| Inner Circle | |
|---|---|
 The logo of the Inner Circle | |
| Stable | |
| Leader | Chris Jericho |
| Members | Jake Hager Santana Ortiz Sammy Guevara MJF Wardlow |
| Name | Inner Circle |
| Debut | October 9, 2019 |
| Disbanded | March 9, 2022 |
| Years active | 2019–2022 |
TheInner Circle was an Americanprofessional wrestling stable formed in American professional wrestling promotionAll Elite Wrestling (AEW), created and led byChris Jericho. It also consisted of original membersSammy Guevara,Jake Hager,Santana and Ortiz.
The stable was formed during the first episode ofAEW Dynamite and became one of the central acts of the promotion during the first years, since Jericho became theAEW World Champion. The stable first notable feud was against The Elite, being defeated in a Stadium Stampede. The stable also includedMJF andWardlow for a few months before MJF turned on them and created his own stable,The Pinnacle, facing both stables in a Blood and Guts match and a Stadium Stampede. During the final months of the stable, they feuded withAmerican Top Team and Sammy Guevara won theAEW TNT Championship twice. The stable disbanded after Jericho and Hager turned on Santana and Ortiz, with several members joining theJericho Appreciation Society, also led by Jericho.
AtAll Out on August 31,Chris Jericho became the inauguralAEW World Champion after defeatingAdam Page. At the same event,Santana and Ortiz made their AEW debut by attackingNick Jackson andLucha Brothers.[1]
On the premiere episode ofAEW Dynamite on October 2, at the main event of the night,Kenny Omega andThe Young Bucks were defeated by Jericho and Santana and Ortiz. After the match,Jake Hager made his AEW debut by helping Jericho,Sammy Guevara, Santana and Ortiz by attacking The Young Bucks,Dustin Rhodes andCody.[2] October 9, On the following episode ofDynamite, Jericho officially unveiled the new stable as "The Inner Circle".[3]
The Inner Circle's success continued at theFull Gear pay-per-view on November 9, as Santana and Ortiz defeated the Young Bucks while Jericho successfully retained the AEW World Championship over Cody.[4] On the episode ofDynamite after Full Gear, Jericho and Guevara challengedSoCal Uncensored (Frankie Kazarian andScorpio Sky) for theAEW World Tag Team Championship, but they failed to win when Sky pinned Jericho with a small package, giving Jericho his first loss in AEW.[5] On the November 27 episode ofDynamite, Jericho successfully defended his world championship against Sky.[6] In December, Jericho feuded withJon Moxley, offering him a spot in the group[7][8][9] and also bringing inJeff Cobb as a "hired gun" to attack Moxley.[10][11] Despite all this, Moxley defeated Jericho to win the AEW World Championship atRevolution on February 29, 2020, ending Jericho's inaugural AEW World Championship reign at 182 days.[12]
During the following weeks, The Inner Circle feuded with The Elite and"Broken" Matt Hardy, culminating atDouble or Nothing in the first-everStadium Stampede match in whichSammy Guevara was pinned byKenny Omega.
On November 7 atFull Gear,MJF andWardlow became the newest members of The Inner Circle after MJF defeated Jericho.[13] On AEW'sNew Year's Smash, Wardlow defeated Jake Hager with mutual respect shown afterward. On the February 10, 2021, edition ofAEW Dynamite, following weeks of growing tension between MJF & Guevara, Guevara attacked MJF following a backstage confrontation which gave MJF akayfabe rib injury. Later on in the episode, Guevara announced his departure from The Inner Circle.[14]
On the March 10, 2021, edition ofDynamite, a "War Council" was called by the Inner Circle after Chris Jericho and MJF failed to capture theAEW World Tag Team Championship overThe Young Bucks atRevolution. During the segment, Guevara came out and revealed that MJF had been planning a coup of the Inner Circle against Jericho and thought he'd convinced Hager, Santana and Ortiz to join him, only to discover that Guevara had secretly taped it, and the three were faking it to expose MJF's duplicity, leading Jericho to fire MJF from the group. MJF then revealed that he had created his own stable (which would subsequently be namedThe Pinnacle) consisting of Wardlow, FTR, Shawn Spears, and Tully Blanchard who appeared and violently attacked The Inner Circle, ending with Wardlow powerbombing Jericho off the stage and through a table. This betrayal and attack resulted in the entirety of the Inner Circle turning face. The entire group returned on the March 31 episode ofDynamite after weeks of absence, hiding in their old dressing room which was previously taken over by the Pinnacle. They then proceeded to violently attack each member of the group, and reclaim their dressing room.
