The Club aka The O.C. is a professional wrestling stable in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) consisting of AJ Styles, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows and Michin.
The trio originally debuted on the May 2, 2016 episode of Raw, but made their official television debut as "The Club" on the May 9, 2016 Raw. The stable draws inspiration from another professional wrestling group primarily active in the Japanese New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion and the American Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion, known as Bullet Club, in which Styles (former co-leader), Anderson (former co-leader) and Gallows (former member) are all previous members of, before all three departed NJPW and ROH for WWE in January and April respectively.
History
Formation
In January 2016, on WWE.com, it was announced that A.J. Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, were in talks to debut/return in WWE, leaving NJPW. After weeks of speculation, on January 20, 2016, it was confirmed that Styles had signed with WWE. After not being on WWE television since his Metal match in 2002, Styles made his return and official debut to WWE on January 24, 2016, at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view during the Royal Rumble match for the WWE Championship, entering at number three and receiving a loud ovation. On the April 11, 2016, episode of Raw, Anderson and Gallows (who returned to his Luke Gallows ring name) made their debut for WWE, attacking The Usos (Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso).
Feud with Roman Reigns and The Usos (2016)
On the following week's Raw, WWE began teasing an alliance between Anderson and Gallows and their former Bullet Club stablemate AJ Styles. After meeting Styles in a backstage interview, Anderson and Gallows attacked his Payback opponent Roman Reigns in the ring. Styles, however, did not seem pleased with the attack. Anderson and Gallows wrestled their first WWE match on the April 25 Raw, defeating The Usos. Over the next weeks, Anderson and Gallows continued teasing an uneasy alliance with Styles, while having several face offs with The Usos and Reigns, including at Payback, where the two failed in their attempt to help Styles capture the WWE World Heavyweight Championship from Reigns, and the following week's Raw and SmackDown, where the two sides traded victories in six-man tag matches, with Reigns pinning Anderson on SmackDown for Anderson and Gallows' first WWE loss.
On the May 9 Raw, the trio of Anderson, Gallows and Styles 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 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 Raw, Gallows and Anderson entered the WWE Raw 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.
At Battleground on July 24, The Club took on Cena and Enzo Amore and Big Cass in a six-man tag team match, where they lost after Cena pinned Styles. During the 2016 WWE draft on July 19, Styles was drafted to SmackDown in the first round of picks, being the brand's second pick overall, while Gallows and Anderson were drafted to Raw, splitting up The Club. On July 19, The Club was split up in the 2016 WWE draft with Gallows and Anderson being drafted to Raw and Styles to SmackDown, 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 & Big Cass.
On July 19, The Club was broken up in the 2016 WWE draft with Styles being drafted to SmackDown and Gallows & Anderson to Raw. In April 2018 during the 2018 WWE Superstar Shake-up Gallows & Anderson moved to SmackDown, reuniting with AJ.
In wrestling
- Double-team finishing moves
- Anderson and Gallows
- Magic Killer (Aided snap swinging neckbreaker)
- Anderson and Gallows
- Anderson's finishing moves
- Gallows' finishing moves
- Styles' finishing moves
- Calf Crusher (Calf slicer)
- Styles Clash
- Nicknames
- "Good Brothers"
- Entrance themes
- "Phenomenal" by CFO$ (AJ Styles)
- "Omen in the Sky" by CFO$ (Anderson and Gallows)
Championships and accomplishments
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Match of the Year (2016) vs. John Cena at SummerSlam – Styles
- Wrestler of the Year (2016) – Styles
- Ranked Styles No. 4 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
- Ranked Gallows No. 65 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
- Ranked Anderson No. 69 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
- World Wrestling Entertainment
- WWE Championship (1 time) – Styles
- WWE Raw Tag Team Championship (2 times) – Gallows and Anderson
