title: Bullet Club

text: The four members of Bullet Club wrestled their first match together on May 22, when they defeated Captain New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi in an eight-man tag team match. Two days later, Devitt entered the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, where he won his block with a clean record of eight wins and zero losses, advancing to the knockout stage on June 9, where he first defeated Kenny Omega in the semifinals and then Alex Shelley in the finals to win the tournament, after which he proceeded to challenge Hiroshi Tanahashi. Devitt's old tag team partner Ryusuke Taguchi had originally earned a spot in the semifinals of the tournament, but a legitimate hip injury forced him to pull out. During the following day's press conference, Devitt also mentioned a move to the heavyweight division, aiming to become the first wrestler to hold the IWGP Junior Heavyweight and IWGP Heavyweight Championships simultaneously. On June 22 at Dominion 6.22, Devitt defeated Tanahashi, again following interference from the rest of the Bullet Club, to earn his first-ever shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The reigning champion, Kazuchika Okada, accepted Devitt's challenge for the title later in the event on the condition that he first defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against his Chaos stablemate Gedo. Bullet Club's feud with Tanahashi continued at the July 5 Kizuna Road 2013 pay-per-view, where Tama Tonga and visiting Mexican wrestler Terrible lost the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) World Tag Team Championship to Tanahashi and Jyushin Thunder Liger. Terrible worked also the rest of his two-week NJPW tour as a member of Bullet Club. After successfully defending his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Gedo, Devitt received his match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on July 20, but was defeated by Okada, despite interference from the rest of Bullet Club. From August 1 to 11, both Devitt and Anderson took part in the 2013 G1 Climax, wrestling in separate round-robin blocks. During the tournament, Devitt picked up big wins, albeit through outside interference, over reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and former champions Hiroshi Tanahashi, Satoshi Kojima and Togi Makabe, but failed to advance from his block. Meanwhile, Anderson entered the final day with a chance to reach the finals, but a loss against Tetsuya Naito eliminated him from the tournament. On September 5, Rey Bucanero, another CMLL wrestler, started a NJPW tour working as a member of Bullet Club. On September 14, the rest of Bullet Club helped Bucanero and Tama Tonga defeat Hiroshi Tanahashi and Jyushin Thunder Liger for the CMLL World Tag Team Championship. The rivalry between Devitt and Tanahashi culminated in a Lumberjack Deathmatch on September 29 at Destruction, where Tanahashi was victorious.


title: Bullet Club

text: On October 11, Tonga and Bucanero returned to CMLL, where they formed "Bullet Club Latinoamerica" with CMLL World Heavyweight Champion Terrible and female wrestler and manager La Comandante. However, a week later, Tonga and Bucanero were stripped of the CMLL World Tag Team Championship, when they were unable to defend the title against La Máscara and Rush due to Bucanero being sidelined with an injury. On October 25, American tag team The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) made their NJPW debut as the newest members of Bullet Club by entering the 2013 Super Jr. Tag Tournament. In early November, The Young Bucks defeated the Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero) in the finals to win the tournament, later defeating Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. On November 11, NJPW announced the participating teams in the 2013 World Tag League. In the tournament, Bullet Club would be represented by two teams in separate blocks; Devitt and Fale in block A and Anderson and the debuting American Doc Gallows in block B. On December 7, both teams entered the final day of the round-robin portion of the tournament with a chance to advance to the semifinals. Anderson and Gallows won their block with a record of four wins and two losses by defeating NWA World Tag Team Champions The IronGodz (Jax Dane and Rob Conway), while Devitt and Fale were eliminated with a record of three wins and three losses, after losing to Captain New Japan and Hiroshi Tanahashi, who had lost all their other matches in the tournament. The following day, Anderson and Gallows first defeated Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma in the semifinals and then Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima in the finals to win the tournament. This led to a match on January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8, where they defeated K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. During the same event, Devitt lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Kota Ibushi, ending his fourteen-month reign.


title: Bullet Club

text: February's The New Beginning tour featured Bullet Club defending both of their tag team championships and the re-ignition of a rivalry between Devitt and his former partner Ryusuke Taguchi, who returned from an eight-month injury break. Devitt dominated his encounters with Taguchi for most of the tour, including pinning him in his return eight-man tag team match on February 2, but at the tour ending event, The New Beginning in Osaka, Taguchi pinned his former partner in a tag team match, where he teamed with Togi Makabe and Devitt with Fale. On March 8, 2014 at Raising the Bar: Night 2 The Young Bucks defeated reDRagon to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship, and with his Junior Tag Team Titles he became a double champion. In March, Bad Luck Fale made it to the finals of the 2014 New Japan Cup, but was defeated there by Shinsuke Nakamura. As the one-year anniversary of the break-up of Apollo 55 approached, the rivalry between Devitt and Taguchi escalated, leading to Taguchi challenging his rival to a Loser Leaves Town match. However, the stipulation was never made official for their Invasion Attack 2014 match on April 6. During the match, Devitt got into an argument with The Young Bucks, after the two repeatedly interfered in the match despite his orders not to do so. This led to The Young Bucks turning on Devitt, who responded by diving onto his Bullet Club stablemates. After Taguchi defeated Devitt, the two men shook hands, ending their rivalry with each other and Devitt's association with Bullet Club. Devitt's resignation from NJPW was announced the following day.


title: Bullet Club

text: Later at Invasion Attack 2014, American wrestler A.J. Styles debuted as the newest member of Bullet Club, attacking IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada. Styles, who knew Okada from their days working together for the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion, claimed that Okada was still the same "young boy" (rookie) he had known in TNA and asserted himself as the next challenger for his title. Following Invasion Attack 2014, with Styles still working a full schedule on the American independent circuit and only booked to work NJPW's larger events, Anderson was positioned as the new leader of Bullet Club. However, Styles was considered the leader of the ROH version of Bullet Club, a role which was also given to him by NJPW by the end of 2015. Styles, however, has maintained that he was never the leader as, according to him, the group "[did not] follow anybody". On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2014, Styles defeated Okada to become the new IWGP Heavyweight Champion, when Yujiro Takahashi turned on Okada and the Chaos stable and jumped to Bullet Club, becoming its first Japanese member. With Bullet Club capturing NJPW's top title, while also holding both of its tag team titles, and adding new members, this was billed as a "rebirth" for the stable, which was celebrating its one-year anniversary during the event.


