultaneous superkicks on another wrestler.[15] The outer side plates originally showed a wrestler performing an electric chair driver, but when the standard belts returned in 2024 after the custom "scissoring" belts had been used, the outer side plates were changed to saying "WORLD TRIOS CHAMPION" (which had first appeared on the scissoring belts).
Custom designs
During House of Black's (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) reign that began in March 2023, they introduced their own custom "black out" versions of the championship belts. The belts featured mostly the same basic design as the standard belts, but with silver plates instead of gold (the globe was also black instead of blue). The side plates were also changed to The House of Black's logos with a vertical "HOB" tooled into the leather between the outer side plates and the button snaps.[16]
After The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens, Max Caster, and Billy Gunn) won the title in August 2023, they introduced their own custom "scissoring" championship belts. They featured the same basic design as the standard belts, but with pink straps. Additionally, the ends of the belts were shaped like scissors and said "Scissor Me" on one side and "Daddy Ass" on the other side, referencing their "scissoring" gimmick. The inner side plates were the same as the standard belts, but the outer side plates were changed to saying "WORLD TRIOS CHAMPION". AEW's logo was also added to the top of each side plate.[17]
During Dynasty: Zero Hour in April 2024, ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champions Bullet Club Gold (Jay White, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) defeated The Acclaimed to win the AEW World Trios Championship, holding and defending both titles under the Unified World Trios Championship banner, using the standard AEW Trios belts, the ROH World Six-Man belts, and The Acclaimed's custom "scissoring" belts to represent the collective accolade. This would continue until July 2024 when Bullet Club Gold (who had since become known as the Bang Bang Gang) were stripped of the Unified World Trios Championship. This subsequently ended the unification of the AEW and ROH titles with the custom "scissoring" belts also being dropped in favor of the standard AEW World Trios Championship belts.[18]
Remove ads
.jpg)
As of December 17, 2024, there have been eight reigns between seven teams composed of 20 individual champions, and two vacancies. The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) were the inaugural champions and they have the most reigns as a team at two, while individually, all three and Pac are tied, also at two. The Elite's inaugural reign is also the shortest at three days while The Acclaimed's (Max Caster, Anthony Bowens, and Billy Gunn) sole reign is the longest at 238 days. Billy Gunn is the oldest champion, winning the title at 59, while Nick Wayne is the youngest at 19.[3][5]
The current champions are Death Riders (Pac, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta), who are in their first reign as a team, while individually, it is the first for Castagnoli and Yuta and the record-tying second for Pac. They won the titles by defeating previous champions The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch, and Nick Wayne), Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn), and House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) in a four-way London Ladder match at All In on August 25, 2024 in London, England. They originally won the title as Blackpool Combat Club, but changed their team name to Death Riders on November 6, 2024.
