Formed in 2022, the group was created under the name Blackpool Combat Club and the first members were William Regal as the manager, Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley, who were later joined by Yuta and Castagnoli. During the time as BCC, Moxley won the AEW World Championship twice and the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship once, Castagnoli won the ROH World Championship once and Danielson, the AEW World Championship. Yuta also won the ROH Pure Championship three times.
On November 6, 2024, the stable turned on Danielson and was joined by Pac and Shafir, changing the name to Death Riders.[1][2][3] Moxley defeated Danielson to win his fourth AEW World Championship.
Background
Original logo as the Blackpool Combat Club
Bryan Danielson and Jon Moxley had their first interaction together in December 2007 when Danielson defeated Moxley at Mad-Pro Wrestling's (MPW) Rise Up event in Chillicothe, Ohio.[4][5] This match was later referred to by Moxley in a February 2022 promo when the two began feuding with each other in AEW.[6] They next met in August 2010 at Heartland Wrestling Association's (HWA) Road to Destiny event before Moxley challenged Danielson at Dragon Gate USA a month later.[7][8] Danielson, who was employed by WWE under the ring name Daniel Bryan at the time, defeated Moxley during both matches. In 2011, Moxley signed with WWE and was renamed Dean Ambrose; he wrestled in its development territory, FCW, which later became NXT. He became a successful member of The Shield after his main roster debut, and would wrestle Bryan in various matches throughout the 2010s. Both men became successful world champions for WWE before reverting to their respective names after leaving WWE (Moxley in 2019 and Danielson in 2021) with both men joining AEW. During that period, prior to the Blackpool Combat Club's establishment, William Regal was also employed by WWE as a wrestler and general manager for NXT; during this time, he helped to train and teach both Danielson and Moxley, and even feuded with Moxley.
History
Blackpool Combat Club (2022–2024)
Alternate logo of the faction
Formation (2022)
On the February 2, 2022 episode of Dynamite, Danielson told Moxley that he wanted to form a tag team,[9][10] which Moxley accepted on the condition that they wrestle each other first.[11] Danielson was defeated by Moxley at Revolution on March 6, after which the two began brawling. Regal, once a mentor to both men, made his AEW surprise debut to break up the fight and force them to shake hands.[12] The two formed a team with Regal acting as their manager, later being named the Blackpool Combat Club (BCC) in honor of the English town where Regal began his career.[13][14]
Expansion, various championship pursuits, and feuds (2022–2024)
On the August 24 episode of Dynamite, Moxley quickly defeated lineal AEW World Champion CM Punk to win his record-setting second AEW World Championship, becoming the undisputed AEW World Champion in the process.[22] Danielson was defeated by Jericho at All Out on September 4, while Moxley lost the undisputed championship to Punk, ending his reign at 11 days.[23] On the following episode of Dynamite, Yuta lost the ROH Pure Championship to Daniel Garcia, thus ending his reign at 159 days.[24] Moxley and Danielson were inserted in the AEW Grand Slam Tournament of Champions to crown a new AEW World Champion as previous champion CM Punk was stripped of the title.[25] At Grand Slam on September 21, Castagnoli lost the ROH World Championship to Chris Jericho, while Moxley defeated Danielson in the tournament final to win the vacant championship, becoming the first ever three-time AEW World Champion.
At Full Gear, Moxley would lose the title to MJF after Regal secretly handed his signature brass knuckles to MJF to punch Moxley with while the referee was distracted, betraying the group and aligning himself with MJF. Just 11 days later, MJF betrayed Regal and severely injured him with the brass knuckles. Following this, it was reported that Regal was set to leave AEW; in-storyline, Regal revealed that he betrayed the BCC to teach them their final lesson, which was to never trust anyone.[26] His last appearance was a pre-taped segment aired on the December 7 episode of Dynamite.[27] Despite Regal’s betrayal and subsequent departure from AEW, the stable kept the “Blackpool” in their name.