title: Bullet Club

text: Later in the month, Bullet Club took part in NJPW's North American tour, produced in collaboration with ROH. The Young Bucks, who entered the tour as both the IWGP Junior Heavyweight and ROH World Tag Team Champions, lost the latter title to reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) on May 17, ending their two-month reign in their first defense. Meanwhile, their seven-month reign as the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions ended on June 21 at Dominion 6.21, where they were defeated by the Time Splitters in their sixth defense. Later that same event, Bad Luck Fale defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion. On June 29, Yujiro Takahashi brought another title over to the Bullet Club, when he defeated Tomohiro Ishii with help from his stablemates for the NEVER Openweight Championship. With the win, Bullet Club had won every title in NJPW, now simultaneously holding all four of its heavyweight titles.


title: Bullet Club

text: From July 21 to August 8, five members of Bullet Club took part in the 2014 G1 Climax with Fale and Gallows wrestling in block A and Anderson, Styles and Takahashi in block B. All five failed to advance from their blocks with Fale finishing third and Gallows ninth in their block of eleven and Styles finishing second, Anderson third and Takahashi tied sixth in their block. Styles was eliminated due to losing to block winner Okada in their head-to-head match. On August 10, Global Force Wrestling (GFW) founder Jeff Jarrett joined Bullet Club, attacking Hiroshi Tanahashi after he had defeated Styles in a non-title match. On September 21 at Destruction in Kobe, Fale lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship back to Shinsuke Nakamura in his first defense. Bullet Club lost their two remaining singles titles on October 13 at King of Pro-Wrestling with Takahashi losing the NEVER Openweight Championship back to Tomohiro Ishii in his second title defense, while in the main event Styles lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi in his third defense, after Jeff Jarrett's outside interference was stopped by the returning Yoshitatsu (Jarrett would leave the faction shortly after).


title: Bullet Club

text: On November 8 at Power Struggle, Kenny Omega, who had joined NJPW at the beginning of the month, became the newest member of Bullet Club, challenging Ryusuke Taguchi to a match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Omega had earlier dismissed the idea of joining Bullet Club as he did not consider himself a "gaijin" after six years of living in Japan, but now claimed he had lied and only wanted money and the title. Refusing to speak Japanese despite being fluent in the language, Omega dubbed himself "The Cleaner" with the idea of him being there to "clean up" the junior heavyweight division. From November 22 to December 5, three Bullet Club teams took part in the 2014 World Tag League; Anderson and Gallows and Styles and Takahashi in block A and Fale and Tonga in block B. Anderson and Gallows won their block with a record of five wins and two losses, while Styles and Takahashi finished close behind with four wins and three losses. Styles and Takahashi were victorious over the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions in the head-to-head match between the Bullet Club teams, but were left behind them in the final standings due to losing to Okada and Yoshi-Hashi on the final day. Meanwhile, Fale and Tonga finished at the bottom of their block with a record of three wins and four losses. On December 7, Anderson and Gallows were defeated in the finals of the tournament by Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata.


title: Bullet Club

text: On January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9, Omega, in his first match as a member of Bullet Club, defeated Ryusuke Taguchi to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, while Anderson and Gallows lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Goto and Shibata, ending their year-long reign in their seventh defense. The following day, Cody Hall, the son of nWo founding member Scott Hall, joined Bullet Club as the stable's personal "young boy" with Anderson stating that he would have to earn his spot as a full-fledged member. Later that month, NJPW relaunched Bullet Club Latin America in time for the "Fantastica Mania 2015" tour, co-produced by NJPW and CMLL. On January 18, during the fifth day of "Fantastica Mania 2015", CMLL wrestler Mephisto joined Bullet Club, prior to successfully defending his Mexican National Light Heavyweight Championship against Stuka Jr. On February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, The Young Bucks regained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship by defeating defending champions reDRagon and Time Splitters in a three-way match. Later that same event, Anderson and Gallows regained the IWGP Tag Team Championship from Goto and Shibata, while in the main event A.J. Styles defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to also bring the IWGP Heavyweight Championship back to Bullet Club. Both of Bullet Club's tag team championship reigns ended in their first title defenses on April 5 at Invasion Attack 2015 with The Young Bucks being defeated by Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero) and Anderson and Gallows by the ROH tag team The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett).


title: Bullet Club

text: The Young Bucks regained the title on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2015 in a three-way match with Roppongi Vice and reDRagon. Also during the event, Bullet Club was involved in the first NJPW match to feature female wrestlers in over twelve years, where Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and his wife Amber Gallows were defeated by Maria Kanellis, Matt Taven and Michael Bennett in a six-person intergender tag team match. On July 5 at Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall, Kenny Omega lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to the 2015 Best of the Super Juniors winner Kushida in his fourth defense, while Anderson and Gallows defeated Bennett and Taven in a rematch to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship for the third time. In the main event, Styles lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Kazuchika Okada in his second defense. From July 20 to August 15, five members of Bullet Club took part in the 2015 G1 Climax with Fale, Gallows and Styles in block A and Anderson and Takahashi in block B. Both Styles and Anderson entered their last round-robin matches with a chance to advance to the finals, but were eliminated after losing to Hiroshi Tanahashi and Satoshi Kojima, respectively. On August 16, The Young Bucks lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to reDRagon in their second defense. From September 4 to 6, Styles and The Young Bucks represented Bullet Club in American promotion Chikara's 2015 King of Trios tournament, where they made it to the finals, before losing to Team AAA (Aero Star, Drago and Fénix). On September 23 at Destruction in Okayama, Omega defeated Kushida, following outside interference from Anderson, to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. On October 23, Chase Owens became the newest member of Bullet Club.


title: Bullet Club

text: On January 4, 2016, at Wrestle Kingdom 10, The Young Bucks regained the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, Omega lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship back and Anderson and Gallows lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship. In Bullet Club's final title match of the event, Styles unsuccessfully challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Hours after the event, it was reported that Anderson, Gallows, and Styles had all given their notice to NJPW and would be leaving the promotion for WWE. The following day, the rest of Bullet Club turned on Styles and kicked him out of the group with Omega taking over the leadership. Omega also announced his graduation from the junior heavyweight division, stating that he did not want a rematch with Kushida, but instead a match with Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.


