Gabriel Kidd

Last updated
Gabriel Kidd
Gabe Kidd with the Strong Openweight Championship.jpg
Kidd in August 2024
Born (1997-04-24) 24 April 1997 (age 27)
Brighton, East Sussex, England, U.K.
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)
  • Gabriel Kidd
  • Gabe Kidd
  • Kid Danger
  • Michael George
Billed height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Billed weight90 kg (198 lb; 14 st 2 lb)
Billed from Nottingham, England
Trained by
Debut12 November 2011

Gabriel Michael McMenamin [1] (born 24 April 1997) is an English professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he performs under the ring name Gabe Kidd (shortened from his previous name Gabriel Kidd) and is a member of Bullet Club and its War Dogs subgroup. He is the current Strong Openweight Champion in his first reign. He is also a former Strong Openweight Tag Team Champion, alongside former Bullet Club stablemate Alex Coughlin.

Contents

Professional wrestling career

Early career (2011–2019)

McMenamin made his debut in 2011 under the name Kid Danger and at that time, he wrestled under a mask to conceal his age. [2] [3]

In 2013, McMenamin switched to the name of Gabriel Kidd. [4]

On 29 April 2017, Kidd won the WCPW Internet Championship, one of the titles of WhatCulture Pro Wrestling, in a triple threat match involving defending champion Cody Rhodes and Joe Hendry. [5] He lost the title to Zack Sabre Jr. on 21 September. [6] On 2 June 2019, Kidd lost to Hendry in a "Loser Leaves Town" match, after which he left Defiant Wrestling. [7]

On 29 June, at a Revolution Pro Wrestling event, Kidd teamed with Kenneth Halfpenny and Shaun Jackson where they defeated Brendan White, NJPW young lions Clark Connors and Karl Fredericks. Katsuyori Shibata, was so impressed with Kidd and he went on to recommend him to NJPW officials, thus therefore leading Kidd to be signed by NJPW. [8]

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2020–present)

Young Lion (2020–2023)

On 25 January 2020, Kidd made his debut at New Japan Pro-Wrestling. [9] Later the same year, he entered the New Japan Cup and lost to Taiji Ishimori in the first round on 17 June. [10]

On 20 November 2022, at Historic X-Over, Kidd teamed with LA Dojo stablemates, Clark Connors, Kevin Knight and Alex Coughlin to defeat Kosei Fujita, Oskar Leube, Ryohei Oiwa and Yuto Nakashima. [11] [12] A few days later, Coghlin and Kidd teamed together in the World Tag League, where they finished bottom of their block with just 2 points. [13]

Bullet Club (2023–present)

On 4 June 2023, at Dominion, Coughlin and Kidd, branded as Bullet Club War Dogs attacked Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi), following their victory of capturing both the IWGP Tag Team Championship and the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships, signalling their challenge for both titles, officially turning both men heel for the first time. The duo later accompanied Bullet Club leader, David Finlay to the ring in Bullet Club shirts, officially joining the stable. [14] On 4 July, night 1 of NJPW Independence Day, Kidd (now under the shortened name Gabe Kidd) and Coughlin defeated Bishamon to win the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships, marking both men’s first NJPW championships. [15] Later in the month, Kidd participated in the G1 Climax making his tournament debut and competing in the A Block. [16] Before the tournament, at the press conference Kidd attacked fellow A Block participants, Yota Tsuji and Kaito Kiyomiya, causing him to be removed from the conference prematurely. [17] In the tournament, Kidd finished with 5 points, failing to advance to the quarterfinal round. [18] On 9 October at Destruction in Ryōgoku, Kidd and Coughlin lost the Strong Openweight Tag Team Titles to Guerrillas of Destiny (El Phantasmo and Hikuleo), ending their reign at 97 days. [19]

The duo attempted to rebound the following month, entering the annual World Tag League, competing in the A-Block. [20] Kidd and Coughlin finished joint top of their block, with 10 points, advancing to the semi-final round. [21] In the semi-final round, the duo were defeated by Bishamon, eliminating them from the tournament. [22] On 17 March 2024 it was reported that Kidd had re-signed with NJPW. [23] Kidd participated in the 2024 New Japan Cup, where he defeated Callum Newman in the first round, but would be eliminated by Shingo Takagi in the second. [24] At Sakura Genesis, Kidd attacked Takagi after the latter defeated Evil for the NEVER Openweight Championship and cut a worked shoot promo, criticizing NJPW, spitting in the face of NJPW President Hiroshi Tanahashi, and then challenged Takagi for his championship. [25] On night 2 of Wrestling Dontaku, Kidd was unsuccessful in winning the championship from Takagi. [26] On 11 May he defeated Eddie Kingston in a No Ropes Last Man Standing match at Resurgence to become the youngest ever Strong Openweight Champion. [27] On June 9, Kidd appeared in Pro Wrestling Noah, teaming with Jake Lee, who was aligned with Bullet Club War Dogs, to face All Rebellion's Kaito Kiyomiya and Kenoh in a double count out. During the match, Kidd busted open Kiyomiya, though afterwards Kiyomiya got the upperhand and proclaimed that the title wasn't for him to own and that he would return the "bloodbath" in their title match. On June 16, at Grand Ship In Yokohama, Kidd unsucessfully challenged Kiyomiya for the GHC Heavyweight Championship, ending Bullet Club War Dogs' feud with Kiyomiya's All Rebellion. [28] From July 20 and August 14, Kidd took part in the 2024 G1 Climax finishing the tournament with a record of four wins and five losses, failing to advance to the play-off match of the tournament. [29] For the 2024 World Tag League, Kidd teamed with the newest War Dogs addition Sanada, where they were placed in A-Block. The duo finished at the top of their block and advanced to the grand finals, where they lost to Tetsuya Naito and Hiromu Takahashi.

