The O.C. (professional wrestling)

The O.C., originally known as The Club, was a professional wrestling stable composed of A.J. Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson.

The O.C.
From left to right: Anderson, Styles, and Gallows
Stable
MembersAJ Styles
Luke Gallows
Karl Anderson
Name(s)The Club
The O.C.
Billed fromTokyo, Japan
DebutMay 9, 2016
DisbandedApril 15, 2020
Years active2016
2019–2020

Previously working in New Japan Pro-Wrestling as members of Bullet Club, the trio of Styles, Gallows and Anderson reunited in WWE in May 2016 as The Club, before splitting two months later. They would officially reunite in July 2019 and were renamed The O.C.. Their team name is derived from their catchphrase of being "the official, the original, the only club that matters".

Background
See also: Bullet Club

From 2014 to 2016, Styles, Gallows (under the name Doc Gallows) and Anderson, were members of Bullet Club, primarily appearing in the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, Styles was a two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and Gallows and Anderson were three-time IWGP Tag Team Champions.[1][2] Styles departed from the promotion in January 2016, followed by Gallows and Anderson in February. After their departures, there were weeks of speculation and teasing from WWE themselves about the trio signing with WWE.[3][4][5][6]

History

WWE

Initial run as The Club (2016)

On the April 11, 2016 episode of Raw, Gallows (who returned to his Luke Gallows ring name) and Anderson made their debut for WWE, attacking The Usos, establishing themselves as heels in the process and with the duo's NJPW background being acknowledged by WWE announcers.[7] On the following week's Raw, WWE began teasing an alliance between Gallows and Anderson and their former Bullet Club stablemate AJ Styles when, after meeting Styles in a backstage interview, Gallows and Anderson attacked his Payback opponent Roman Reigns in the ring; Styles, however, did not seem pleased with the attack.[8] Over the next weeks, Gallows and Anderson continued teasing an uneasy alliance with Styles, while having several face offs with The Usos and Roman Reigns, including at Payback, where the two failed in their attempt to help Styles capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Reigns.[9] On the May 9 episode of Raw, the trio of Styles, Gallows and Anderson was dubbed "The Club".[10] The Club disbanded two weeks later on Raw, when Styles stated that he wanted an amicable separation from Gallows and Anderson, blaming them and The Usos for his failure to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the previous day's Extreme Rules.[11] Though Styles stated that the three could remain "brothers", Gallows and Anderson refused and ended the friendship altogether.[12] On the May 30 episode of Raw, Gallows and Anderson entered the WWE Tag Team Championship picture by attacking reigning champions The New Day, while later in the show, Styles turned on the returning John Cena and reunited with Gallows and Anderson.[13] This set up a match between Styles and Cena at Money in the Bank on June 19, which Styles won after interference from The Club.[14] On July 19, The Club was split up in the WWE draft, with Gallows and Anderson being drafted to Raw brand and Styles to SmackDown brand,[15] which resulted in them wrestling their last match together as a trio on July 24 at Battleground in a loss against John Cena, Enzo Amore and Big Cass.[16]

Gallows and Anderson were both drafted to SmackDown brand in 2018, where they made a one-off reunion with Styles on the April 24, 2018 episode of SmackDown Live as fan favorites, in a losing effort to Shinsuke Nakamura, Aiden English and Rusev.[17] After an unsuccessful stint on the SmackDown brand, Gallows and Anderson returned to the Raw brand on April 29, 2019, losing to The Usos.[18] At that point, they had not won a match on television since they defeated The Usos in May 2018.[19] Throughout the following weeks, Styles frustratingly encouraged Gallows and Anderson to be the successful duo they once were.

Reformation as The O.C. (2019–2020)

On the July 1 episode of Raw, Gallows and Anderson encouraged AJ Styles to be the guy he was in NJPW. After Styles lost a United States Championship match to Ricochet; Gallows and Anderson helped Styles to beat up Ricochet, and reuniting The Club as heels.[20][21] Two weeks later, at Extreme Rules, Styles, accompanied by The Club, won his third United States Championship by defeating Ricochet.[22] On the July 22 episode of Raw, The Club was renamed "The O.C." and repeatedly claimed that they were the "official, original, and only club that matters." [23][24] On the July 29 episode of Raw, Gallows and Anderson won their second Raw Tag Team Championship, making all members of The O.C. champions,[25] but they lost the titles on the August 19 episode of Raw to Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman, ending their reign at 21 days.[26] At Crown Jewel on October 31, Gallows and Anderson won the nine-team tag team turmoil match to win the WWE Tag Team World Cup and be called "the best tag team in the world". Styles also retained his US title against Humberto Carrillo at the event.[27] The O.C. would have unfortunate luck at Survivor Series; during the Kickoff pre-show, Gallows and Anderson were eliminated from the interbrand tag team battle royal, and on the main show, Styles lost the interbrand triple threat match, in which he faced SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong, where Strong stole the victory from Styles after Styles had performed a Phenomenal Forearm on Nakamura and Strong threw Styles out of the ring and pinned Nakamura.[28] The O.C. would again have bad luck on the following night's Raw as during Styles' championship match against Rey Mysterio, Gallows and Anderson were ejected from ringside and Styles ultimately lost his U.S. title to Mysterio thanks to help from Randy Orton.[29]

On April 15, 2020, Gallows and Anderson were released from their WWE contracts as part of budget cuts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore disbanding the stable.[30][31][32]

Championships and accomplishments
gollark: Ridiculous, Eric wouldn't eat himself.
gollark: Or god just never existed, so Eric wouldn't be necessary.
gollark: ... okaaay?
gollark: If you have stopped now, you are no longer a heretic.
gollark: You did earlier.