title: Bullet Club

text: In the aftermath of Omega taking over Bullet Club's leadership, he and The Young Bucks formed their own subgroup within the stable, called The Elite. Omega and The Young Bucks came up with the idea for The Elite themselves, feeling the need to create something new after being forced by NJPW into Bullet Club and what Omega called a "Too Sweet", "Suck it" parody of the nWo. Omega stated that he and The Young Bucks were The Elite, but accepted if NJPW continued calling them Bullet Club "in parentheses" as the stable was their "cash cow". He explained the name change by stating that following Anderson, Gallows and Styles' departures from NJPW, "Bullet Club [was not] so much the Bullet Club anymore". Omega later added his opinion that Anderson, Gallows and Styles' departures had "watered down" Bullet Club's ranks, which is why he wanted to push The Elite to the forefront, claiming that when people said that "Bullet Club [had] been doing some really cool stuff", they always meant him and The Young Bucks and not the other members of the group.


title: Bullet Club

text: During 2016, Gallows and Anderson also left NJPW after signing a contract with WWE, with their final match in NJPW taking place at in an eight-man tag team match where Bullet Club lost. However, on March 12, Tonga revealed that his partner for the upcoming IWGP Tag Team Championship match and the newest member of Bullet Club was his real-life brother Tevita Fifita, who was two days later given the ring name "Tanga Loa", with the tag team between him and Tonga dubbed "Guerrillas of Destiny" (GOD). In ROH, Anderson, Gallows, and Styles left the stable in a more peaceful goodbye, compared to their more violent NJPW departure, where the stable kicked them out by beating them up. Also, ROH wrestlers Adam Cole and Adam Page joined the stable in May. Cole went on to form another Bullet Club sub-group with The Young Bucks, named "Superkliq". In NJPW, Page was given the ring name "Hangman Page", which he eventually also began using in ROH.


title: Bullet Club

text: Before summer, several members of the Bullet Club won titles, like the Young Bucks winning the IWGP Jr. Tag team Titles, Guerrillas of Destiny winning the IWGP Tag Team Titles and Omega winning the Intercontinental title. However, the biggest accomplishment was Omega winning the 2016 G1 Climax, becoming the third wrestler to win the tournament in his first attempt as well as the first non-Japanese wrestler in history to win the tournament. During the following month, Captain New Japan and Cody joined Bullet Club. Captain changed his character to "Bone Soldier". The name came from Bullet Club's original shirt, which featured a character named Bone Soldier. In addition, the term had previously also been used as a nickname for members of Bullet Club. Also, The Young Bucks won the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the second time and Guerrillas of Destiny regained the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but Adam Cole lost the ROH World Championship.


title: Bullet Club

text: On January 4, 2017, at Wrestle Kingdom 11, The Young Bucks lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Roppongi Vice. while the Guerrillas of Destiny lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano. In the main event of the show, Omega unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.


title: Bullet Club

text: Afterwards, Omega took a hiatus from NJPW to "reassess [his] future". Upon his return on February 26, a new storyline involving tension between Omega and Cole was started, with The Young Bucks caught in the middle. On February 11, Frankie Kazarian joined Bullet Club, turning on longtime tag team partner Christopher Daniels at a taping of "Ring of Honor Wrestling". On March 4, The Young Bucks lost the ROH World Tag Team Championship to The Hardys (Matt and Jeff Hardy). On March 10 at ROH's 15th Anniversary Show, Kazarian turned on Adam Cole and Bullet Club, revealing his tenure was only a ruse to help Christopher Daniels become the new ROH World Champion. The following day, Cole, disappointed with The Young Bucks for not having his back, tried to fire them from Bullet Club, but the two responded by stating that he could not fire them as Omega, not Cole, was the leader of the stable. On May 12, Omega fired Cole from Bullet Club and gave his spot in the stable to ROH World Television Champion Marty Scurll. Two days later, on the final night of the tour, Scurll lost the ROH World Television Championship to Kushida, following a distraction from Cole.


title: Bullet Club

text: In the months following Wrestle Kingdom 11, Omega looked for another shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, but his plan of obtaining one through the 2017 New Japan Cup was derailed, when he was eliminated in his first round match by Tomohiro Ishii. After defeating Ishii in a rematch on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2017, Omega was nominated by Kazuchika Okada for an IWGP Heavyweight Championship rematch at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall. On June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall, The Young Bucks defeated Roppongi Vice to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the sixth time. In the main event of the show, Omega and Okada wrestled to a 60-minute time limit draw for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The match also started a storyline, where Omega and Cody began having problems with each other with Cody wanting to throw in the towel for Omega, insisting he was too badly injured. On June 23 at Best in the World, Cody defeated Christopher Daniels to bring the ROH World Championship back to Bullet Club. On July 1, during the first night of G1 Special in USA, Cody unsuccessfully challenged Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. During the match, Omega, playing off what had happened at Dominion, walked out, wanting to throw in the towel for Cody, which led to Cody confronting him after the show. The following day, Omega defeated Tomohiro Ishii in the finals of an eight-man tournament to become the inaugural IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion.


title: Bullet Club

text: Later that month, three members of Bullet Club took part in the 2017 G1 Climax; Fale in block A and Omega and Tonga in block B. Omega won his block and advanced to the finals of the tournament with a record of seven wins and two losses by defeating IWGP Heavyweight Champion Okada in their third match against each other on August 12. During the head-to-head match between Omega and Tonga, which was won by the former, tensions escalated between the two with Tonga questioning Omega's leadership of Bullet Club due to his association with The Elite. On August 13, Omega was defeated in the finals of the 2017 G1 Climax by Tetsuya Naito. On September 6, it was announced that Tonga and Loa's youngest brother, NJPW young lion Leo Tonga, was joining Bullet Club, replacing Omega on an upcoming tour due to him having suffered a knee injury. On September 22 at Death Before Dishonor XV, The Young Bucks lost the ROH World Tag Team Championship to The Motor City Machine Guns. On November 5 at Power Struggle, Scurll defeated Will Ospreay to bring the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship back to Bullet Club. On November 17, actor Stephen Amell, who had befriended Cody when they worked together in WWE, joined Bullet Club, wrestling his first match as a member at ROH's show later that same day. The following month, Guerrillas of Destiny made it to their second consecutive World Tag League final by winning their block in the 2017 tournament with a record of five wins and two losses. On December 11, they were defeated in the finals of the tournament by "Los Ingobernables de Japón" (Evil and Sanada). Four days later at ROH's Final Battle, Cody lost the ROH World Championship to Dalton Castle. On December 17, Fale and Guerrillas of Destiny defeated Bushi, Evil and Sanada to become the new NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions.


