Various feuds (2019–2024)
On February 7, 2019, Best Friends appeared at an All Elite Wrestling rally in Las Vegas and announced that they were joining AEW. At the inaugural All Out event, the duo competed against The Dark Order in a match to qualify for the AEW World Tag Team Title Tournament to crown the inaugural champions, but were defeated. [13] After a post-match attack from The Dark Order, the duo were saved by Orange Cassidy, who aligned himself with Taylor and Trent. On the October 30, 2019, episode of Dynamite , Best Friends and Orange Cassidy made their trios debut in a winning effort against Alex Reynolds, John Silver, and Q. T. 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 2020 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 Cassidy suffering the worst after Chris Jericho hit him with a bag of blood oranges. Best Friends would seek revenge against 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. [16] Best Friends would receive their tag team title shot against Kenny Omega and "Hangman" Adam Page at Fyter Fest night 1, which they lost. [17] In late August, Cassidy resumed his feud with Chris Jericho, while Trent and Chuck began feuding with Santana and Ortiz, after Trent's mother Sue's van was destroyed by Santana and Ortiz. Cassidy defeated Jericho in a Mimosa Mayhem match at All Out on September 5, 2020. Taylor and Trent's feud with Santana and Ortiz culminated on the following episode of Dynamite where they emerged victorious in a Parking Lot Brawl with assistance from Cassidy. Across September and October, Cassidy challenged for the AEW TNT Championship on three occasions, but was unsuccessful. The first was on the September 23 episode of Dynamite where he lost to Mr. Brodie Lee, then on the October 14 episode he wrestled to a time-limit draw with Cody. On the same episode, Taylor and Trent unsuccessfully challenged FTR for the tag team titles. Cassidy would lose his rematch with Cody, due to interference from Cody's personal advisor Arn Anderson.
Heading into 2021, Best Friends entered a feud with Kip Sabian, Penelope Ford, and Miro, after Trent accidentally destroyed Sabian and Ford's arcade machine during a match. During the feud, Trent legitimately tore his pectoral muscle, sidelining him for months. On the January 13 episode of Dynamite, Taylor and Miro had a match with the stipulation that if Taylor lost, he had to serve as Miro's servant for a month. Taylor lost and was forced to wear a tuxedo and have his ring name changed to Charles Taylor. At Beach Break, Cassidy crashed Sabian and Ford's wedding, marking the end of Taylor's servant contract with Miro and reverting back to Chuck Taylor. On the March 31 episode of Dynamite, Taylor and Cassidy fought Miro and Sabian in an Arcade Anarchy match where if Taylor lost again, he would become Miro's servant permanently. Taylor and Cassidy were victorious with assistance from a returning Trent, and a new friend in the form of Kris Statlander, who took out Ford.
In April 2021, Trent would take time off to receive spinal fusion surgery. In May, Cassidy challenged for the AEW World Championship in a three-way match against the champion Kenny Omega and PAC at Double or Nothing, but was unsuccessful. On the May 24 episode of Dark: Elevation , the group saved Rocky Romero from a post match beatdown, effectively reuniting the team of Roppongi Vice, and incorporating Romero into Best Friends. [18] In Trent's absence, the group recruited Wheeler Yuta, taking him under their wing as a young lion, seemingly without telling him. In July, Cassidy and Best Friends would get involved in a feud with Matt Hardy and his stable, the Hardy Family Office. Cassidy, Taylor, and Yuta defeated Private Party and Jora Johl in on an episode of Dark: Elevation, which was Yuta's first time teaming with the group. At All Out that year, Best Friends teamed up with Jurassic Express to defeat the Hardy Family Office in a 10-man tag team match. At the same event, Statlander, accompanied by Cassidy, unsuccessfully challenged Britt Baker for the AEW Women's World Championship. Best Friends prevailed in the majority of matches in the feud, however Cassidy lost to Hardy in a lumberjack match at the very end. Following that, Rocky Romero, on the behalf of Kazuchika Okada, offered the entire group a place in the NJPW stable Chaos, to which they accepted. [19] Best Friends would later immediately get into a feud with The Elite, who were strengthened by the arrivals of Adam Cole and Bobby Fish. After a number of defeats to The Elite, Trent would return from injury on the December 8 episode on Dynamite and saved Best Friends from a post-match beatdown. On the December 17 episode of Rampage , Chaos (Taylor, Trent, Cassidy, and Romero) defeated Bobby Fish and the Superkliq (Adam Cole and the Young Bucks) in an 8-man tag match. After months of the factions trading wins and losses, Cassidy faced Adam Cole in a lights out match at Beach Break. During the match, Danhausen would make his AEW debut and assist Cassidy, who would go on to win the match. In the weeks that followed, Danhausen would assist the Best Friends in their matches and eventually appear with the group regularly.
Friction began to form between Trent and Yuta throughout early 2022, with Trent antagonizing Yuta in backstage segments and supplementary material, feeling that his friends had replaced him with Wheeler during his absence. At the same time, Bryan Danielson, while floating the idea of a stable with Jon Moxley, made overtures towards Yuta by naming him as a potential understudy. [20] On March 16, 2022, Yuta and Taylor lost a tag team match to Danielson and Moxley, now led and managed by William Regal, but after the match, a spurned Yuta would return to the ring and offer a handshake to Regal. Regal would instead slap him, causing Yuta to confront him immediately afterwards, impressing Regal. [21] On the March 30 and April 8 episodes of Dynamite and Rampage respectively, Yuta would lose to the newly christened Blackpool Combat Club in increasingly competitive matches, with the latter match with Moxley finally resulting in Regal offering a bloodied Yuta a handshake, which he accepted, before painting "BCC" on his chest with his blood, signifying his departure from Best Friends and CHAOS and initiation into the BCC. [22] [23]
In August 2022, Statlander suffered a completely torn ACL and lateral meniscus in her right leg during a match on Dark and stated she would need to take time off to recover amount of time to recover; this was the last time she was seen with the Best Friends. [24] On the August 17 episode of Dynamite, Best Friends and Orange Cassidy defeated The Trustbusters (Ari Daivari, Parker Boudreaux, and Slim J) in the first round of the AEW World Trios Title Tournament to crown the inaugural AEW World Trios Champions. They went out in the semi-finals to "Hangman" Adam Page and the Dark Order on the September 2 episode of Rampage. Shortly afterwards at the All Out event, Cassidy confronted longtime rival PAC, challenging him for the AEW All-Atlantic Championship. On the Dynamite after All Out, Best Friends would face Death Triangle for the World Trios Championship after the titles had been vacated, but were unsuccessful. Cassidy and PAC faced each other for the All-Atlantic Championship at Grand Slam, but Cassidy lost after PAC cheated and hit him with a hammer. Trent would then challenge PAC for his title at Battle of the Belts IV, but PAC cheated once again and used a hammer to get the win over Trent and retain his title. After the match Cassidy arrived and saved Trent from a post-match beatdown. Cassidy would then receive a rematch against PAC on the October 12 episode of Dynamite. With help from Danhausen who stopped PAC from using the hammer again, Cassidy defeated his longtime rival and won his first championship in AEW, celebrating with Best Friends after the match. The following week, Best Friends challenged Death Triangle for the trios titles, but were unsuccessful.
