Time Splitters | |
---|---|
Tag team | |
Members | Alex Shelley Kushida Chris Sabin |
Name(s) | Time Splitters Kushida and Alex Shelley Time Machine |
Billed heights | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) - Shelley 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) - Kushida |
Combined billed weight | 407 lb (185 kg) |
Debut | August 26, 2012 |
Years active | 2012–2015 2020 |
Time Splitters is a professional wrestling tag team formed by Kushida and Alex Shelley. They were best known for their time with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). They are former two-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions while Kushida was a three time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion during the team's existence.
On August 26, 2012, Alex Shelley and A.J. Kirsch unsuccessfully challenged Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at a Sacramento Wrestling Federation (SWF) event in Gridley, California. [1] Following the match, Kushida saved Shelley from a beatdown at the hands of Koslov and Romero. [2] Shelley and Kushida began forming the tag team "Time Splitters" and scoring several wins over Koslov and Romero in multiple man teamed matches, after debuting their new double-team finishing maneuver, the I-94 . [3] [4] [5] On October 8 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Time Splitters unsuccessfully challenged Forever Hooligans for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. [6] [7] On October 21, the Time Splitters entered the 2012 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, defeating Jado & Gedo in their first round match. [8] On November 2, Shelley and Kushida defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) to advance to the finals, where, later that same day, they defeated Apollo 55 to win the tournament and become the number one contenders to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. [9] On November 11 at Power Struggle, the Time Splitters defeated Forever Hooligans in a rematch to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. [10] [11] Time Splitters made their first successful title defense on February 10, 2013, at The New Beginning, defeating Forever Hooligans in the third title match between the two teams. [12] Their second successful defense took place on March 3 at New Japan's 41st anniversary event, where they defeated Jyushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask. [13] On April 5, Shelley received his first shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Prince Devitt. [14] Two days later at Invasion Attack, Time Splitters defeated Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi for their third successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. [15] [16] On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Time Splitters lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship back to the Forever Hooligans in their fourth defense. [17] [18]
On June 22 at Dominion 6.22, Time Splitters failed in their attempt to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from the Forever Hooligans. [19] [20] On September 29 at Destruction, Shelley and Kushida defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) to earn another shot at the Forever Hooligans and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. [21] However, on October 7, New Japan announced that Shelley had suffered a back injury, which would force Time Splitters to back out of the title match. [22] Shelley later revealed that he had received a severe sciatica taking a sitout powerbomb from Taichi, which marked his fourth injury in the promotion since his September 2012 return. [23] Shelley wrestled his return match on January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, where he and Kushida unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in a four-way match, which also included the Forever Hooligans and Suzuki-gun. [24] [25] Time Splitters were victorious in a non-title rematch the following day, after which they asserted themselves as The Young Bucks' next challengers. [26] They received their title shot on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, but were again defeated by The Young Bucks. [27] [28] On May 9, Time Splitters made their Border City Wrestling (BCW) debut at the New Japan vs. Border City event, defeating former TNA wrestler Petey Williams and Brent B. [29] Time Splitters received another title shot on May 10 at Global Wars, a special event co-produced by NJPW and Ring of Honor (ROH) in Toronto, but were defeated by The Young Bucks in a three-way match, also involving Forever Hooligans. [30] On June 21 at Dominion 6.21, Time Splitters defeated The Young Bucks to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time. [31] On July 4, Kushida defeated Kota Ibushi to also win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. [32] On August 10, Time Splitters made their first successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against the ROH World Tag Team Champions reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly). [33] On September 21 at Destruction in Kobe, Kushida lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Ryusuke Taguchi in his first defense. [34] Two days later at Destruction in Okayama, Time Splitters made their second successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Taichi). [35] On October 13 at King of Pro-Wrestling, Time Splitters made their third successful title defense in a three-way match against Forever Hooligans and The Young Bucks. [36] [37] On November 8 at Power Struggle, Time Splitters lost the title to 2014 Super Jr. Tag Tournament winners reDRagon. [38] On December 7, Time Splitters returned to ROH at Final Battle 2014, where they unsuccessfully challenged reDRagon for the ROH World Tag Team Championship. [39] Time Splitters received a rematch for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome, in a four-way match also involving Forever Hooligans and The Young Bucks, but were again defeated by reDRagon. [40] On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, Time Splitters received another title shot in a three-way match, but were this time defeated by The Young Bucks, who became the new champions. [41] [42]
Following November's 2015 Super Jr. Tag Tournament, Shelley left Japan and returned to ROH, where he reformed Motor City Machine Guns tag team with Chris Sabin. [43]
Shelley and Kushida were announced as participant of the 2020 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic on January 8, when Alex was announced as Kushida's mystery partner. This was Shelley's first appearance for WWE, after a one-off appearance on WWE Heat back in his early wrestling days in 2005. [44] On the January 15 episode of NXT, Kushida and Shelley lost to Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake and Zack Gibson) in the first round of the tournament. [45]
In 2022, Kushida began making appearances in Impact Wrestling, and would reunite with Shelley - who had himself already reunited with Chris Sabin to reform their long time team of The Motor City Machine Guns - and the three of them combined to form a faction called Time Machine (a nod to both the Time Splitters and the Machine Guns). [46] Time machine defeated The System
Patrick Kenneth Martin,, better known by the ring name, Alex Shelley, is an American professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand. He is also known for his tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
John Raymond Rivera, better known by his ring name Rocky Romero, is a Cuban-American professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a Vice President in both promotions. He is a member of the Chaos stable and also makes appearances for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), as well as Major League Wrestling (MLW). Also known by his nickname "Azúcar ", he is best known for his accomplishments as a tag team wrestler. He was member of tag teams like The Havana Pitbulls/Los Cubanitos, Forever Hooligans, and Roppongi Vice. His tenure as the fourth incarnation of Black Tiger was also met with praise and recognition.