title: Bullet Club

text: On January 4, 2018, at Wrestle Kingdom 12, the Young Bucks defeated Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Also at the event, Fale and the Guerrillas of Destiny lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship and Marty Scurll lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship back to Will Ospreay. The following night at New Year Dash!! 2018, Fale and the G.O.D. defeated Beretta, Ishii and Yano to win back the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, beginning 2018 with six members of Bullet Club holding championships in NJPW (the others being Omega and the Young Bucks with the IWGP United States Championship and the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championships respectively). At the same event, Bullet Club, with Cody leading, attempted to attack Kota Ibushi with a chair following a 10-man tag match, but were stopped by Omega, teasing tension between the two men over the leadership of Bullet Club. On night two of The New Beginning in Sapporo, following Omega's loss of the IWGP United States Championship to Jay White, he was attacked by Cody and hit with the Cross Rhodes, continuing the infighting within the faction.


title: Bullet Club

text: The rivalry between Cody and Omega continued throughout February and March at both Ring Of Honor and NJPW events, beginning a series of matches pitting members of Bullet Club against each other in both tag and singles matches. During this time, Tongan members Tonga, Loa and Fale keep distance with the two factions, being known as Bullet Club OGs. Around this time, the tension within Bullet Club would be documented as the focus of the YouTube series "Being The Elite". G.O.D. also began their own YouTube series following the members of Bullet Club who are stationed mainly in NJPW.


title: Bullet Club

text: On April 7, Omega and Cody fought in a singles match at Supercard of Honor XII with the leadership of Bullet Club at stake. During the match, the Young Bucks attempted to help Omega by superkicking Cody. However, this backfired when Cody moved out of the way, with the Bucks kicking Omega instead. Thanks to this, Cody was able to use the Cross Rhodes on Omega to win the match. Following the reunion of the Golden☆Lovers and despite not joining Bullet Club as a member, Ibushi would become a regular in Bullet Club tag matches.


title: Bullet Club

text: On May 3, the first night of Wrestling Dontaku 2018, the trio of the Young Bucks and Scurll defeated Fale and the G.O.D. to capture the NEVER Six-Man Tag Team Championship. During the second night of Wrestling Dontaku, Tama Tonga introduced the new "Bone Soldier", who attacked Ospreay and revealed himself to be Taiji Ishimori. Ishimori would go on to win Block A of the Best of the Super Juniors 2018 tournament, but ended up losing to Hiromu Takahashi in the finals.


title: Bullet Club

text: On June 9 at Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall, the Young Bucks defeated Evil and Sanada to win the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships for the first time, and Omega would defeat Kazuchika Okada 2 falls to 1 to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time, ending Okada's reign as the longest champion in history at 720 days. After the match, Omega made peace with the Young Bucks in the ring, and would announce during the post match comments that Ibushi, the Young Bucks, and himself had the formed a new sub-group called The Golden Elite. The following day at a press conference aired on NJPW World, Omega confirmed that he and the Young Bucks were still a part of the Bullet Club, as well as clarifying that while Ibushi had joined The Elite, he was not a member of Bullet Club. Omega also claimed he was still the leader of Bullet Club, and announced that his first defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship would be against Cody at the G1 Special at the Cow Palace in San Francisco.


title: Bullet Club

text: On July 7, at the G1 Special, Omega defeated Cody to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Title. After Omega's usual post-match address to the fans, he and The Young Bucks were joined by Tonga, Loa and King Haku. The Tongans appeared to be congratulating Omega, only to attack them soon after, revealing new "B.C. Firing Squad" T-shirts, as they did so. Page and Scurll both came to The Elite's defense by attacking the Tongans, before Yujiro Takahashi and Owens attempted to bring the conflict to a halt; the Tongans ultimately dismantled all four. Cody then came out and was offered a chance to attack Omega with a steel chair, only to go after the Tongans and be attacked as well. As the Tongans left, declaring themselves to be the true Bullet Club, Omega and Cody embraced, finally realigning and in effect restoring Omega's leadership of the group on their side. Fale and Hikuleo were shown to have aligned with the Bullet Club OG contingent in a video entitled "Don't Call it a Comeback" on G.O.D.'s official YouTube channel. During a livestream on Instagram on August 10, 2018, Tama Tonga confirmed that Ishimori is aligned with Bullet Club OG. On the final of the G1 Climax 28, the trio of Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Taiji Ishimori beat the trio of the Young Bucks and Marty Scurll for the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Championship.


title: Bullet Club

text: On October 8, 2018, at King of Pro-Wrestling, former Chaos members Jay White, Jado and Gedo joined Bullet Club. Australian wrestler Robbie Eagles was also announced as a new member as Ishimori's tag team partner in the Super Jr. Tag League.


title: Bullet Club

text: On October 24, 2018, Cody announced that he was no longer a member of the Bullet Club via his official Twitter account. On the "Talk is Jericho" podcast with Chris Jericho on October 30, Matt Jackson confirmed that he, Cody Rhodes, Kenny Omega, Marty Scurll, his brother Nick Jackson, and Adam Page are now called simply The Elite and that they are no longer part of the Bullet Club. All members except one (Scurll) left NJPW and ROH and are now part of the brand-new promotion All Elite Wrestling.


