New stars are always made throughout wrestling history, but some are born in more brutal ways.
On one side of the ring, we have the Death Rider and, one of the top wrestlers in AEW, known for his violence and hard-hitting style.
On the other side of the ring, an independent wrestling star wanting to prove himself to the wrestling world by taking the beatings of a lifetime and coming back for more.
Before the two came together as part of the Blackpool Combat Club, this is the story of one competitor’s quest to earn his place against a former multi-time champion and arguably the face of the company.
This is the rivalry between Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta.
Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta –
How To Build A Star Using Violence
Jon Moxley (FKA Dean Ambrose) was announced to be leaving WWE on January 29th, 2019. With fans questioning what his next move would be, Moxley made his AEW debut on May 25th, 2019, at the company’s debut event, Double Or Nothing.
He also became a multi-time IWGP United States Champion and had a 277-day reign with the AEW World Championship.
He was given his freedom, and he became a huge star with his brawling style mixed with grappling. As well as this, his strong promo work put him over with the fans.
Wheeler Yuta made his wrestling debut on Match 22nd 2013, competing for companies such as Beyond Wrestling.
He made a name for himself through his smooth technical style, earning him an IWTV Independent Wrestling title run by defeating Lee Moriarty for the strap on May 6th, 2021, and holding it for 155 days.
Yuta made his debut for AEW on June 29th, 2021, losing to Karl Anderson on an episode of AEW Dark, and soon after, he aligned with The Best Friends stable.
He became a fan favorite over his great performances in AEW, but he still needed the golden opportunity to become a big star.
The First Taste Of Unscripted Violence
On the October 16th, 2021 edition of Dynamite, a first-time encounter was scheduled between Jon Moxley and Wheeler Yuta. This could have been seen as a proving ground for the young talent; however, Moxley was not in the mood for competition.
He stormed through the crowd and hit Yuta with a vicious lariat as soon as he entered the ring.
Jon Moxley proceeded to batter Wheeler Yuta with cross faces while he was choking the youngster on the ropes. This quickly followed with Moxley hitting Yuta a forceful suplex and drilling him with the Paradigm Shift, squashing the victim in 47 seconds.
Moxley showed no remorse to Yuta, who had his first experience of the Death Rider’s violence and seemingly wanted more.
A Last-Minute Replacement
Jon Moxley’s original opponent for the February 2nd, 2022, edition of Dynamite was Brian Kendrick, but backlash from past comments forced him off the show.
With an empty position on the card for Moxley, Wheeler Yuta stepped up for the second time to once again test himself against the violence.
Yuta learned from his past match with Moxley by finding impressive counters to many of his moves. He even took an onslaught of punishment and responded viciously by hitting a huge dive to the outside.
Moxley tried to throw his adversary to the ropes, but Yuta countered this with a unique German suplex counter after rebounding off the ropes for a close 2-count.
Jon Moxley eventually got the advantage by locking in the Bulldog Choke, then proceeded to get Yuta in a seated position to rain down some spiteful elbows. He finished him off once again with the Paradigm Shift, putting Moxley two wins over the technical wizard.
Yuta did manage to get more offense over his opponent and even had some creative counters to some of Moxley’s biggest moves. He was showing improvement, but not enough to face up to the big fight with the Death Rider.
Learning The Combat In Blackpool
After Jon Moxley and Bryan Danielson fought in a bloody war on March 6th, 2022, at Revolution, William Regal made his debut in AEW to reconcile the two and the Blackpool Combat Club was created.
On the March 16th, 2022 episode of Dynamite, the new pairing of Moxley and Danielson took on the team of Chuck Taylor and Wheeler Yuta in order to spread their message of violence.
Wheeler Yuta seemingly had something to prove by putting his everything into taking out The Blackpool Combat Club. He hit some of his hardest strikes, his heaviest suplexes, and even implored Danielson to kick him as hard as he could.
However, this all became too much for Yuta, and he succumbed to the Dragon’s stomps and passed out in the Bulldog Choke to give the win to the Blackpool Combat Club.
Before the Best Friends went backstage, Wheeler Yuta halted to look back to the men who stood in the ring and decided to put in his application to the hard-nosed faction. He went to shake the hand of the Englishman, but Regal landed a heavy slap on the face of the young soldier.
Yuta got in the face of Regal, which sparked Danielson and Moxley to come in support. It seemed as if the technical upstart had earned the respect of the BCC, but he needed to show his toughness before he could join their ranks.
Test One: A Battle With The American Dragon
Wheeler Yuta has his first test from Regal on the March 30th, 2022, edition of Dynamite in the form of the wrestling machine that is Bryan Danielson.
Both guys went back and forth with grappling skills, but Danielson had a huge advantage by viciously bullying Yuta and lighting his chest up with heavy chops.
