AEW World Trios Championship
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. Established on July 27, 2022, the inaugural champions were The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson). The current champions are The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens) and Billy Gunn, who are in their first reign, both as a team and individually. They won the title by defeating The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) in a House Rules No Holds Barred match at All In on August 27, 2023.
| AEW World Trios Championship | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 The custom "scissoring" AEW World Trios Championship belts used by current champions Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) | |||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | All Elite Wrestling | ||||||||||||||||
| Date established | July 27, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens) | ||||||||||||||||
| Date won | August 27, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||
History
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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 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]
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[6] | |||||||||||||
| United Empire (Kyle Fletcher, Mark Davis, and Will Ospreay) | Pin | |||||||||||||
| United Empire | 18:59[7] | |||||||||||||
| The Elite | Pin | |||||||||||||
| La Facción Ingobernable (Andrade El Idolo, Dragon Lee, and Rush) | 20:50[8] | |||||||||||||
| 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[9] | |||||||||||||
| The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds, John Silver, and Preston Vance) | Pin | |||||||||||||
| "Hangman" Adam Page and The Dark Order (Alex Reynolds and John Silver)[lower-alpha 1] | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Best Friends | 11:10[11] | |||||||||||||
| The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari, Parker Boudreaux, and Slim J) | 10:32[12] | |||||||||||||
| Best Friends (Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, and Orange Cassidy) | Pin | |||||||||||||
Belt design
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, while the outer side plates show a wrestler performing an electric chair driver.[13]
Custom designs
During The 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.[14]
After Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) won the title in August 2023, they introduced their own custom "scissoring" championship belts. They feature the same basic design as the standard belts, but with pink straps. Additionally, the ends of the belts are shaped like scissors and say "Scissor Me" on one side and "Daddy Ass" on the other side, referencing their "scissoring" gimmick. The inner side plates are 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.[15]
Reigns
As of October 28, 2023, there have been five reigns between four teams composed of 12 individual champions and one vacancy. The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) were the inaugural champions and they have the most reigns at two. Their inaugural reign was also the shortest at 3 days while The House of Black's (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) sole reign is the longest at 175 days. Billy Gunn is the oldest champion, winning the title at 59, while Rey Fénix is the youngest at 31.[3][5]
The current champions are The Acclaimed (Max Caster and Anthony Bowens) and Billy Gunn, who are in their first reign, both as a team and individually. They won the title by defeating The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) in a "House Rules" No Holds Barred six-man tag team match at All In on August 27, 2023, in London, England.
| 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 |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) |
September 4, 2022 | All Out | Hoffman Estates, IL | 1 | 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 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 | 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 | This was an Escalera de la Muerte that was also the seventh and final match in a Best of Seven Series for the championship. | [16] |
| 4 | The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) |
March 5, 2023 | Revolution | San Francisco, CA | 1 | 175 | [17] | |
| 5 | Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) |
August 27, 2023 | All In | London, England | 1 | 62+ | This was a "House Rules" No Holds Barred six-man tag team match. | [18] |
Combined reigns
As of October 28, 2023
| † | Indicates the current champion |
|---|
By team
| Rank | Team | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The House of Black (Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews) | 1 | 175 |
| 2 | Death Triangle (Pac, Penta El Zero M, and Rey Fénix) | 1 | 126 |
| 3 | Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed (Anthony Bowens and Max Caster) † | 1 | 62+ |
| 4 | The Elite (Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) | 2 | 56 |
By wrestler
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined days |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Brody King | 1 | 175 |
| Buddy Matthews | |||
| Malakai Black | |||
| 4 | Pac | 1 | 126 |
| Penta El Zero Miedo | |||
| Rey Fénix | |||
| 7 | Billy Gunn † | 1 | 62+ |
| Anthony Bowens † | |||
| Max Caster † | |||
| 10 | Kenny Omega | 2 | 56 |
| Matt Jackson | |||
| Nick Jackson | |||
Notes
- Page replaced Preston Vance because the latter was not medically cleared to compete.[10]
References
- Barnett, Jake (July 27, 2022). "7/27 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Jon Moxley vs. Rush for the Interim AEW World Championship, Thunder Rosa vs. Miyu Yamashita for the AEW Women's Championship, Ricky Starks vs. Danhausen for the FTW Title, Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia, Sammy Guevara vs. Dante Martin". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
- Lambert, Jeremy (July 27, 2022). "AEW Officially Announces Trios Championships, First Champions Will Be Crowned At AEW All Out". Fightful. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
- Powell, Jason (September 4, 2022). "AEW All Out results: Powell's live review of Jon Moxley vs. CM Punk for the AEW World Championship, Toni Storm vs. Britt Baker vs. Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida for the Interim AEW Women's Title, Chris Jericho vs. Bryan Danielson, Ricky Starks vs. Powerhouse Hobbs, "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry vs. Christian Cage, Casino Ladder Match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 4, 2022.
- "Report: AEW Members Suspended After 'All Out' Altercation". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 8 September 2022.