title: Bullet Club

text: At the end of 2018, Taiji Ishimori and Robbie Eagles ended the Super Jr. Tag League in a tie for 4th place with 3 wins and 4 losses for a total score of 6, while Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa lost in the finals of the World Tag League 2018 against "Los Ingobernables de Japón" (Evil and Sanada). After the tournament, Chase Owens and Yujiro Takahashi aligned with The Elite, but they rejoined Bullet Club at New Year Dash. On December 22, Tama Tonga announced that White was the new leader of the Bullet Club. At Wrestle Kingdom 13, White defeated Okada in a singles match. Also, during the event Ishimori defeated Kushida to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title. At The New Beginning in Osaka, White defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi with a Blade Runner to win the IWGP Heavyweight Title. On February 23, Guerillas of Destiny would capture their fifth tag team heavyweight championship against EVIL and Sanada of Los Ingobernables de Japón at Honor Rising. On March 8, it was announced that El Phantasmo would be joining Bullet Club. On April 6, at G1 Supercard in Madison Square Garden the Guerrillas of Destiny retained their IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Titles and won the ROH World Tag Team Titles from Villain Enterprises (Brody King and PCO) in a Winner take all Fatal 4 Way Match that also involved the Teams of Los Ingobernables de Japón (Evil and Sanada) and The Briscoe Brothers (Mark and Jay Briscoe). The same night however Taiji Ishimori lost the Jr. Heavyweight Title to Dragon Lee in a triple threat match that also involved Bandido and in the Main Event Jay White lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Kazuchika Okada.


title: Bullet Club

text: Ishimori, Phantasmo, and Eagles would all enter the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, with Ishimori ending with 14 points, Phantasmo ending with 12 points, and Eagles ending with 10 points. Ishimori and Phantasmo would defeat Roppongi 3K to win the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Titles on June 16, 2019. On June 30, at Southern Showdown in Sydney, Australia, Robbie Eagles defected from Bullet Club after refusing to hit Will Ospreay with a chair at the request of White, Jado, and Bad Luck Fale. Eagles hit White with a superkick and helped Ospreay up to his feet, then aided Ospreay, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kazuchika Okada in fending off the Bullet Club members, following which they accepted him as an official member of CHAOS, completing his defection.


title: Bullet Club

text: On August 12, at the 2019 G1 Climax Final, Kenta turned on Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi in a match against Bad Luck Fale and the Guerillas of Destiny, aligning himself with Bullet Club. After the match, Kenta was attacked by Katsuyori Shibata for his betrayal, but Shibata was quickly overwhelmed by Bullet Club. In the main event, Kota Ibushi defeated White to win the 2019 G1 Climax. On August 25, 2019, El Phantasmo won the Super J-Cup when he defeated Dragon Lee.


title: Bullet Club

text: On August 31 at Royal Quest, NJPW's first independently promoted show in the United Kingdom, Kenta defeated Tomohiro Ishii for the NEVER Openweight Championship, thus winning his first championship in NJPW and bringing the title to Bullet Club. At the Destruction in Kobe event, White defeated Tetsuya Naito to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship in the main event.


title: Bullet Club

text: At Wrestle Kingdom 14, Guerillas of Destiny would lose the tag team titles to Juice Robinson and David Finlay, White would lose the Intercontinental Championship back to Naito, Ishimori and Phantasmo would lose the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles back to Roppongi 3K, and Kenta would lose the NEVER Openweight Championship to Hirooki Goto.


title: Bullet Club

text: After defeating Kazuchika Okada in the New Japan Cup 2020 finals, Evil would turn on "Los Ingobernables de Japon" stablemate Tetsuya Naito and joined Bullet Club. The next night at Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall, Evil defeated Naito to become the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Champion with the help of Bullet Club's new member Dick Togo. After the match, Evil announced that he had taken over control of Bullet Club in White's absence, becoming the stable's first Japanese leader. On August 21, 2020 Kenta defeated David Finlay to win the first ever New Japan Cup USA, and therefore earn a future match for the IWGP United States Championship.


title: Bullet Club

text: On August 29, 2020, at Summer Struggle in Jingu, Ishimori would bring back the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship by beating Hiromu Takahashi, meanwhile Evil would lose the Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles back to Naito.


title: Bullet Club

text: Both Jay White and Kenta made their return to Japan for G1 Climax 30, with fellow Bullet Club members Evil and Takahashi also taking part in the tournament. This marked the beginning of an internal conflict within Bullet Club, as Evil became reluctant to relinquish leadership of the group back to White, resulting in two simultaneous "de facto" leaders, with other members aligning more with one or the other. Both White (in block A) and Evil (in block B) came close to winning their respective blocks with scores of 12, but were ultimately unsuccessful.


title: Bullet Club

text: On November 7 at Power Struggle, Kenta successfully defended his New Japan Cup USA-earned IWGP United States Championship challenge rights certificate, while White defeated G1 Climax winner Kota Ibushi to win Ibushi's IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships challenge rights certificate for Wrestle Kingdom 15, marking the first time in G1 Climax history that the winner would fail to successfully defend their challenge rights certificate. In the main event, Evil attempted to regain the Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles from Naito, with White interfering towards the end of the match, and teasing an attack on Evil before proceeding to attack Naito instead; however, Ibushi chased White away, and Naito eventually defeated Evil to retain his titles.


title: Bullet Club

text: At Wrestle Kingdom 15, White failed to win the Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles from Ibushi. In a backstage comment after the match, White without Gedo teased quitting the company, stating, "maybe my time should be spent somewhere else." At New Year's Dash the following day, White took the pin fall in a ten-man tag team match with Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, EVIL, and Yujiro Takahashi, against CHAOS members Yoshi-Hashi, Tomohiro Ishii, Kazuchika Okada, Hirooki Goto and Toru Yano (Ishii pinned White after a Vertical Drop Brainbuster). His teammates assisted him to the back. On the Road to The New Beginning on January 23, 2021, El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori defeated El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru of Suzuki-Gun to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for a second time. After a month-long hiatus, White returned on February 1 on the Road to the New Beginning show attacking Ishii continuing their feud.


title: Bullet Club

text: On the February 3 episode of AEW Dynamite, Kenta appeared and launched a sneak attack on current IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley after Moxley attacked Kenny Omega. After the match, Omega said he would team with Kenta in a match against Moxley and Lance Archer. At The New Beginning USA on February 26 Kenta finally received his title match against Moxley, but ultimately lost. At Road to Castle Attack on February 25 Ishimori and Phantasmo lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship back to Suzuki-Gun. On Night 1 of Castle Attack Jay White defeated Tomohiro Ishii in the semi-main event while Evil lost to Kazuchika Okada in the main event. On the second night G.O.D. successfully retained their IWGP Tag Team titles against the team of Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi while El Phantasmo failed to win the vacant IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. On June 1, G.O.D. lost their IWGP Tag Team Championships to the Dangerous Tekkers. On June 23, At Kizuna Road Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo defeated Roppongi 3K to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the third time.


