The O.C. (professional wrestling)


The O.C., originally known as The Club, was a professional wrestling stable composed of A.J. Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson.
Previously working in New Japan Pro-Wrestling as members of Bullet Club, the trio of Styles, Gallows and Anderson reunited in WWE in May 2016 as The Club, before splitting two months later. They would officially reunite in July 2019 and were renamed The O.C.. Their team name is derived from their catchphrase of being "the official, the original, the only club that matters".

Background

From 2014 to 2016, Styles, Gallows and Anderson, were members of Bullet Club, primarily appearing in the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling. In NJPW, Styles was a two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, and Gallows and Anderson were three-time IWGP Tag Team Champions. Styles departed from the promotion in January 2016, followed by Gallows and Anderson in February. After their departures, there were weeks of speculation and teasing from WWE themselves about the trio signing with WWE.

History

WWE

Initial run as The Club (2016)

On the April 11, 2016 episode of Raw, Gallows and Anderson made their debut for WWE, attacking The Usos, establishing themselves as heels in the process and with the duo's NJPW background being acknowledged by WWE announcers. On the following week's Raw, WWE began teasing an alliance between Gallows and Anderson and their former Bullet Club stablemate AJ Styles when, after meeting Styles in a backstage interview, Gallows and Anderson attacked his Payback opponent Roman Reigns in the ring; Styles, however, did not seem pleased with the attack. Over the next weeks, Gallows and Anderson continued teasing an uneasy alliance with Styles, while having several face offs with The Usos and Roman Reigns, including at Payback, where the two failed in their attempt to help Styles capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Reigns. On the May 9 episode of Raw, the trio of Styles, Gallows and Anderson was dubbed "The Club". The Club disbanded two weeks later on Raw, when Styles stated that he wanted an amicable separation from Gallows and Anderson, blaming them and The Usos for his failure to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at the previous day's Extreme Rules. Though Styles stated that the three could remain "brothers", Gallows and Anderson refused and ended the friendship altogether. On the May 30 episode of Raw, Gallows and Anderson entered the WWE Tag Team Championship picture by attacking reigning champions The New Day, while later in the show, Styles turned on the returning John Cena and reunited with Gallows and Anderson. This set up a match between Styles and Cena at Money in the Bank on June 19, which Styles won after interference from The Club. On July 19, The Club was split up in the WWE draft, with Gallows and Anderson being drafted to Raw brand and Styles to SmackDown brand, which resulted in them wrestling their last match together as a trio on July 24 at Battleground in a loss against John Cena, Enzo Amore and Big Cass.
Gallows and Anderson were both drafted to SmackDown brand in 2018, where they made a one-off reunion with Styles on the April 24, 2018 episode of SmackDown Live as fan favorites, in a losing effort to Shinsuke Nakamura, Aiden English and Rusev. After an unsuccessful stint on the SmackDown brand, Gallows and Anderson returned to the Raw brand on April 29, 2019, losing to The Usos. At that point, they had not won a match on television since they defeated The Usos in May 2018. Throughout the following weeks, Styles frustratingly encouraged Gallows and Anderson to be the successful duo they once were.

Reformation as The O.C. (2019–2020)

On the July 1 episode of Raw, Gallows and Anderson encouraged AJ Styles to be the guy he was in NJPW. After Styles lost a United States Championship match to Ricochet; Gallows and Anderson helped Styles to beat up Ricochet, and reuniting The Club as heels. Two weeks later, at Extreme Rules, Styles, accompanied by The Club, won his third United States Championship by defeating Ricochet. On the July 22 episode of Raw, The Club was renamed "The O.C." and repeatedly claimed that they were the "official, original, and only club that matters." On the July 29 episode of Raw, Gallows and Anderson won their second Raw Tag Team Championship, making all members of The O.C. champions, but they lost the titles on the August 19 episode of Raw to Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman, ending their reign at 21 days. At Crown Jewel on October 31, Gallows and Anderson won the nine-team tag team turmoil match to win the WWE Tag Team World Cup and be called "the best tag team in the world". Styles also retained his US title against Humberto Carrillo at the event. The O.C. would have unfortunate luck at Survivor Series; during the Kickoff pre-show, Gallows and Anderson were eliminated from the interbrand tag team battle royal, and on the main show, Styles lost the interbrand triple threat match, in which he faced SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and NXT North American Champion Roderick Strong, where Strong stole the victory from Styles after Styles had performed a Phenomenal Forearm on Nakamura and Strong threw Styles out of the ring and pinned Nakamura. The O.C. would again have bad luck on the following night's Raw as during Styles' championship match against Rey Mysterio, Gallows and Anderson were ejected from ringside and Styles ultimately lost his U.S. title to Mysterio thanks to help from Randy Orton.
On April 15, 2020, Gallows and Anderson were released from their WWE contracts as part of budget cuts stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, therefore disbanding the stable.

Championships and accomplishments