#robbielp

Who is Robbie Eagles?

Robbie is a dude who fancies himself as a bit of a tattooed bad boy, but you can just tell that if you took him home to meet your mum he’d be really nice to her. A veteran of the Aussie indie scene, he’s tagged with or trained almost every Australian wrestler who made it internationally (notably tagged with Mark Davis and Cassie Lee (Peyton Royce), trained Kyle Fletcher and Grayson Waller) and is generally regarded as a huge advocate for wrestling in Oceania/SEA and all-round cool guy.

He signed with NJPW in 2018 after being personally invited by his new friend Will Ospreay during an event in Australia, then shocked everyone by snubbing Will’s offer to join him in babyface faction CHAOS, instead joining Bullet Club.

BOSJ 27 and Southern Showdown 2019

ELP had just joined NJPW, and he and Robbie were both in the BOSJ tournament in the same block, having a blast while being loveable shitheads to everyone else. Inevitably they had to face each other, at which point they each had 10 points and an equal chance of advancing. Instead of a friendly match between allies, ELP took every opportunity to use cheating heel tactics on Robbie (hitting him when he had his back turned, eye pokes, low blows). Robbie was NOT pleased, but ELP insisted that it wasn’t personal. He did it for The Club!

Robbie starts questioning his loyalty to Bullet Club and Will Ospreay stirs the pot by reminding Robbie of his offer to join CHAOS. Robbie and Will have a title match for the IWGP Jr Heavyweight championship at Southern Showdown Australia and ELP is in Robbie’s corner. Robbie specifically requests no interference - he wants to win clean or not at all - but you can guess what happens. ELP interferes and hands Robbie the belt to hit Will with, and he refuses, and ends up losing. He pushes ELP aside at the end to shake Will’s hand. ELP insists, as always, that he did it for the club.

That’s the beginning of the end. ELP’s interference helps Robbie to make a decision, and he betrays Jay White and joins CHAOS the following night. To stick the knife in further, Robbie teams up with Will in a tag team called Birds of Prey, who go on to defeat the team of Ishimori (Robbie’s former BC tag partner) and ELP.

Gifs + more gifs

Pandemic era + BOSJ 28

Pandemic hit and these idiots weren’t able to interact for the whole of 2020, but they made sure to shit talk each other at every available opportunity. Eventually they met at BOSJ 28 in 2021, had a single match together and Robbie won.

(Gifs)

They went on to have tag rivalries throughout the year, Robbie teaming with Tiger Mask in the team Flying Tiger, who had a title run with the Jr Heavyweight Tag titles. Robbie catches ELP out in a tag match at WrestleKingdom 16, proving the theory that he had been illegally wrestling with a weighted boot all year! ELP was embarrassingly carted off kicking and screaming, and Robbie drank a celebratory shoey out of his boot. Normal stuff.

BOSJ 29

Of course this wasn’t the end of it, and they met again in 2022 at BOSJ 29 to have one of the most banger matches of either of their careers, widely considered one of the matches of the year for NJPW. They half murdered each other, leading to ELP tapping out then literally crawling away, flipping Robbie off on his way out. Robbie’s parting words to the crowd were that he may hate ELP, but he thanks him for bringing out the best in him.

Gif at the top of the page is from this match, and there are more!

Gifs: 1 2 3 | Stills: 1 2 | Highlight video

2022 - Present

They have never interacted in-ring since their BOSJ 29 match. Robbie didn’t follow Will to United Empire, and instead joined TMDK in 2023. He became a mentor to Young Lion Kosei Fujita, taking him on a groundbreaking excursion to Australia. He seems happy there.

ELP joined the heavyweight division and lost all of his remaining friends in Bullet Club when Jay was kicked out, then after a failed leadership bid of his own, Ishimori and Kenta turned on him. He’s been on a redemption arc, making friends with Shota Umino and fellow Bullet Club exiles Guerillas of Destiny, and is now a mega babyface. He even seems to have buried the hatchet with Will Ospreay, but he has never apologised for his actions towards Robbie.

Robbie occasionally makes jabs at him on social media, making it clear that all is not forgiven. We hold out hope that they will have the most epic Openweight feud one day.