Yuta knew he was there to test his toughness, and he walked down the chops of Danielson, even withstanding the elbows from the Dragon and hitting some of his own.
Yuta got a close two-count after a roll-up and went for his variation of the Death Valley Driver, but that was countered by a smooth arm drag from Danielson.
The punishment only continued when there was a flying knee to the rookie, followed by the stomps and a cross face to secure the submission victory for Bryan Danielson.
Wheeler Yuta may not have gained the win in this instance, but he showed determination and toughness in the face of a deadly striking technician such as Danielson.
He still had his second test ahead of him in the form of a foe that he had not been able to withstand the brutality of Jon Moxley.
Yuta Gains The Crown Of Pure Wrestling
On April 1st, 2022, at Supercard Of Honor, Wheeler Yuta challenged for the ROH Pure Championship against the title holder, Josh Woods. Despite being at a huge disadvantage with Woods being the heavier wrestler and having more experience, Yuta managed to pull out the upset victory to gain the ROH Pure Championship.
With Wheeler Yuta gaining some gold in Ring Of Honor, this was used to boost his confidence going into his third, and most important, match with The Death Rider.
‘I am not scared of you, Jon Moxley’
The final test for Wheeler Yuta against Jon Moxley was scheduled for the April 6th 2022 edition of Rampage.
Mark Henry interviewed both men before the match, where Yuta laid out that there was nothing else that Moxley could do to him to cause him any worse pain to beat him, topping the promo off by telling his opponent that he had zero fear of him.
Jon Moxley responded by making it clear that he was not Yuta’s friend and he was not just in a ‘Pure Rules’ match, but he would be facing the unscripted violence of Mox. His final statement before the match was
‘Tonight, I have one job: spill your guts all over the mat so we can find out exactly, finally, once and for all, exactly what you are made of.’
The Fight Of A Lifetime
Wheeler Yuta had learned many lessons from his past matches with Jon Moxley, and he applied his first lesson early: show no mercy. He jumped Moxley during his entrance with a suicide dive and brawled with him throughout the crowd, beating the deathmatch militant at his own game.
Yuta got his adversary into the ring for a quick victory, but Moxley landed a quick German suplex and quickly got back in the driver’s seat by suffocating Yuta in rest holds and beating his chest in with heavy chops in the corner.
Yuta tried his best to fight back, but Moxley savagely threw him to the outside and taught his student a lesson by ramming his skull into the steel steps. This action led to Yuta’s head being dangerously split open, and a sea of red emerged.
The blood was getting in the eyes of Yuta, and the blunt force to his skull heavily rocked the man, which Jon Moxley took advantage of. He took his opportunity to bludgeon his dazed opponents with headbutts and elbows to the open wound on the head of Yuta.
Despite the torture that Yuta was enduring, he still would not go down and began to light up Moxley with chops. The bloodied warrior showed off his resilience when he went for a crossbody but was caught in a Paradigm Shift and defiantly kicked out before the three count.
The war continued when Moxley tried to knock out Yuta with the insanely savage elbows, but the young talent reversed the elbows and locked the cross-face in an attempt to force the toughest man in AEW into submission. It was not enough, and Moxley got to the ropes.
Jon Moxley seemed to have it when he finally got the elbows in and hit the elevated Paradigm Shift, which had won him the AEW World Championship and led to countless victories over many men, but Yuta proved here that he was no ordinary man.
His unbreakable will forced his shoulder up before the three count to the shock of both the Death Rider and the fans in attendance. Moxley was not done and locked in the Bulldog Choke to finally put down his relentless foe, scoring his third victory over Wheeler Yuta, but this time was different.
From A Rookie To A Warrior
In the first match, Moxley was in the ring with Yuta for less than 1 minute before he destroyed him, and now, he was covered in the blood of his adversary and had to make him pass out as Wheeler Yuta would not stay down.
The young man had just become a wrestling star by showing off his technical skills, his violent ways, and his toughness and resilience to not stay down, even when he is drenched in his blood and beaten to a pulp.
The rest of the Blackpool Combat Club came out after the battle with the gladiators to confront their test subject, who was drenched in blood. Yuta beckoned them on for another fight, showing that he would battle no matter what.
This impressed William Regal, and he extended his hand like Wheeler did once upon a time, which was received with a handshake and a welcoming of Yuta into the squadron.
This was solidified with Wheeler Yuta writing ‘BCC’ on his chest in blood and Moxley telling his opponent, ‘This is where the real work begins’, representing the respect shown between the rivals.
Jon Moxley still continued to do what he does, which is beating down wrestlers all over the world to keep himself on top.
On the other hand, Wheeler Yuta is still learning and testing his wrestling skills and toughness and having technical classics in AEW and NJPW.
Despite whatever path Wheeler Yuta takes, one thing that he will remember is the name of the man who beat him into wrestling greatness through blood and brutality: Jon Moxley