title: Bullet Club

text: Following Roppongi 3K's break-up during the August 16, 2021, edition of Super Junior Tag League, a grudge match between Sho and Yoh was set up on night one of Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome which Sho won. After the match, Bullet Club's EVIL, Yujiro Takahashi, and Dick Togo would enter the ring and present SHO with a Bullet Club shirt signalling SHO's welcoming into Bullet Club. They would announce the four of them would form a subgroup within Bullet Club called House of Torture.


title: Bullet Club

text: On November 6 at Power Struggle, Kenta defeated Hiroshi to win the IWGP United States Championship while House of Torture defeated Yoshi, Tomohiro, and Hirooki to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.


title: Bullet Club

text: On the July 19 tapings for Impact Wrestling, Chris Bey took on Juice Robinson and after the match, Jay White gave Bey a Bullet Club shirt and the two threw up the "Too Sweet", making Bey the first African American wrestler and first active Impact star to join Bullet Club. Throughout the summer of 2021, Hikuleo and El Phantasmo would begin making frequent appearances in Impact Wrestling, and by fall would ultimately become listed as members of the Impact roster, establishing them and Bey as a U.S. based branch of the stable in Impact Wrestling. By late January, Jay White would return to Impact Wrestling and bring the G.O.D. along with him. On February 9th, Jay White would walk through the Forbidden Door to AEW by seemingly helping The Elite take out Trent Barreta and Rocky Romero. At Impact Wrestling’s No Surrender PPV, Jay White attacked G.O.D, costing them the Impact Tag Titles and kicking them out of Bullet Club, while reinstating Gallows and Anderson.


title: Bullet Club

text: At Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 1, Evil defeated Tomohiro Ishii for the NEVER Openweight title, becoming a double champion again. At Night 2, Kenta lost the IWGP United States Heavyweight title back to Hiroshi Tanahashi. On February 19, Anderson and Gallows would rejoin the Bullet Club. On March 13, Evil defeated Tonga. Following this match, Evil and the rest of Bullet Club attacked G.o.D. and Jado, officially ejecting them from the group as a result, and siding with White. This would also break up Jado and Gedo's 33-year-long tenure as a tag team. At Wrestling Dontaku 2022, Juice Robinson attacked Hiroshi Tanahashi post-match, becoming the newest member of the faction. At the Best of the Super Juniors 29 final on June 3rd 2022, during a 6 man Tag Team match between Bullet Club and the United Empire, Ace Austin ran down to the ring and distracted Aaron Henare by pulling out an ace of spades playing card out of his sleeve that said "Bullet Club" on it which led to El Phantasmo hitting Henare with the "Sudden Death" superkick for the win. After the match, Ace Austin threw up the too sweet with Phantasmo, Fale, and Chase Owens, signifying his initiation into the faction. At Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, Fale and Owens lost the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship back to United Empire (Great-O-Khan and Jeff Cobb), while Juice Robinson was forced to vacate the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship due to suffering appendicitis prior to the event, Karl Anderson defeated Tama Tonga to win the NEVER Openweight Championship and Jay White defeated Kazuchika Okada to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. At on June 26, 2022, Jay White retained the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in a four-way match that also involved Kazuchika Okada and AEW wrestlers Adam Cole and Adam Page. El Phantasmo teamed up with The Young Bucks who briefly reunited with Bullet Club in a six-man tag team match against Dudes with Attitudes (Shingo Takagi, Sting and Darby Allin), which Phantasmo and the Bucks lost. At New Japan Road on July 5, the House of Torture lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Hirooki Goto, YOH and Yoshi-Hashi. At Burning Spirit on September 23, the House Of Torture regained the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Two nights later on September 25, Hikuleo would turn his back on Bullet Club and side with his brother Tama Tonga. On October 10, Gallows and Anderson left the Bullet Club due to signing back with WWE.


title: Bullet Club

text: In January 2016, NJPW announced a DVD chronicling the history of Bullet Club and featuring interviews with members of the stable, which was released on March 30, 2016. In January 2017, it was announced that the arcade game "Tekken 7: Fated Retribution" would feature a variety of Bullet Club related apparel for use with all characters. The outfits would later be available in the home version of "Tekken 7".


title: Bullet Club

text: U.S.-based members of the stable predominantly appearing on "NJPW Strong" (produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America), All Elite Wrestling and Impact Wrestling.


title: Emmett Shear

text: Emmett Shear (born 1983) is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is the co-founder of live video platforms Justin.tv and TwitchTV. He is the Chief executive officer of Twitch and is also a part-time partner at venture capital firm Y Combinator.


title: Emmett Shear

text: In 2006, Shear, along with partners Justin Kan, Michael Seibel and Kyle Vogt, started Justin.tv, a 24/7 live video feed of Kan's life, broadcast via a webcam attached to his head.


title: Emmett Shear

text: Kan's "lifecasting" lasted about eight months but the four partners decided to transition to providing a live video platform so anyone could publish a live video stream. Launched in 2007, Justin.tv was one of the largest live video platforms in the world with more than 30 million unique users every month until it was shut down on August 5, 2014.


title: Emmett Shear

text: After Justin.tv launched in 2007, the site quickly began building subject-specific content categories like Social, Tech, Sports, Entertainment, News & Events, Gaming, and others. Gaming configuration, in particular, grew very fast and became the most popular content on the site.


title: Emmett Shear

text: In June 2011, the company decided to spin off the gaming content under a separate brand and site. They named it TwitchTV, inspired by the term twitch gameplay. It launched officially in public beta on June 6, 2011.


title: Emmett Shear

text: In March 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, via Twitch, Shear announced that he is donating US$1 million to the women and minority-owned Three Babes Bakeshop in San Francisco's Bayview neighborhood. The money will be used to form a nonprofit organization to keep small businesses working as people are supposed to stay home during the outbreak.