- Barnett, Jake (September 8, 2022). "9/7 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Tony Khan addressing the status of the AEW World Championship and AEW Trios Titles, MJF's return promo, Wheeler Yuta vs. Daniel Garcia for the ROH Pure Rules Title, Death Triangle vs. Best Friends, Interim AEW Women's Champ Toni Storm vs. Penelope Ford in an eliminator match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 8, 2022.
- Barnett, Jake (August 24, 2022). "8/24 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of CM Punk vs. Jon Moxley for the unified AEW World Championship, Death Triangle vs. Will Ospreay and Aussie Open in an AEW Trios Title tournament match, Dax Harwood vs. Jay Lethal, Billy Gunn vs. Colten Gunn, Britt Baker vs. KiLynn King, Chris Jericho and Daniel Garcia meeting". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 25, 2022.
- Barnett, Jake (August 31, 2022). "8/31 AEW Dynamite results: Barnett's live review of Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks vs. Will Ospreay and Aussie Open in an AEW Trios Titles tournament semifinal match, Bryan Danielson vs. Jake Hager, Britt Baker and Jamie Hayter vs. Hikaru Shida and Toni Storm, AEW World Champion Jon Moxley promo". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- Powell, Jason (August 17, 2022). "8/17 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of The Young Bucks and a partner vs. Andrade, Rush, and Dragon Lee in an AEW Trios Titles tournament match, Bryan Danielson vs. Daniel Garcia in a best of three falls match, Ricky Steamboat appears, Toni Storm vs. KiLynn King, Gunn Club vs. The Varsity Blonds". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
- McGuire, Colin (August 26, 2022). "8/26 AEW Rampage results: McGuire's review of Claudio Castagnoli vs. Dustin Rhodes for the ROH Title, Malakai Black, Brody King, and Buddy Matthews vs. Alex Reynolds, John Silver, and 10 in an AEW Trios Titles tournament match, Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo vs. Ortiz and Ruby Soho, Wardlow vs. Ryan Nemeth for the TNT Title". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 27, 2022.
- All Elite Wrestling [@AEW] (August 31, 2022). "#DarkOrder's 10 is unable to compete in this FRIDAY's #AEW World Trios Tournament #AEWRampage Final. Just made official: Hangman Page will be taking his place to stand alongside #DarkOrder against #BestFriends & Orange Cassidy! Tune in NOW to #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS" (Tweet). Retrieved August 31, 2022 – via Twitter.
- McGuire, Colin (September 2, 2022). "9/2 AEW Rampage results: McGuire's review of Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta, and Chuck Taylor vs. Hangman Page, Alex Reynolds, and Jon Silver in an AEW Trios Titles tournament match, Ricky Starks vs. QT Marshall, Sammy Guevara and Tay Melo vs. Rubo Soho and Ortiz for the AAA Mixed Tag Team Titles, final hype for AEW All Out". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
- McGuire, Colin (August 19, 2022). "8/19 AEW Rampage results: McGuire's review of Swerve Strickland and Keith Lee vs. Private Party for the AEW Tag Titles, Hook vs. Zack Clayton for the FTW Title, The Trustbusters vs. Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta, and Chuck Taylor in an AEW Trios Titles tournament match, Penelope Ford vs. Athena". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 20, 2022.
- All Elite Wrestling [@AEW] (July 27, 2022). "Here is a better look at the #AEW TRIOS CHAMPIONSHIP belts, designed & crafted by #RedLeatherBelts. The first champions will be crowned at #AEWAllOut, Sunday, September 4 LIVE on PPV from the @NOW_Arena, get your tickets now @ AEWTIX.com" (Tweet). Retrieved August 31, 2023 – via Twitter.
- Brody King [@Brodyxking] (May 12, 2023). "B L A C K O U T" (Tweet). Retrieved August 31, 2023 – via Twitter.
- Thomas, Jeremy (August 30, 2023). "New AEW Trios Titles Unveiled On AEW Dynamite". 411Mania. Retrieved August 31, 2023.
- Powell, Jason (January 11, 2023). "1/11 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of Death Triangle vs. The Elite in a ladder match for the AEW Trios Titles, Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Page, Bryan Danielson vs. Konosuke Takeshita, Jamie Hayter and Britt Baker vs. Saraya and Toni Storm, "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry and Hook vs. Big Bill and Lee Moriarty". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
- Powell, Jason (March 5, 2023). "AEW Revolution results: Powell's live review of MJF vs. Bryan Danielson in an Iron Man match for the AEW World Championship, Jamie Hayter vs. Saraya vs. Ruby Soho in a three-way for the AEW Women's Title, Jon Moxley vs. Hangman Page in a Texas Death match, Samoa Joe vs. Wardlow for the TNT Title, The Elite vs. House of Black for the AEW Trios Titles". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved March 6, 2023.
- Powell, Jason (August 27, 2023). "AEW All In results: Powell's live review of MJF vs. Adam Cole for the AEW World Championship, Will Ospreay vs. Chris Jericho, CM Punk vs. Samoa Joe for the Real World Title, Stadium Stampede". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 27, 2023.