Riley looked Robbie up and down and shook his head.

“We’ll have to work on getting you proper winter clothes.”

Robbie let out a noise of protest as Riley turned back to the closet to dig through it. He was looking for something that would fit the other man and would keep him warm on the hike. It wasn’t too terribly cold, but Robbie was from Australia and it gets cold up on some of the mountains they would be hiking.

Riley spotted a pair of boots in the closet from a friend and pulled them out. He had already found a spare coat and Robbie had put it on, the oversized jacket look making Riley giggle nonstop about how silly he looked.

“These should be your size. My friend left them here years ago.” Riley handed the boots over and watched as Robbie tried to bend over with the heavy winter coat on and he knew he shouldn’t laugh, but the whole sequence was comical.

“If you take your jacket off first it makes putting the boots on easier.”

Robbie glared at Riley before unzipping the jacket in the most unsexy way possible, causing Riley to pout a little. He watched as the other man carefully put the boots on, wiggling his toes to prove that the boots fit. He carefully helped Robbie put the jacket back on and pulled his green and yellow hat over his ears.

“Oi! My hair!”

Riley couldn’t help but laugh as he put his own snow gear on.

“It’s a hat dude. It’s going to mess up your hair. It’s what happens.” Riley blew a raspberry at Robbie as he grabbed his hiking bag.

The pair headed to Riley’s car, bickering playfully over nothing really at all. Once they were in the car, Riley set off for the park he liked to hike at. He had been wanting to show Robbie some of his favorite spots, and since he was actually in Vancouver for the holiday, this was the perfect time.

On the ride over, the pair chatted about the upcoming show, Robbie sounding proud of Riley for being in the Wrestle Kingdom lineup. It brought some joy to Riley because he knew that Robbie was hurt when he moved weight classes.

Riley spotted the parking spot he liked and pulled into it. He turned off the engine and grabbed the bag from the back.

“Ready?”

Robbie nodded and Riley winked as they headed towards the walking path. Riley noticed that Robbie had his hands jammed in his pockets and was confused.

“Babe? Do you have gloves?” Riley couldn’t believe he forgot to check to see if Robbie had gloves. Because the temperatures were still pretty mild, Riley had forgone his own, but Robbie wasn’t used to these temperatures.

“I forgot them in my suitcase.” Robbie sounded disappointed as if he had failed a test.

Riley grabbed Robbie’s hands in his.

“Well, you know what that means? We just have to hold hands so you can keep your hands warm.” Riley laced his fingers in Robbie’s and pulled their joined hands up so he could kiss them.

“Let’s get going.” Riley led the way up the mountain and through different trails. He pointed out different hiding spots that he used to hang out at during the summer and spend hours drawing in the forest. Robbie clung to every word, smiling at all the memories Riley would share.

They continued on, only stopping for a few moments to have a drink of water. The air was getting thinner and colder and Riley made sure to not let Robbie’s hands go unless it was absolutely needed. The stories continued to flow out of Riley, him getting Robbie to laugh at a particularly funny one from when Riley was in his early 20s and was out partying with friends in the forest.

“One day I’ll have to take you to some beaches.”

Riley snorted and kissed the top of Robbie’s head.

“You have taken me to plenty of beaches.”

“This is different. You keep telling me all of these stories and I just want to share the same ones with you.”

They paused for a moment to kiss before heading further up the trail.

“I just like sharing my life with you.” Riley squeezed Robbie’s hand as they started to get to the apex of the hike.

Riley led the way to the top and pointed at the bench on the overlook. He led Robbie to the bench and sat him down.

“What a fucking view!” Robbie exclaimed, seeing the mountain overlook the forest below. It was nothing like what he could see back home and it made sense why this was such a safe space for Riley.

“It’s beautiful isn’t it?” Riley was a bit quieter and was focused on Robbie’s reaction. He had seen this view a million times and it never got old. It was his favorite place to be and he was finally there with his favorite person.

“I love it. I see why you love it too.”

Riley pulled Robbie in for a kiss.

“I love you too you goober.” Riley said against Robbies lips before kissing him again.

Robbie broke the kiss and smiled.

“As much as I love you. I don’t love the cold. Let’s go home and get warmed up.”