title: Emmett Shear

text: Shear became a part-time partner at Y Combinator in June 2011, where he offers advice to the new startups in each batch. He was a member of the first batch of YC-funded startups in 2005 for Kiko Calendar, and was funded by YC again for Justin.tv.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu ( ; ; Chumash: ) is a beach city in the Santa Monica Mountains region of Los Angeles County, California, situated about west of Downtown Los Angeles. It is known for its Mediterranean climate and its strip of the Malibu coast, incorporated in 1991 into the City of Malibu. The exclusive Malibu Colony has been historically home to Hollywood celebrities. People in the entertainment industry and other affluent residents live throughout the city, yet many residents are middle class. Most Malibu residents live from a half-mile (0.8 km) to within a few hundred yards of Pacific Coast Highway (State Route 1), which traverses the city, with some residents living up to one mile (1.6 km) away from the beach up narrow canyons. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 10,654.


title: Malibu, California

text: Nicknamed "the 'Bu" by surfers and locals, beaches along the Malibu coast include: Topanga Beach, Big Rock Beach, Las Flores Beach, La Costa Beach, Surfrider Beach, Dan Blocker Beach, Malibu Beach, Zuma Beach, Broad Beach, Point Dume Beach, and County Line. State parks and beaches on the Malibu coast include Malibu Creek State Park, Leo Carrillo State Beach and Park, Point Mugu State Park, and Robert H. Meyer Memorial State Beach, with individual beaches: El Pescador, La Piedra and El Matador. The many parks within the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area lie along the ridges above the city along with local parks that include Malibu Bluffs Park (formerly Malibu Bluffs State Park), Trancas Canyon Park, Las Flores Creek Park, and Legacy Park.


title: Malibu, California

text: Signs around the city proclaim "21 miles of scenic beauty", referring to the incorporated city limits. The city updated the signs in 2017 from the historical length of the Malibu coast spanning from Tuna Canyon on the southeast to Point Mugu in Ventura County on the northwest. For many residents of the unincorporated canyon areas, Malibu has the closest commercial centers and they are included in the Malibu ZIP Codes. The city is bounded by Topanga on the east, the Santa Monica Mountains (Agoura Hills, Calabasas, and Woodland Hills) to the north, the Pacific Ocean to the south, and Solromar in Ventura County to the west.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu is named for the Ventureño Chumash settlement of Humaliwo, which translates to "The Surf Sounds Loudly." This pre-colonial village was situated next to Malibu Lagoon and is now part of the State Park.


title: Malibu, California

text: The area is within the Chumash territory which extended from the San Joaquin Valley to San Luis Obispo to Malibu, as well as several islands off the southern coast of California. The Chumash called the settlement "Humaliwo" or "the surf sounds loudly". The city's name derives from this, as the "Hu" syllable is not stressed.


title: Malibu, California

text: Humaliwo was next to Malibu Lagoon and was an important regional center in prehistoric times. The village, which is identified as CA-LAN-264, was occupied from approximately 2500 BCE. It was the second-largest Chumash coastal settlement by the Santa Monica Mountains, after Muwu (Point Mugu). Baptismal records list 118 individuals from Humaliwo. Humaliwo was considered an important political center, but there were additional minor settlements in the area. One village, Ta’lopop, was located few miles up Malibu Canyon from Malibu Lagoon. Research shows that Humaliwo had ties to other pre-colonial villages, including Hipuk (in Westlake Village), Lalimanux (by Conejo Grade) and Huwam (in Bell Canyon).


title: Malibu, California

text: Explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo is believed to have moored at Malibu Lagoon, at the mouth of Malibu Creek, to obtain fresh water in 1542. The Spanish presence returned with the California mission system, and the area was part of Rancho Topanga Malibu Sequit—a land grant—in 1802. That ranch passed intact to Frederick Hastings Rindge in 1891. He and his wife, Rhoda May Knight Rindge, were very staunch about protecting their land. After his death, Rhoda May guarded their property zealously by hiring guards to evict all trespassers and fighting a lengthy court battle to prevent the building of a Southern Pacific railroad line through the ranch. Interstate Commerce Commission regulations would not support a railroad condemning property in order to build tracks that paralleled an existing line, so Frederick H. Rindge decided to build his own railroad through his property first. He died, and May Rindge followed through with the plans, building the Hueneme, Malibu and Port Los Angeles Railway. The line started at Carbon Canyon, just inside the ranch's property eastern boundary, and ran 15 miles westward, past Pt. Dume.


title: Malibu, California

text: Few roads even entered the area before 1929, when the state won another court case and built what is now known as the Pacific Coast Highway. By then May Rindge was forced to divide her property and begin selling and leasing lots. The Rindge house, known as the Adamson House (a National Register of Historic Places site and California Historical Landmark), is now part of Malibu Creek State Park and is situated between Malibu Lagoon State Beach and Surfrider Beach, beside the Malibu Pier that was used to provide transportation to/from the ranch, including construction materials for the Rindge railroad, and to tie up the family's yacht.


title: Malibu, California

text: In 1926, in an effort to avoid selling land to stave off insolvency, May K. Rindge created a small ceramic tile factory. At its height, Malibu Potteries employed over 100 workers, and produced decorative tiles which furnish many Los Angeles-area public buildings and Beverly Hills residences. The factory, located one-half-mile east of the pier, was ravaged by a fire in 1931. Although the factory partially reopened in 1932, it could not recover from the effects of the Great Depression and a steep downturn in Southern California construction projects. A distinct hybrid of Moorish and Arts and crafts designs, Malibu tile is considered highly collectible. Fine examples of the tiles may be seen at the Adamson House and Serra Retreat, a 50-room mansion that was started in the 1920s as the main Rindge home on a hill overlooking the lagoon. The unfinished building was sold to the Franciscan Order in 1942 and is operated as a retreat facility, Serra Retreat. It burned in the 1970 fire and was rebuilt using many of the original tiles.


