AEW World Champion Will Ospreay announced on the September 2 episode of Dynamite that he is creating his own version of the United Empire stable, which he co-founded alongside Great-O-Khan in NJPW. He has since added Francesco Akira and Mike Bailey to the group, as well as the AEW Women’s World Tag Team Champions, the Brawling Birds (Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor), and AEW National Champion Andrade El Ídolo.
Fans have raised questions about how AEW can use the United Empire name, given that it was originally formed in NJPW. AEW changed the Bullet Club Gold name to the Bang Bang Gang, likely due to trademark issues since NJPW owns that name. However, sources from Fightful Select indicated that Ospreay actually owns the United Empire name, having trademarked it in April with assistance from Michael Dockins. This allows him the freedom to use the name as he wishes.
