Rising Star Clarifies Status Within Top AEW Faction

AEW

The Blackpool Combat Club and the Elite have been at war for many months now, with that war seemingly set to come to an end inside Blood & Guts on July 17.

However, both teams currently find themselves a man down, with only four members of both teams set for the five vs five match.

One name who has been closely associated with the Blackpool Combat Club in recent weeks is New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Shota Umino, who is the protegee of Jon Moxley in NJPW.

Shota teamed with Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli back at NJPW Dominion, as well as with the Blackpool Combat Club and Konosuke Takeshita at Forbidden Door, leading to speculation that Shota was now a member of the group.

Speaking with the NJPW website, Umino spoke about teaming with Moxley, as well as clarifying his status within the BCC.

He said:

“He’s doing some incredible things in AEW right now, love or hate them. There were a lot of people asking me these few weeks if I was part of Blackpool Combat Club, and the answer is that I’m not. I said it all in my backstage comments in Osaka, but me and Mox, it’s something that’s deeper than a babyface and heel fan opinion.”

Chris Jericho left Don Callis with a ‘maybe’ when asked to join his family on this week’s episode of AEW Dynamite, leading to speculation that he will be revealed as the fifth member of the BCC.

As for the Elite’s last member, reports have emerged saying that AEW have reached out to Kota Ibushi, with him reportedly set to come in to team with the Elite in the match.

Shota is set to be a part of the NJPW G1 Climax 38 tournament, taking him out of contention from appearing in the bout, as well as Eddie Kingston.

Umino, Ren Narita and Yota Tsuji were recently christened the ‘Reiwa Three Musketeers’ by NJPW.

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• Blackpool Combat Club
• Shota Umino
• NJPW
• AEW

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