All Elite Wrestling (2024)

Kidd made his All Elite Wrestling (AEW) debut on the June 26, 2024 episode of Dynamite , appearing ringside as a spectator. [30] On the June 28 episode of Rampage , Kidd teamed with Roderick Strong to defeat The Infantry (Carlie Bravo and Shawn Dean). [31]

Ring of Honor (2024)

Kidd made his debut for AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH) on the October 10, 2024 episode of ROH Wrestling , where he successfully defended his Strong Openweight Championship against Anthony Henry. [32]

Championships and accomplishments

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References

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  2. ↑ "YOUNG BULL NJPW star Gabriel Kidd Q&A: Training LA Dojo, working with Minoru Suzuki and his journey from the UK to Japan". talkSPORT. 28 August 2020. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  3. ↑ "A Brit Abroad with Gabriel Kidd: Pre-LA Dojo". 新日本プロレス公式サイト. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
  4. ↑ Cagematch. "Gabriel Kidd's matches".
  5. ↑ "Cody Rhodes vs Joe Hendry vs Gabriel Kidd - Internet Title (No Regrets 2017)". Defiant Wrestling 公式YouTubeチャンネル. 3 May 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  6. ↑ "Zack Sabre Jr vs. Gabriel Kidd - Internet Title Match (WCPW Loaded: September 21st, 2017 - Part 5)". Defiant Wrestling 公式YouTubeチャンネル. 23 September 2017. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  7. ↑ "Gabriel Kidd Leaves Defiant Wrestling". Defiant Wrestling公式サイト. Retrieved January 12, 2021.
  8. ↑ "RPW Ungovernable 2019". RPW公式動画配信サイト. Retrieved October 4, 2020.
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  13. ↑ Vetter, Chris (December 14, 2022). "12/14 NJPW "World Tag League & Super Jr. Tag League 2022" results: Vetter's review of "Aussie Open" Mark Davis and Kyle Fletcher vs. Yoshi-Hashi and Hirooki Goto in the World Tag League finals, Lio Rush and Yoh vs. Chris Bey and Ace Austin in the Super Jr. Tag League finals, Karl Anderson vs. Hikuleo for the Never Openweight Championship". Pro Wrestling Dot Net.
  14. ↑ Kelly, Andrew (4 June 2023). "Bullet Club Recruits New Members At NJPW Dominion". Cultaholic. Retrieved 2023-06-04.
  15. ↑ "Bullet Club Captures Gold at NJPW STRONG Independence Day". 4 July 2023.
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  22. ↑ "Finals set for NJPW World Tag League 2023". 8 December 2023.
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  24. ↑ "NJPW New Japan Cup Night Three Results (3/8): Shingo Takagi vs Yuya Uemura, Callum Newman vs Gabe Kidd | Fightful News". www.fightful.com. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
  25. ↑ Williams, Suit (2024-04-06). "NJPW Sakura Genesis 2024 (April 6) Results & Review". Voices of Wrestling. Retrieved 2024-04-21.
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  32. ↑ Black, Ethan (2024-10-10). "ROH TV Results – October 10, 2024 - PWMania - Wrestling News" . Retrieved 2024-11-07.
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  34. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip (September 23, 2018). "Empire The Gauntlet - Event @ The Point in Sunderland, Tyne And Wear, England, UK". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  35. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip (May 29, 2016). "HOP Heavyweight Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 11, 2024.
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  41. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip (June 30, 2017). "Relentless Division Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
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  43. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip (May 11, 2024). "Strong Openweight Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  44. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip (July 4, 2023). "Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  45. ↑ Kreikenbohm, Philip (April 29, 2017). "WCPW Internet Championship". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved May 12, 2024.
  46. ↑ Ross, Patrick (September 10, 2024). "Full 2024 PWI 500 list revealed". aiptcomics.com. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
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