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Contra Unit

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Contra Unit
Stable
MembersSee below
Name(s)Contra Unit
DebutFebruary 2, 2019

Contra Unit is a villainous professional wrestling stable, currently performing for Major League Wrestling (MLW) and Southern Honor Wrestling (SHW). It consists of leader Mads Krule Krügger, Ikuro Kwon, Janai Kai, Minoru Suzuki and the Sentai Death Squad. In SHW, the group also consists of Brooklyn Creed, Joe Black and Romeo Quevedok.[1][2]

The stable was formed at the SuperFight event on February 2, 2019 when Jacob Fatu and Josef Samael made their MLW debut and formed their alliance with Simon Gotch by attacking his opponent Ace Romero.[3] The group made its televised debut at Intimidation Games and dominated MLW roster throughout the year, becoming the top villainous group of the company.[4] The group cemented its dominance over MLW when Fatu won the World Heavyweight Championship at Kings of Colosseum on July 6, 2019.[5] Ikuro Kwon was added to the group as its fourth member in August.

Following a storyline where Contra took over and shut down MLW in May 2020 and were subsequently ousted from power in October of the same year, they were joined a masked man known as The Black Hand of Contra on November 18, who was then renamed "Mads Krügger" on the December 2 episode of Fusion. The group would then add Daivari to their ranks at the 2021 Kings of Colosseum. The group would lose Gotch and Daivari and then seem to disband at War Chamber 2021 after losing Fatu and Samael, with Kwon announcing his renouncement from the group.

At SuperFight on January 3, 2024, Krügger made his return to MLW, along with Contra Unit's Sentai Death Squad, attacking Jacob Fatu after his match with Yuji Nagata and then hit Fatu with a Baklei bottle. At War Chamber on March 29, 2024, Ikuro Kwon returned to MLW and assisted Contra Unit in attacking The Second Gear Crew (Matthew Justice and 1 Called Manders) and CozyMax (Shigeo Okumura and Satoshi Kojima).[6]

History

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Background and formation (2019)

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Simon Gotch

Jacob Fatu and The Almighty Sheik were previously a part of a stable called the "Warbeast" with Brody King and Kevin Sullivan and competed on the independent circuit winning many tag team titles in various promotions.[7] In January 2019, Warbeast members Fatu and Sheik signed a contract with Major League Wrestling and MLW announced on its website that Jacob Fatu would make his MLW debut at SuperFight.[8][9] Sheik was repackaged as Josef Samael and he and Fatu made their MLW debut in a non-televised match by defeating local wrestlers Chico Adams and Kwame Nas at SuperFight. Later at the event, the duo allied themselves with Simon Gotch by attacking his opponent Ace Romero, during which Gotch proclaimed that the group as "global merchants of violence" and named it "Contra" and waved a self-designated Contra flag.[10] The pair made its televised debut at Intimidation Games by attacking Tom Lawlor after he retained the MLW World Heavyweight Championship against Low Ki in a steel cage match.[11] Contra Unit led another attack on Ace Romero during Romero's match against Simon Gotch on the March 9 episode of Fusion.[12] The next week, on Fusion, Fatu and Samael had their first televised match in MLW against Chico Adams and Vertigo Rivera, where they got themselves disqualified after Samael brutalized them with his spike.[13] Fatu entered the titular match at the Battle Riot II on April 5, where Contra poured gas on various participants, which led to them being disqualified from the match. Later that night, Contra attacked Tom Lawlor again during a post-event press conference.[14]

Contra Unit planned a hostile takeover of MLW,[15] continuing its dominance and rise as Fatu ended Barrington Hughes' undefeated streak in MLW in a quick match on the May 11 episode of Fusion.[16] Fatu and Samael would go on to defeat Hughes and Romero in a tag team match on the May 25 episode of Fusion. Later at that episode, Contra Unit attacked Low Ki as well as Tom Lawlor for the third time after Lawlor's successful title defense against Avalanche.[17]