On the March 8, 2023 episode of Dynamite, Danielson announced that he would be going home to be with his family after his loss to MJF at Revolution. After Castagnoli and Moxley defeated The Dark Order members John Silver and Alex Reynolds, the three remaining BCC members continued their assault and attacked Dark Order members Evil Uno and Hangman Page, turning the stable fully heel for the first time.[28] Danielson returned on the March 29 episode of Dynamite, seemingly to convince his BCC teammates to stop their attack on Kenny Omega, but he instead joined them in attacking Omega and turned heel. On the May 10 episode of Dynamite, during a steel cage match between Omega and Moxley, Omega's manager Don Callis betrayed Omega by stabbing him with a screwdriver and allowing Moxley to win.[29]The Elite (Omega, Page, and The Young Bucks) challenged the BCC to an Anarchy in the Arena match at the Double or Nothing event on May 28, which the BCC won after assistance by Callis and Konosuke Takeshita, who attacked Omega during the final moments of the match, allowing Wheeler to get the pin on Omega.[30] At Forbidden Door, the BCC teamed with Takeshita and Shota Umino in a losing effort against the team of The Young Bucks, Page, Eddie Kingston and Tomohiro Ishii, while Danielson defeated Kazuchika Okada by submission, despite suffering an arm injury that sidelined him for 3 months. The Blackpool Combat Club's feud with The Elite ended at Blood & Guts on July 19, where Moxley, Castagnoli and Yuta teamed up with Takeshita and Pac, in another loss to The Elite in a Blood and Guts match following Pac and Takeshita leaving the match.
Following their feud with The Elite, at All In on August 27, the BCC teamed with Santana and Ortiz to face Eddie Kingston, Penta El Zero Miedo and Best Friends (Chuck Taylor and Trent Beretta) and Orange Cassidy in a Stadium Stampede match, but they lost. At All Out on September 3, Danielson made his return from injury as a face and defeated Ricky Starks in a No Disqualification Strap match, Castagnoli and Yuta defeated Kingston and Katsuyori Shibata in a tag team match, while at the main event, Moxley was able to win the AEW International Championship from Cassidy. At Grand Slam on September 20, Castagnoli lost the ROH World Championship to Kingston in a Winner Takes All match that also put the Strong Openweight Championship on the line. After the match, Claudio finally shook Eddie's hand after years of animosity between the two, showing a sign of respect and a face turn, while Moxley lost the AEW International Championship to Rey Fénix. On the September 30 edition of AEW Collision, the Blackpool Combat Club turned face when they teamed with FTR and were defeated by Big Bill and Ricky Starks and Aussie Open in an All-Star 8-men tag team match. On the November 25 edition of AEW Rampage, Yuta defeated Shibata to win the record 3-times ROH Pure Championship.
Yuta, who'd been sidelined with an injury since February, returned to action in AEW on the June 5 edition of AEW Dynamite.[39] On June 9 at Dominion, Moxley defeated Evil to retain the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship before being challenged by Tetsuya Naito for a rematch at Forbidden Door.[40][41] Moxley would lose the championship back to Naito on June 30 at Forbidden Door, subsequently going on hiatus following this loss. That same night, Danielson began his participation in the Owen Hart Foundation Tournament with a first round victory over Shingo Takagi.[42][43] Danielson defeated Pac at Dynamite: Beach Break on July 3,[44] then "Hangman" Adam Page on July 10, to win the tournament and earn a match against Swerve Strickland for the AEW World Championship at All In. Also on July 10, Castagnoli competed in a Global Glory Four-Way match to earn an AEW International Championship match at All Out, however Pac won the match.[45] On July 31, Danielson addressed speculation on his intentions to wind down his career, declaring that if he failed to win the AEW World Championship from Strickland at All In, he would never wrestle again.[46] On the August 21 episode of Dynamite, Castagnoli challenged Kazuchika Okada for the AEW Continental Championship; the match ended in a 20-minute time limit draw.
Death Riders (2024–present)
On August 25 at All In, Yuta and Castagnoli teamed with Pac in the Four-way London Ladder match for the AEW World Trios Championship, which they won. Later that same night, Danielson defeated Strickland to win the AEW World Championship for the first time.[47] On the following episode of Dynamite on August 28, Danielson announced that as long as he was AEW World Champion, he would remain a full-time AEW wrestler, and that his full-time career would end as soon as he lost the championship.[48]
While Danielson and the BCC resumed feuding with The Elite, Moxley, who returned from hiatus on the August 28 episode of Dynamite,[49] initially did not appear with his BCC allies and instead began a feud with Darby Allin, while forming an alliance with Marina Shafir in the process.[49]
On September 7 at All Out, after Danielson retained the title against Jack Perry, Castagnoli and Moxley attacked Danielson while feigning celebration and attempted suffocation with a plastic bag, kicking him out of the group. [50] After turning on Danielson, Moxley took over leadership of the BCC with Pac and Shafir as the newest additions.[51]
On September 25 at Grand Slam, Moxley would defeat Darby Allin with Allin's guaranteed AEW World Championship match on the line.[52] On October 12 at WrestleDream, Moxley defeated Danielson to win the AEW World Championship for the record-setting fourth time and ending Danielson's full-time career.[53] On the November 6 episode of Dynamite, the BCC officially rebranded to the Death Riders, a nod to Moxley's nickname in NJPW as well as the name of his finisher.[1][2][3]
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