WWE stars to join rival to AEW’s United Empire: a crossbrand faction could shake things up

AEW/WWE

With Will Ospreay forming an AEW chapter of United Empire, the time may be here for WWE to create their own faction of international stars.

The AEW World Champion may have warned WWE not to “step up” to them ever again after Worlds Collide and All Out went head-to-head, but there are other ways for it to happen outside of counterprogramming.

They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and when it comes to imitating, professional wrestling knows what it is doing, whether it’s WWE, AEW or any of the plethora of major and independent companies.

United Empire has been a popular component of NJPW since Will Ospreay formed it in October 2020, bringing a new era of the faction to AEW, with WWE having many stars that could form their own version:

A platform for international stars

United Empire wasn’t a cookie-cutter faction when it was brought into existence, uniting a number of international stars under contract with NJPW.

Led by Will Ospreay, the faction would see Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb, Henare, Kyle Fletcher, Mark Davis, TJP, and Francesco Akira among its earliest members, representing the United Kingdom, Japan, America, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, and Italy. That international representation continues under the leadership of Callum Newman, with Ospreay building the AEW chapter along similar lines.

It’s a formula that could work in WWE, with its own trove of international talent at its disposal.

A WWE United Empire

Obviously, the United Empire name would be out of reach for WWE, with Will Ospreay having submitted a trademark application for the term earlier this year.

That said, very much in the same way as Bullet Club members AJ Styles, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson became ‘The Club’ and then ‘The O.C.’, WWE has ways of working around a name while giving a tip of the hat to its inspiration. It’s true of AEW, too, with Adam Cole having continued to use ‘Undisputed’ as a faction name following his WWE departure, while New Day would be reborn as New Level after becoming All Elite. Over in TNA Wrestling, former Wyatt Sicks members Joe Gacy and Dexter Lumis recently debuted as Syx.

Who would join The Empire?

WWE doesn’t have a shortage of factions, but it does have a distince lack of cross-brand factions that could stretch to NXT and AAA under a single umbrella.

With this in mind, it’s easy to see Finn Balor leading the charge by moving to being an unaligned free agent, with the Irish star heading up a faction of Rusev, The Creeds, and a post-Vision Bronson Reed on Raw, while SmackDown could be represented by GUNTHER (now, there’s a power feud for the future), The War Raiders, and a post-Fraxiom Nathan Frazer.

While Balor could run an invasion across Raw and SmackDown with his faction, there’s also potential to stretch into NXT territory, absorbing BirthRight or, at least, Charlie Dempsey and Uriah Connors for good measure. Other additions could include Naraku, who is sure to be heading to the main roster in the future, and Grayson Waller.

It goes beyond the main brands

Raw, SmackDown and NXT would be the obvious places for such a faction to play out, but with AAA and Evolve also seeing a presence from stars of the three key brands, there’s an option for it to stretch to its tendrils to Mexico and the Tubi-streamed show, too.

It would be a bold move, relying on a degree of cross-brand storytelling that has rarely been tried, but could expose new stars to main roster working ahead of their own debuts, while delivering something different, yet familiar, in a world of The Bloodline and The Vision.

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• wwe
• Will Ospreay
• United Empire
• AEW

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