Ascension to the top and MLW takeover (2019–2020)

[edit]
Josef Samael

Lawlor enlisted the help of Marshall and Ross Von Erich to feud with Contra Unit as the team of Lawlor and Von Erichs defeated Contra Unit in a six-man tag team match.[18] The feud between Lawlor and Contra Unit intensified, which set up a match between Fatu and Lawlor for the World Heavyweight Championship at Kings of Colosseum on July 6, which Fatu won, thus capturing the title and cementing Contra Unit's dominance over MLW.[19][20]

Jacob Fatu

The rivalry continued between Contra Unit and the team of Lawlor and Von Erichs, leading up to a War Chamber match at the namesake event.[21] Contra Unit introduced a fourth member Ikuro Kwon on the August 3 episode of Fusion, who spit mist into Marshall Von Erich's eyes.[22] Low Ki would soon join Lawlor and Von Erichs in the feud by helping them fend off an attack by Contra Unit after Fatu successfully defended the World Heavyweight Championship against Lawlor in a rematch on the August 31 episode of Fusion.[23] Contra Unit would lose to Low Ki, Lawlor and Von Erichs in the titular match at War Chamber to settle the rivalry.[24][25]

Contra Unit's next feud was against Salina de la Renta's stable Promociones Dorado, which began after LA Park decided to cash in his Golden Ticket opportunity by winning the Battle Riot against Jacob Fatu for the World Heavyweight Championship at MLW's first-ever pay-per-view Saturday Night SuperFight on November 2.[26] In the warm-up to the match, Promociones Dorado members LA Park, Bestia 666 and Mecha Wolf defeated Kwon, Gotch and Samael in a six-man tag team match on the final episode of Fusion before the pay-per-view.[27] However, Fatu retained the title against Park at Saturday Night SuperFight.[28]

Contra would plant the seeds of a potential feud with The Hart Foundation after Josef Samael threw a fireball on Teddy Hart, thus costing the latter, the World Middleweight Championship against Myron Reed on the November 11 episode of Fusion. Hart would subsequently depart MLW while Contra would then resume their feud with the Von Erichs as Fatu issued a World Heavyweight Championship opportunity to Marshall Von Erich. However, Marshall was mysteriously attacked and his brother Ross Von Erich challenged Fatu instead but was defeated after Tom Lawlor betrayed Ross. Contra would wreak havoc in Japan in November, leading to a six-man tag team match on the January 1, 2020 episode of Fusion, in which Fatu, Kwon and Gotch defeated Strong Hearts (Cima, El Lindaman and Shigehiro Irie). The feud with the Strong Hearts would conclude with Fatu retaining the World Heavyweight Championship against Cima on the March 7 episode of Fusion.

Hart Foundation would begin feuding with Contra to avenge Contra's attack on Teddy Hart, which led to Davey Boy Smith, Jr. defeating Gotch in a No Holds Barred match on the February 1 episode of Fusion and Fatu retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Brian Pillman Jr. on the February 8 episode of Fusion. On the May 10 episode of Fusion, Contra attacked several MLW wrestlers in the backstage area and took over MLW's headquarters, thus taking over the promotion and "shutting it down" (storyline explanation for MLW's hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Injustice member Kotto Brazil was one of the wrestlers injured in the assault which ended his MLW career as an explanation for his legitimate departure from the promotion.

Expansion, departures and returns (2020-present)

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Contra was ousted from power in October and MLW resumed events on the November 18 episode of Fusion, where Fatu retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Davey Boy Smith, Jr. Alexander Hammerstone confronted Fatu after the match and was attacked by the debuting The Black Hand of Contra, who was later revealed to be Mads Krügger. On the December 9 episode of Fusion, Fatu and Gotch challenged The Von Erichs for the World Tag Team Championship and the match ended in a no contest after Injustice member Jordan Oliver and Violence is Forever interfered in the match and attacked all the competitors. Oliver would soon begin challenging Gotch to a match to avenge the attack on Kotto Brazil in May, setting up a match between Gotch and Oliver at Kings of Colosseum on January 6, 2021. However, Gotch faked injury and the match was cancelled. However, later at the event, Contra attacked Injustice after Myron Reed lost the World Middleweight Championship to Lio Rush. The debuting Daivari would get involved in the attack thus becoming the newest member of Contra Unit. Krügger would challenge Hammerstone for the National Openweight Championship at the event and the match ended in a double count-out.

