Best Friends (professional wrestling)
Best Friends | |
---|---|
Tag team | |
Members | Chuck Taylor Trent? Orange Cassidy Kris Statlander Wheeler Yuta |
Name(s) | Best Friends |
Billed heights | Taylor: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)[1] Beretta: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)[2] |
Combined billed weight | 406 lb (184 kg)[1][2] |
Debut | August 30, 2013[3] |
Best Friends are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of Chuck Taylor (also billed as Chuckie T) and Trent (also billed as Trent Beretta, Trent?, or simply Beretta). The team is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). They first formed in Pro Wrestling Guerilla where they were the winners of the 2014 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament. The AEW incarnation sees the duo usually accompanied by Orange Cassidy; as of 2021 the faction includes Kris Statlander, Wheeler Yuta, and occasional appearances by Sue (Trent's real-life mother).
History[]
Pro Wrestling Guerilla (2013–2019)[]
Chuck Taylor and Trent? first teamed on August 31, 2013 at the Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG) 2013 Battle of Los Angeles - Night Two alongside Joey Ryan, where they defeated the team of B-Boy, Tommaso Ciampa, and Willie Mack.[4] A string of victories followed, culminating in Taylor and Trent? defeating The Inner City Machine Guns to win the 2014 Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament on January 31.[5] They subsequently lost a match against The Young Bucks for the PWG World Tag Team Championship at on March 28, 2014.[6]
Ring of Honor (2017–2019)[]
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by . (February 2019) |
Best Friends first appeared in Ring of Honor (ROH) on May 14, 2017, joined by Beretta's Roppongi Vice partner Rocky Romero, in a victory over Bullet Club's The Young Bucks and Adam Page.[7] On October 10, Chuckie T and Beretta won a match against The Addiction to become number one contenders to the ROH World Tag Team Championship, but lost to defending champions The Motor City Machine Guns at Final Battle on December 15.[8][9]
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2017–2019)[]
![]() | This section needs expansion. You can help by . (February 2019) |
Best Friends made their debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on the second day of the 2017 World Tag League on November 19, representing the Chaos stable.[10] They went on to score four wins and three losses in the tournament, failing to advance to the finals.[11] They competed in the 2018 World Tag League as well, scoring 14 points and thus failing to advance to the finals. During the tournament, Chuckie displayed a much more aggressive attitude, attacking his opponents with steel chairs which often caused a disqualification loss for the team and caused tension to built between him and Beretta.
Ultimately, this storyline never developed further, as they both left NJPW and signed with upstart All Elite Wrestling in the beginning of 2019. On February 7, 2019, their profiles were removed from NJPW website.[12]
All Elite Wrestling (2019–present)[]
On February 7, 2019, Best Friends appeared at an All Elite Wrestling (AEW) rally in Las Vegas and announced that they were joining AEW. The duo participated in the AEW World Tag Team Title Tournament to crown the inaugural champions, but were eliminated in the first round.[13] During this time they also became friends with and added Orange Cassidy to the team, including adding him to their trademark hug and zoom out. On the October 30, 2019, episode of Dynamite, Best Friends and their newfound ally Orange Cassidy dressed up as Rick and Morty before they won in a 6-man tag-team match against Alex Reynolds, John Silver, and QT Marshall. At Bash at the Beach on January 15, 2020, Best Friends competed in a four-way tag team match to determine the number one contenders for the AEW World Tag Team Championship, which was won by "Hangman" Adam Page and Kenny Omega.[14] At the Double or Nothing Buy-In, Best Friends defeated Private Party (Isiah Kassidy & Marq Quen) in a number one contender's match for the AEW World Tag Team Championship after delivering the Strong Zero on Quen.[15] On the June 10th edition of Dynamite, Best Friends and Orange Cassidy defeated The Inner Circle's Jake Hager and Santana and Ortiz in a 6-man tag team match, after which they suffered a beatdown from the rest of The Inner Circle, with Orange Cassidy suffering the worst beating after Chris Jericho hit him with a bag of blood oranges.[16] Best Friends would seek revenge against Chris Jericho and Sammy Guevara (Le Sex Gods) while putting their tag team title #1 contendership on the line on the June 17th edition of Dynamite. They emerged victorious after Guevara tripped over the cameraman's hand which enabled Trent to pick up the victory for the team. The cameraman who was at ringside turned out to be Orange Cassidy who then proceeded to beat down Jericho.[17] Best Friends would receive their tag team title shot against Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page at Fyter Fest night 1, which they lost.[18]
In late August, while Cassidy resumed his feud with Chris Jericho, Trent and Taylor started feuding with Santana and Ortiz after Sue's, (Trent's Mom) van was destroyed by Santana and Ortiz, leading to a match on an episode of Dynamite.