References
  1. "The New Beginning in Osaka". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2015.
  2. "Heavy tag weight class". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  3. Rose, Bryan (January 4, 2016). "NJPW stars Nakamura, AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson headed to WWE". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  4. Caldwell, James (January 4, 2016). "PWTorch Report – Four big names leaving New Japan, heading to WWE". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on January 5, 2016. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  5. Clapp, John (January 5, 2016). "Are AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows coming to WWE?". wwe.com. WWE. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  6. Wallace, Dustin (January 12, 2016). "Former New Japan star Matt Bloom addresses Bullet Club rumors". wwe.com. WWE. Retrieved June 20, 2016.
  7. Caldwell, James (April 11, 2016). "4/11 WWE Raw News – Big Developments from Los Angeles". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  8. Caldwell, James (April 18, 2016). "4/18 Raw News & Notes – Bullet Club Week 2 teaser & Reigns addresses "club" status, Wyatts M.I.A., Ambrose-Jericho, tourney, Bret Hart, Natalya, Miz TV". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved April 19, 2016.
  9. Caldwell, James (May 1, 2016). "5/1 WWE Payback Results – Caldwell's Complete Live Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 6, 2016.
  10. Caldwell, James (May 9, 2016). "5/9 WWE Raw Results – Caldwell's Complete Live TV Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved May 9, 2016.
  11. Caldwell, James (May 22, 2016). "5/22 WWE Extreme Rules PPV Results – Caldwell's Ongoing Live Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved July 12, 2016.
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  14. Caldwell, James. "6/19 WWE MITB PPV Results – Caldwell's Complete Live Report". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  15. Parks, Greg (July 19, 2016). "7/19 WWE Smackdown Live – Parks's Complete Coverage of WWE Draft". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved July 19, 2016.
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  17. Roy, Nemer (April 24, 2018). "WWE SmackDown Results – 4/24/18 (MizTV with Daniel Bryan, Asuka teams with Becky Lynch)". WrestleView.
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  20. Powell, Jason. "7/1 WWE Raw Results: Powell's review of the first show with Paul Heyman as executive director, Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley in a falls count anywhere match, Viking Raiders vs. New Day, the build to Extreme Rules continues". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 1, 2019.
  21. Mezzera, Jon. "WWE RAW HITS & MISSES 7/1: Strowman and Lashley big stunt, Street Profits showing up on Raw, Maria & Mike, Styles heel turn, Ricochet on the mic, Miz vs. Elias". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  22. Powell, Jason. "WWE Extreme Rules results: Powell's live review of Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch vs. Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans in an Extreme Rules match for the WWE Universal Championship and the Raw Women's Championship, Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE Championship". Pro Wreslting Dot Net. Retrieved July 14, 2019.
  23. "7/30 WWE SMACKDOWN REPORT: Keller's report on Summerslam developments including Randy Orton addressing Kofi Kingston". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved 31 July 2019. They said they are the official, original, and only club that matters.
  24. Benigno, Anthony. "Seth Rollins def. United States Champion AJ Styles via Disqualification; DX and The Kliq helped Rollins turn The O.C. back after the match". WWE. Retrieved July 23, 2019. The members of O.C. explain that they are the most dominant faction in WWE, as the original, the official, the only Club that matters
  25. Powell, Jason. "7/29 WWE Raw Results: Powell's review of The Revival vs. The Usos vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson for the Raw Tag Titles, Ricochet vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro vs. Sami Zayn vs. Andrade in a gauntlet match for a U.S. Title match at SummerSlam, Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved July 29, 2019.
  26. Powell, Jason (August 19, 2019). "8/19 WWE Raw Results: Powell's review of AJ Styles vs. Braun Strowman for the U.S. Championship, and Cesaro vs. Samoa Joe and Cedric Alexander vs. Sami Zayn in first round King of the Ring tournament matches". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 26, 2019.
  27. Powell, Jason. "WWE Crown Jewel results: Powell's live review of Brock Lesnar vs. Cain Velasquez for the WWE Championship, Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt in a Falls Count Anywhere match for the WWE Universal Championship, Braun Strowman vs. Tyson Fury, Lacey Evans vs. Natalya". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  28. Powell, Jason (November 24, 2019). "WWE Survivor Series results: Powell's live review of Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio in a No Holds Barred match for the WWE Championship, "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt vs. Daniel Bryan for the WWE Universal Championship, Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Bayley in a non-title match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved November 24, 2019.
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  30. "Rusev, Kurt Angle and other Superstars released". WWE. April 15, 2020.
  31. Brookhouse, Brent (April 15, 2020). "WWE talent cuts: Kurt Angle, Rusev among those released in response to coronavirus impact". CBS Sports. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  32. WWE.com Staff (April 15, 2020). "Drake Maverick, Curt Hawkins and other Superstars released". WWE. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  33. "United States Championship". WWE. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  34. "Raw Tag Team Championships". WWE. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
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