Gotch and Oliver had a match on the January 20 episode of Fusion, which Gotch won via referee stoppage. On the February 3 episode of Fusion, Hammerstone defended the National Openweight Championship against Krügger in a Baklei Brawl, which Hammerstone won to retain but it was revealed to be a fake Krügger as the real Krügger attacked Hammerstone after the match. Fatu retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Oliver on the March 3 episode of Fusion and Contra attacked Injustice after the match but Calvin Tankman made the save and challenged Fatu to a match for the title. In the meanwhile, Daivari and Gotch competed against Los Parks and Injustice in a three-way match for the World Tag Team Championship on the March 17 episode of Fusion, where Los Parks retained the titles. At Never Say Never, Gotch lost to Oliver and Daivari lost to Reed while Fatu retained the World Heavyweight Championship against Tankman due to outside interference by Daivari. On October 2 at Fightland Fatu lost the world title to Alexander Hammerstone, ending his record setting reign at 819 days. The stable would seemingly dissolve at War Chamber after losing the titular match to the Hammerheads.[29] This was also heavily implied to be the case by MLW's YouTube channel,[30] which stated Kwon had renounced Contra and left, Fatu going on his own way and Krügger vowing revenge, along with Josef Samael being released and removed from MLW's Roster page on MLW.com. This would be ignored, however in future episodes of Fusion, which would have Kwon providing backup for Krügger, both men having Contra logos in their entrance videos and commentators referring to Contra in the present tense along with referencing Krügger and Kwon looking for new members.[31]

On May 6, 2022, Krügger competed at SHW39 for Southern Honor Wrestling (where he is known as “The Heathen” Krule). He faced Dylan James (aka Sunny Daze) in a Chain Match with the stipulation being that if Krule won, Dylan would lose his job as booker of the company and would be replaced by Krule’s wife, Brooklyn. However, if Dylan won, Brooklyn would be fired from SHW. With the Chain Match being no disqualification, Krule ended up defeating Dylan James with the assistance of “The Black Cloud” Joe Black. Thus, giving Brooklyn control of SHW. Later in the show, there would be a Triple Threat Match for the Southern Honor Championship, with the champion Owen Knight defending against Cyrus The Destroyer and “The Priest of Punishment” Judas (aka Judais from the NWA). During the match after taking out Owen Knight, the two big men, Cyrus and Judas, would fight their way through the crowd and towards the backstage area. Meanwhile, with Knight still down in the ring, Brooklyn would appear on stage with Krule and Joe Black by her side, and with her first order of business as SHW’s new booker, she would immediately turn the championship match into a Fatal Four-Way Match. Krule then entered the ring and finished off Owen Knight with his finishing maneuver, Scorched Earth, to win and become the new Southern Honor Champion. This made Krule a two-time SHW Champion (having previously won the title in 2019, then known as Logan Creed). After Krule won the match, Brooklyn and Joe Black would enter the ring holding up a Contra flag and then draping it over Owen Knight, who was still laid out in the middle of the ring. The show would end with Krule attacking multiple members of the SHW staff working at ringside before posing on stage with the SHW Championship belt alongside Brooklyn and Black with the Contra flag

Return to MLW (2024–present)

