Wheeler Yuta Calls Blackpool Combat Club A 'Step Up' From Previous Stable
In his short time working with AEW, Wheeler Yuta has been part of two different factions in AEW: Best Friends and the Blackpool Combat Club.
During a signing with K & S WrestleFest, Yuta discussed transitioning from the Best Friends faction to the BCC, led by William Regal.
"Chuck Taylor, Orange Cassidy, like they're my friends in real life, I've known those dudes for years," Yuta said. "It kind of felt like, 'Alright, I'm in this big position, like it was still huge for me to do that'. But it was like, 'This is huge, but it's with my friends like I'm in my comfort zone'. When [BCC] started to happen it's like, 'This is, alright, this is a step up'... it was definitely a big step up. It was like a light switch."
Yuta started out in AEW as a friend of the Best Friends faction, which included Kris Statlander, Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor, and Trent Beretta. Yuta, nor Best Friends, had any success with the alliance, and eventually, Beretta and Yuta had a falling out, resulting in Yuta no longer being associated with Best Friends. The two former stablemates have not had a singles match in AEW to date.
Following his time with Best Friends, Yuta joined the Blackpool Combat Club, a group that consisted of Former WWE and AEW World Champion Jon Moxley and former WWE Champion Bryan Danielson. The group is also led by William Regal, who worked as an in-ring performer from 1986 until 2013, and served as the General Manager for "NXT" from 2014 until his release in January of 2022.
Yuta did not get a free invitation into the group, however, as he first had to go through a match with Danielson on the March 30th edition of "AEW: Dynamite" where Yuta fell short to the American Dragon, losing by referee's decision after about 10 minutes of hard-hitting back and forth action. Yuta wasn't done earning the respect of the former world champions there as he took on Moxley a week and two days later on "AEW: Rampage" in a brutal match that saw Yuta bleed.
Following the match against Moxley, Danielson, Regal, and Moxley welcomed Yuta into the BCC as Yuta spelled BCC on his chest with his own blood.
If you use any quotes from this article, please credit "K & S WrestleFest" with a h/t to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.