Championships and accomplishments[]
- All Elite Wrestling
- BTE World Championship (1 time, inaugural) - Trent[19]
- Dynamite Award (1 time)
- Hardest Moment to Clean Up After (2021) - (Best Friends vs Santana and Ortiz) - Dynamite (September 16)
- Pro Wrestling Guerrilla
- Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament (2014)[20] - Trent and Taylor
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Most Popular Wrestler of the Year (2020) - Cassidy
- DDT Pro-Wrestling
- Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)[21] - Cassidy
- Revolution Eastern Wrestling
- REW 24/7 Championship (1 time)[21] - Cassidy
- Wrestling Observer Newsletter
- Best Gimmick (2020) - Cassidy [22]
See also[]
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Chuck Taylor". Chikara. Retrieved 2018-04-04.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "profile 727". New Japan Pro-Wrestling Official Website. New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved 27 July 2015.
- ^ "Matches << Best Friends << Tag Teams Database << CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". CAGEMATCH -The Internet Wrestling Database. Philip Kreikenbohm. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ "2013 Battle of Los Angeles - Night Two". prowrestlingguerrilla.com. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ "PWG DDT4 2014". Cagematch. Philip Kreikenbohm. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ "Mystery Vortex II". prowrestlingguerilla.com. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ its999maggle. "Ring of Honor Wrestling Ep. 299 recap & review: TV Championship!". Cageside Seats. Vox Media, Inc. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ Cook, Ryan. "Ring of Honor Episode 321 Results - Kenny King Defends his ROH Television title against Mark Briscoe, Best Friends vs The Addiction & More!". Fightful Wrestling. Shazzu, Inc. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ Currier, Joseph. "ROH Final Battle 2017 live results: Cody vs. Dalton Castle". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Wrestling Observer. Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ "鉄拳Presents World Tag League 2017". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ "鉄拳Presents World Tag League 2017". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 5 April 2018.
- ^ https://www.pwinsider.com/ViewArticle.php?id=123939
- ^ "AEW Dynamite #3". CAGEMATCH -The Internet Wrestling Database. Philip Kreikenbohm. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- ^ Barnett, Jake (January 15, 2020). "1/15 AEW Dynamite TV results: Barnett's live review of Pac vs. Darby Allin and Jon Moxley vs. Sammy Guevara in matches to determine the No. 1 contender to the AEW Title, Young Bucks vs. Kenny Omega and Hangman Page vs. Santana and Ortiz vs. Best Friends in a four-way for an AEW Tag Title shot". prowrestling.net. Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved January 15, 2020.
- ^ Ravens, Andrew (May 23, 2020). "AEW Double Or Nothing Results". Retrieved June 18, 2020.
- ^ Powell, Jason (June 10, 2020). "6/10 AEW Dynamite results: live review of Powell de Cody against Marq Quen for the TNT championship, FTR against The Butcher & The Blade, Orange Cassidy and Best Friends against Santana, Ortiz and Jake Hager, Hikaru Shida and Kris Statlander against Nyla Rose and Penelope Ford, Colt Cabana against Sammy Guevara". Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- ^ Michel, Jai (June 18, 2020). "AEW Dynamite Results & Highlights(6/17)-Young Bucks vs Superbad Squad, Best Friends vs Le Sex Gods". Retrieved June 20, 2020.
- ^ Powell, Jason (May 27, 2020). "5/27 AEW Dynamite results: Powell's live review of Mike Tyson's appearance, a battle royal for the first shot at the TNT Championship, The Young Bucks and Matt Hardy vs. Joey Janela and Private Party, The Inner Circle's pep rally". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved May 27, 2020.
- ^ Being the Elite [@BeingTheElite] (November 16, 2020). "Congratulations to @SilverNumber1 #andNEW #BTE Champ #BeingTheElite t.co/yZhilIuDbP" (Tweet). Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ Gee Schoon Tong, Chris (2014-02-01). "Show results - 1/31 PWG DDT4 tournament: One-night tournament features Cole, Steen, Elgin, Trent, more, plus Chris Hero in #1 contender match (w/Roe's in-person tweets)". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 2014-02-01.
- ^ Jump up to: a b DDT ProWrestling [@ddtpro] (October 7, 2020). "10月7日(現地時間)フロリダ州ジャクソンビル・デイリーズプレイス駐車場 ▼アイアンマンヘビーメタル級&パキスタンREW両選手権試合 <二冠王者>●ディーン・マレンコ vs オレンジ・キャシディー○<挑戦者> 17時7分 体固め ※キャシディーが第1493代アイアンマン&REW新王者となる。 #ddtpro t.co/jXKbKeIVfM" (Tweet) (in Japanese). Retrieved December 24, 2020 – via Twitter.
- ^ Meltzer, Dave. "March 1, 2021, Wrestling Observer Newsletter 2020 awards issue, Elimination Chamber". Figure4Weekly. Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved 26 February 2021.
External links[]
- Beretta's New Japan Pro-Wrestling profile
- Chuckie T's New Japan Pro-Wrestling profile
- Beretta's Ring of Honor profile
- Chuckie T's Ring of Honor profile at the Wayback Machine (archived June 12, 2018)
- All Elite Wrestling teams and stables
- Chaos (professional wrestling) members
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling teams and stables
- Ring of Honor teams and stables