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At SuperFight on January 3, 2024, Krügger made his return to MLW, along with Contra Unit's Sentai Death Squad, attacking Jacob Fatu after his match with Yuji Nagata and hitting him with a Baklei bottle.[32] At War Chamber on March 29, 2024, Ikuro Kwon returned to MLW and assisted Contra Unit in attacking The Second Gear Crew (Matthew Justice and 1 Called Manders) and CozyMax (Shigeo Okumura and Satoshi Kojima).[33] On May 18, 2024, at Fury Road, Janai Kai was revealed to have joined Contra Unit. On June 1, 2024, at Battle Riot VI, Suzuki joined the Contra Unit teaming with Krügger and Kwon to defeat Satoshi Kojima, Matt Riddle, and Akira in a six-man tag team match.[34] Suzuki and Kwon would then defeat CozyMax to win the MLW World Tag Team Championships at Summer of the Beasts on August 29.[35]

Members

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* Founding member(s)
I-II Leader(s)

Current

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Member Joined
Mads Krügger (II) November 18, 2020 – present
Sentai Death Squad July 10, 2021 – present
Ikuro Kwon August 3, 2019 – December 14, 2021
March 29, 2024 – present
Brooklyn Creed May 6, 2022 – present
Joe Black May 6, 2022 – present
Romeo Quevedo August 6, 2022 – present
Janai Kai May 18, 2024 – present
Minoru Suzuki June 1, 2024 – present

Former

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Member Tenure
Jacob Fatu (I) February 2, 2019* – November 6, 2021
Josef Samael February 2, 2019* – November 6, 2021
Simon Gotch February 2, 2019* – January 31, 2021
Daivari January 6, 2021 – June 12, 2021

Sub-groups

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Former

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Group Members Tenure Type
Warbeast Jacob Fatu
Josef Samael 		2019–2021 Tag team

Timeline

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Championships and accomplishments