Names
| Name | Years |
|---|---|
| AEW World Trios Championship | September 4, 2022 – present |
| Unified World Trios Championship | April 21, 2024 – July 13, 2024 |
Reigns
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific team—reign numbers for the individuals are in parentheses, if different |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Days recog. | Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | ||||
| 1 | The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) |
September 4, 2022 | All Out | Hoffman Estates, IL | 1 | 3 | 3 | Defeated "Hangman" Adam Page and The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver) in a tournament final to determine the inaugural champions. | [3] |
| — | Vacated | September 7, 2022 | Dynamite | Buffalo, NY | — | — | — | The Elite were stripped of the title after being suspended by AEW president Tony Khan following a legitimate backstage physical altercation with CM Punk and Ace Steel that occurred during the All Out post-event media scrum. | [5] |
| 2 | Death Triangle (Pac, Penta El Zero M, and Rey Fénix) |
September 7, 2022 | Dynamite | Buffalo, NY | 1 | 126 | 126 | Defeated Best Friends (Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and Orange Cassidy) to win the vacant championship. | [5] |
| 3 | The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) |
January 11, 2023 | Dynamite | Inglewood, CA | 2 | 53 | 53 | This was an Escalera de la Muerte that was also the seventh and final match in a Best of Seven Series for the championship. | [19] |
| 4 | House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) |
March 5, 2023 | Revolution | San Francisco, CA | 1 | 175 | 175 | [20] | |
| 5 | The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens, Max Caster, and Billy Gunn) |
August 27, 2023 | All In | London, England | 1 | 238 | 238 | This was a "House Rules match"; The Acclaimed's stipulation was No Holds Barred. | [21] |
| 6 | Bullet Club Gold/Bang Bang Gang (Jay White, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) |
April 21, 2024 | Dynasty Zero Hour |
St. Louis, MO | 1 | 80 | 83 | This was a Winners Take All Title Unification match also for Bullet Club Gold's ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. With both titles, Bullet Club Gold were referred to as the Unified World Trios Champions and during this reign, the group was renamed to Bang Bang Gang. AEW recognizes this reign as ending on July 13, 2024, when the following episode aired on tape delay. |
[22] |
| — | Vacated | July 10, 2024 | Collision | Calgary, AB, Canada | — | — | — | Bang Bang Gang were stripped of the Unified World Trios Championship by interim AEW Executive Vice President Christopher Daniels after Jay White suffered an injury, overruling Bang Bang Gang's attempt to invoke the Freebird Rule to allow Juice Robinson to defend the title in place of White. This subsequently ended the unification with the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. This episode aired on tape delay on July 13, 2024. |
[23][24] |
| 7 | The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch, and Nick Wayne) |
July 20, 2024 | Collision | Arlington, TX | 1 | 36 | 36 | Defeated Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) to win the vacant championship. | [25] |
| 8 | Blackpool Combat Club/Death Riders (Pac, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta) |
August 25, 2024 | All In | London, England | 1 (2, 1, 1) |
114+ | 114+ | This was a four-way London Ladder match also involving Bang Bang Gang (Juice Robinson, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) and House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews). During this reign on November 6, the group was renamed to the Death Riders. | [26] |
Remove ads
As of December 17, 2024
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
By team
| Rank | Team | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
Combined days recognized by AEW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens, Max Caster, and Billy Gunn) | 1 | 238 | |
| 2 | House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) | 1 | 175 | |
| 3 | Death Triangle (Pac, Penta El Zero M, and Rey Fénix) | 1 | 126 | |
| 4 | Blackpool Combat Club/Death Riders † (Pac, Claudio Castagnoli, and Wheeler Yuta) | 1 | 114+ | |
| 5 | Bullet Club Gold/Bang Bang Gang (Jay White, Austin Gunn, and Colten Gunn) | 1 | 80 | 83 |
| 6 | The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) | 2 | 56 | |
| 7 | The Patriarchy (Christian Cage, Killswitch, and Nick Wayne) | 1 | 36 | |
By wrestler
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
Combined days recognized by AEW |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pac † | 2 | 240+ | |
| 2 | Anthony Bowens | 1 | 238 | |
| Billy Gunn | ||||
| Max Caster | ||||
| 5 | Brody King | 1 | 175 | |
| Buddy Matthews | ||||
| Malakai Black | ||||
| 8 | Penta El Zero Miedo | 1 | 126 | |
| Rey Fénix | ||||
| 10 | Claudio Castagnoli † | 1 | 114+ | |
| Wheeler Yuta † | ||||
| 12 | Austin Gunn | 1 | 80 | 83 |
| Colten Gunn | ||||
| Jay White | ||||
| 15 | Kenny Omega | 2 | 56 | |
| Matt Jackson | ||||
| Nick Jackson | ||||
| 18 | Christian Cage | 1 | 36 | |
| Killswitch | ||||
| Nick Wayne | ||||
Remove ads
- In tandem with the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship.
- Page replaced Preston Vance because the latter was not medically cleared to compete.[12]
Remove ads
Remove ads
Wikiwand in your browser!
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
Remove ads