The Inner Circle and The Pinnacle fought atAEW Blood and Guts in the May 5 edition ofAEW Dynamite. The match, stylized after theWar Games match, saw the Pinnacle emerge victorious after Guevara surrendered on behalf of the group as MJF threatened to throw Jericho from the top of the cage. The Inner Circle returned a week after to interrupt a coronation ceremony hosted by the Pinnacle, where they hosed down the latter with champagne. This led to aStadium Stampede match atDouble or Nothing, where the participating wrestlers feuded with each other individually- Jericho with MJF, Hager with Wardlow, Guevara with Spears, and Santana and Ortiz with FTR. This match came with the added stipulation that if The Inner Circle lost, they would permanently disband. The Inner Circle won the match, with Guevara pinningSpears, in the main event of the show.
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Jericho then began pursuing another match with MJF, who stated that he would first have to defeat a gauntlet of opponents selected by MJF, in a series dubbed the "Labors of Jericho[15]". Jericho defeated each of MJF's handpicked opponents (Shawn Spears, Nick Gage, Juventud Guerrera and Wardlow) and faced MJF in the final labor on the August 18 episode ofDynamite, but he was defeated. Jericho demanded one more match, stipulating that if he lost, he would retire from in-ring competition, which MJF accepted. At All Out on September 5, Jericho defeated MJF to maintain his career and end their feud.
On the June 30th edition of AEWDynamite, Sammy Guevara lost to MJF after Spears hit him with a chair to the head. On the August 18th episode ofDynamite, Guevara announced his engagement to his girlfriend. Later in the night, Guevara defeated Shawn Spears.
Guevara then began a feud withMiro, who'd attacked and embarrassedFuego Del Sol. Guevara was subsequently granted a match for the TNT Championship on Dynamite, and on September 29, Guevara won the AEW TNT Championship atDynamite by defeating Miro.
Proud and Powerful began a lengthy feud withFTR.
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Dan Lambert introduced the stable American Top Team. The team consists of UFC fighters Andrei Arlovski, Junior Dos Santos, Jorge Masvidal, and Paige Vanzant, with the stable also being allied with the Men of the Year, Ethan Page and Scorpio Sky. Lambert's consistent bashing of AEW and its roster instantly drew the ire of Jericho, who would challenge the Men of the Year to a tag match against himself and Hager onRampage: Grand Slam, but due to the various interference by American Top Team, Men of the Year ultimately emerged as the victors. A rematch was set with a 6-man tag team match that consisted of the Men of the Year alongsideJunior Dos Santos, who was making his pro wrestling debut, against the team of Jericho, Hager, and TNT Champion, Sammy Guevera.Due to interference from Lambert and Paige Vanzant,American Top Team was once again victorious. After a post-match beat down of Guevara, Jericho, and Hager, Santana and Ortiz ran off American Top Team.
On the March 9, 2022, episode ofDynamite after the fallout ofRevolution, Jericho had attempted to shakeEddie Kingston's hand only for2point0 to attack both men and the fellow Inner Circle members to save Jericho, leading to aheel turn for him and Jake Hager. After beating down Ortiz and Santana, Jericho created a new stable called the "Jericho Appreciation Society," which consisted of himself, Hager, 2point0, andDaniel Garcia, disbanding The Inner Circle name in the process. The JAS started a feud with Santana, Ortiz, Kingston and theBlackpool Combat Club, managed byWilliam Regal and consisting of Moxley,Bryan Danielson, andWheeler Yuta. After a match atDouble or Nothing, with the Jericho Appreciation Society victorious, Jericho defeated Ortiz in a hair vs hair match on the June 15, 2022, episode of Dynamite with the help of Guevara.[16]
| * | Founding member |
|---|---|
| L | Leader |
| Member | Joined | Left | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chris Jericho (L) | * | October 9, 2019 | March 9, 2022 |
| Jake Hager | * | October 9, 2019 | March 9, 2022 |
| Ortiz | * | October 9, 2019 | March 9, 2022 |
| Santana | * | October 9, 2019 | March 9, 2022 |
| Sammy Guevara | * | October 9, 2019[note 1] | February 9, 2022 |
| MJF | November 7, 2020 | March 10, 2021 | |
| Wardlow | November 7, 2020 | March 10, 2021 | |
| Member | Joined |
|---|---|
| Mike Tyson | April 7, 2021 |
As of February 16, 2026
| Affiliate | Members | Tenure | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Santana and Ortiz | Santana Ortiz | 2019–2022 | Tag team |