Alex Sherman is a Moldovan-born Russian semi-retired professional wrestler and color commentator, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling under the ring name Alex Koslov.
Robert Anthony Fish is an American professional wrestler currently performing for Major League Wrestling (MLW). He is best known for his tenure with WWE, where he performed on the NXT brand and was a member of The Undisputed Era. In WWE, he is a former 2-time NXT Tag Team Champion alongside his tag team partner Kyle O'Reilly. He is also known for his time with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) from 2021 to 2022 and Ring of Honor (ROH) from 2013 to 2017, where he wrestled as one-half of the tag team reDRagon and held the ROH World Tag Team Championship three times and the ROH World Television Championship once. He is also known for his appearances in Japan both for Pro Wrestling Noah and for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship twice.
Yujiro Kushida is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, better known by his mononymous ring name Kushida. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA).
Chaos is a professional wrestling stable performing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The group was formed in 2009, when nearly all the members of the Great Bash Heel (G.B.H) stable turned on leader Togi Makabe and reformed under new leader Shinsuke Nakamura. Soon after, the new group was named Chaos, with Nakamura as the leader. As the leader of Chaos, Nakamura was one of NJPW's top wrestlers, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Intercontinental Championship as well as the 2011 G1 Climax and the 2014 New Japan Cup.
Forever Hooligans was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero. They are best known for working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where they are former two-time IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. They have also worked for Ring of Honor, where they are former ROH World Tag Team Champions.
King of Pro-Wrestling (2012) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on October 8, 2012, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan. The event featured nine matches, five of which were contested for championships.
The New Beginning (2013) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on February 10, 2013, in Hiroshima, Hiroshima, at the Hiroshima Sun Plaza Hall. The event featured nine matches, four of which were contested for championships. It was the fourth event under the New Beginning name.
Wrestling Dontaku 2013 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on May 3, 2013, in Fukuoka, Fukuoka, at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center. The event featured ten matches, four of which were contested for championships.
Dominion 6.21 was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on June 21, 2014, in Osaka, Osaka, at the Bodymaker Colosseum. The event featured nine matches, five of which were contested for championships. It was the sixth event under the Dominion name.
Global Wars was a professional wrestling supershow co-produced by the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and Japanese New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotions. The event took place on May 10, 2014, at the Ted Reeve Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and aired live on internet pay-per-view (iPPV) through Ustream. The event was originally announced as "Border Wars", a name ROH had used for events in 2012 and 2013, before being re-branded as "Global Wars".
War of the Worlds was a professional wrestling supershow co-produced by the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and Japanese New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotions. The event took place on May 17, 2014, at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City, New York, U.S. and aired live on Internet pay-per-view (iPPV) through Ustream.
reDRagon was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly, formed in 2012, and lasting until September 1, 2022 when Fish quietly left All Elite Wrestling (AEW). They are also known for their work in Ring of Honor (ROH), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and WWE. In WWE, they wrestled together under the name The Undisputed Era, as a stable with Adam Cole; the three formed the stable as The Undisputed Elite after leaving WWE, although Fish and O'Reilly had resumed using the named reDRagon when working as a duo.
King of Pro-Wrestling (2014) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on October 13, 2014, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan and featured ten matches, six of which were contested for championships. It was the third event under the King of Pro-Wrestling name.
Power Struggle (2014) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on November 8, 2014, in Osaka, Osaka, at the Bodymaker Colosseum.
The New Beginning in Osaka (2015) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on February 11, 2015, in Osaka, Osaka at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium and featured ten matches, four of which were contested for championships.
Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on July 5, 2015, in Osaka, Osaka, at the Osaka-jō Hall. The event featured ten matches with all six of NJPW's championships on the line, main evented by an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match between champion A.J. Styles and challenger Kazuchika Okada.
Destruction in Okayama (2015) was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on September 23, 2015, in Okayama, Okayama at the Momotaro Arena. The event featured nine matches, four of which were contested for championships. It was the tenth event under the Destruction name.
War of the Worlds (2016) was a professional wrestling tour co-produced by the American Ring of Honor (ROH) and Japanese New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotions in 2016. It was the third year in which ROH and NJPW co-produced events under the War of the Worlds name.