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References

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  1. ^ "Contra Unit". Cagematch. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  2. ^ "Fusion Recap: The Opera Cup Commences!". MLW.com. 26 November 2020. Retrieved 29 November 2020.
  3. ^ Marilee Gallagher (February 8, 2019). "(SPOILER) Prepare for Contra: MLW Debuts New Faction with New Faces at Fusion Tapings". Last Word on Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  4. ^ Paul Fontaine (March 2, 2019). "MLW INTIMIDATION GAMES LIVE RESULTS: TOM LAWLOR VS. LOW KI CAGE MATCH". F4W Online. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  5. ^ "Jacob Fatu Wins MLW World Heavyweight Championship". Heel By Nature. July 7, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  6. ^ Tessier, Colin (March 29, 2024). "MLW War Chamber 2024 Results (3/29/24): Matt Riddle, War Chamber Match, More". Wrestlezone. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
  7. ^ Brian Ronovech (July 7, 2019). "Mythbuster: "The Samoan Werewolf" Jacob Fatu is REAL". Last Word on Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  8. ^ "JACOB FATU LOOKS TO MAKE SPLASH IN DEBUT THIS SATURDAY AT SUPERFIGHT IN PHILLY". Major League Wrestling. January 28, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  9. ^ Brian Ronovech (January 29, 2019). "MLW Signs West Coast Stars Hammerstone and WARBEAST". Last Word on Pro Wrestling. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  10. ^ Bill Pritchard (February 2, 2019). "MLW Fusion TV Taping Results For 2/2 *Spoilers*". WrestleZone. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  11. ^ Joseph James (March 2, 2019). "MLW Fusion Recap (3/2): Cage Rematch For The MLW Title, Lucha Brothers In Action, Salina De La Renta". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  12. ^ "FUSION RECAP – MARCH 9, 2019". Major League Wrestling. March 9, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  13. ^ "FUSION RECAP – MARCH 16, 2019". Major League Wrestling. March 16, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  14. ^ Paul Fontaine (April 5, 2019). "MLW BATTLE RIOT 2 LIVE RESULTS: 40 WRESTLERS VIE FOR A WORLD TITLE SHOT". Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  15. ^ "THE RISE OF CONTRA UNIT". Major League Wrestling. May 14, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  16. ^ Jason Powell (May 12, 2019). "Powell's MLW Fusion TV Review: Former WWE and Impact star coming soon, Jacob Fatu vs. Barrington Hughes, Alexander Hammerstone vs. Gringo Loco in an MLW National Openweight Championship tournament match, Rey Feníx vs. Air Wolf". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  17. ^ "MLW Fusion: Contra Unit is the baddest faction in professional wrestling today". Cageside Seats. May 29, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  18. ^ Jain Oliver (June 23, 2019). "MLW FUSION RESULTS: TOM LAWLOR & VON ERICHS VS. CONTRA UNIT". F4W Online. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  19. ^ "FATU CHALLENGES TOM LAWLOR FOR WORLD TITLE JULY 6 IN CHICAGO". Major League Wrestling. June 11, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  20. ^ Jain Oliver (July 9, 2019). "MLW KINGS OF COLOSSEUM RESULTS: TOM LAWLOR VS. JACOB FATU". F4W Online. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  21. ^ "LAWLOR AND VON ERICHS CHALLENGE CONTRA UNIT TO WAR CHAMBER MATCH". Major League Wrestling. August 4, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  22. ^ "FUSION RECAP: DAVEY BOY SMITH JR. & TIMOTHY THATCHER SHOW US THE 'SWEET SCIENCE'". Major League Wrestling. August 3, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  23. ^ "FUSION RECAP: FILTHY TOM GETS HIS HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE REMATCH". Major League Wrestling. August 31, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  24. ^ "LOW KI SET AS 4TH MAN ON VON ERICH/LAWLOR TEAM FOR WAR CHAMBER THIS SATURDAY IN DALLAS". Major League Wrestling. September 3, 2019. Retrieved 3 December 2019.
  25. ^ Jain Oliver (September 15, 2019). "MLW FUSION RESULTS: WAR CHAMBER 2019". F4W Online. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  26. ^ "LA Park cashing in to fight Jacob Fatu in title bout at MLW's first PPV". Cageside Seats. September 8, 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  27. ^ Jain Oliver (October 27, 2019). "MLW FUSION RESULTS AND VIDEO: CONTRA VS. PROMOCIONES DORADO". F4W Online. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  28. ^ Josiah McDonald (November 2, 2019). "MLW SATURDAY NIGHT SUPERFIGHT LIVE RESULTS: JACOB FATU VS. LA PARK". F4W Online. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
  29. ^ Haulotte, Kellie (November 6, 2021). "** SPOILERS ** MLW War Chamber Taping". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved November 7, 2021.
  30. ^ "Exclusive on CONTRA's whereabouts". YouTube. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  31. ^ "MLW Fusion Episode 139". YouTube. Retrieved 1 April 2022.
  32. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (January 3, 2024). "Mads Krügger Returns to MLW, attacks Jacob Fatu: MLW SuperFight". Fightful. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  33. ^ Tessier, Colin (March 29, 2024). "MLW War Chamber 2024 Results (3/29/24): Matt Riddle, War Chamber Match, More". Wrestlezone. Retrieved March 30, 2024.
  34. ^ Vetter, Chris (August 11, 2024). "MLW "Never Say Never" results (8/10): Vetter's review of Satoshi Kojima, Matt Riddle, Akira vs. Mads Krugger, Ikuro Kwon, and Minoru Suzuki, Paul Walter Hauser vs. Tom Lawlor in an MMA Cage match". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
  35. ^ Vetter, Chris (August 29, 2024). "MLW "Summer of the Beasts" results (8/29): Vetter's review of Místico vs. Atlantis Jr., Kenta vs. Akira, Tom Lawlor vs. TJP, and Alex Kane vs. Tito Escondido in Opera Cup tournament quarterfinal matches". Pro Wrestling Dot Net. Retrieved August 30, 2024.
  36. ^ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2019". Pro Fight Database. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
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