title: Malibu, California

text: Most of the Big Rock Drive area was bought in 1936 by William Randolph Hearst, who considered building an estate on the property. He sold the lower half of his holdings there in 1944 to Art Jones. Jones was one of the prominent early realtors in Malibu, starting with the initial leases of Rindge land in Malibu Colony. He was also the owner/part-owner of the Malibu Inn, Malibu Trading Post and the Big Rock Beach Cafe (which is now Moonshadows restaurant). Philiip McAnany owned in the upper Big Rock area, which he had purchased in 1919, and had two cabins there, one of which burned in a brush fire that swept through the area in 1959, and the other in the 1993 Malibu fire. McAnany Way is named after him.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu Colony was one of the first areas with private homes after Malibu was opened to development in 1926 by May K. Ringe. Her husband, Frederick Hastings Rindge paid $10 an acre in 1890. As one of Malibu's most famous districts, it is located south of Malibu Road and the Pacific Coast Highway, west of Malibu Lagoon State Beach, east of Malibu Bluffs Park (formerly a state park) and across from the Malibu Civic Center. May Rindge allowed prominent Hollywood movie stars to build vacation homes in the Colony as a defensive public relations wedge against the Southern Pacific from taking her property under eminent domain for a coastal train route. The action forced the Southern Pacific to route their northbound line inland then return to the coast in Ventura. However, the long legal battle to protect her beloved Malibu coast had been costly and she eventually died penniless. Long known as a popular private enclave for wealthy celebrities, the Malibu Colony is a gated community, with multimillion-dollar homes on small lots. The Colony has views of the Pacific Ocean, with coastline views stretching from Santa Monica to Rancho Palos Verdes to the south (known locally as the "Queen's Necklace") and the bluffs of Point Dume to the north.


title: Malibu, California

text: The first working model of a laser was demonstrated by Theodore Maiman in 1960 in Malibu at the Hughes Research Laboratory (now known as HRL Laboratories LLC). In the 1990s HRL Laboratories developed the FastScat computer code. TRW built a laboratory in Solstice Canyon without any structural steel to test magnetic detectors for satellites and medical devices.


title: Malibu, California

text: In 1991 most of the Malibu land grant was incorporated as a city to allow local control of the area (as cities under California law, they are not subject to the same level of county government oversight). Prior to achieving municipal status, the local residents had fought several county-proposed developments, including an offshore freeway, a nuclear power plant, and several plans to replace septic tanks with sewer lines to protect the ocean from seepage that pollutes the marine environment. The incorporation drive gained impetus in 1986, when the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved plans for a regional sewer that would have been large enough to serve 400,000 people in the western Santa Monica Mountains. Residents were incensed that they would be assessed taxes and fees to pay for the sewer project, and feared that the Pacific Coast Highway would need to be widened into a freeway to accommodate growth that they did not want. The supervisors fought the incorporation drive and prevented the residents from voting, a decision that was overturned in the courts.


title: Malibu, California

text: The city councils that were elected in the 1990s were unable to write a Local Coastal Plan (LCP) that preserved enough public access to satisfy the California Coastal Commission, as required by the California Coastal Act. The state Legislature eventually passed a Malibu-specific law that allowed the Coastal Commission to write an LCP for Malibu, thus limiting the city's ability to control many aspects of land use. Because of the failure to adequately address sewage disposal problems in the heart of the city, the local water board ordered Malibu in November 2009 to build a sewage plant for the Civic Center area (23555 Civic Center Way). The city council has objected to that solution. On 2 February 2007, Civic Center Stormwater Treatment Facility opened. On 29 June 2016, City of Malibu "Civic Center Wasterwater Treatment Facility", Phase 1, broke ground.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu is located at (34.030450, −118.778612). Its City Hall building is located at 23825 Stuart Ranch Road (). The eastern end of the city borders the Topanga CDP, which separates it from the city of Los Angeles.


title: Malibu, California

text: Carbon Beach, Surfrider Beach, Westward Beach, Escondido Beach, Paradise Cove, Point Dume, Pirates Cove, Zuma Beach, Trancas and Encinal Bluffs are places along the coast in Malibu. Point Dume forms the northern end of the Santa Monica Bay, and Point Dume Headlands Park affords a vista stretching to the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Santa Catalina Island. Directly below the park, on the western side of the point, is Pirates Cove. Because of its relative seclusion, Pirates Cove was previously used as a nude beach, but since nudity is now illegal on all beaches in Los Angeles County, nude sunbathers are subject to fines and/or arrest.


title: Malibu, California

text: Like all California beaches, Malibu beaches are technically public land below the mean high tide line. Many large public beaches (Zuma Beach, Surfrider Beach) are easily accessible, but such access is sometimes limited for some of the smaller and more remote beaches. Some Malibu beaches are private, such as Paradise Cove, which charges an entrance fee to keep the crowds at bay.


title: Malibu, California

text: This region experiences warm and dry summers, with no average monthly temperatures above 71.6 °F (22 °C). According to the Köppen Climate Classification system, Malibu has a warm-summer Mediterranean climate, abbreviated "Csb" on climate maps. The city's climate is influenced by the Pacific Ocean, resulting in far more moderate temperatures than locations further inland experience. Snow in Malibu is extremely rare, but flurries with higher accumulations in the nearby mountains occurred on January 17, 2007. More recently, snow fell in the city on January 25, 2021. The record high temperature of 104  °F (40 °C) was observed on September 27, 2010, while the record low temperature of 26  °F (–3 °C) was observed on January 14, 2007.


title: Malibu, California

text: The 2010 United States Census reported that Malibu had a population of 12,645. The population density was . The racial makeup of Malibu was 11,565 (91.5%) White (87.4% Non-Hispanic White), 148 (1.2%) African American, 20 (0.2%) Native American, 328 (2.6%) Asian, 15 (0.1%) Pacific Islander, 182 (1.4%) from other races, and 387 (3.1%) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 769 persons (6.1%).


title: Malibu, California

text: The Census reported that 12,504 people (98.9% of the population) lived in households, 126 (1.0%) lived in non-institutionalized group quarters, and 15 (0.1%) were institutionalized.


title: Malibu, California

text: There were 5,267 households, out of which 1,379 (26.2%) had children under the age of 18 living in them, 2,571 (48.8%) were opposite-sex married couples living together, 403 (7.7%) had a female householder with no husband present, 222 (4.2%) had a male householder with no wife present. There were 269 (5.1%) unmarried opposite-sex partnerships, and 49 (0.9%) same-sex married couples or partnerships. 1,498 households (28.4%) were made up of individuals, and 501 (9.5%) had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37. There were 3,196 families (60.7% of all households); the average family size was 2.87.


title: Malibu, California

text: The population was spread out, with 2,366 people (18.7%) under the age of 18, 1,060 people (8.4%) aged 18 to 24, 2,291 people (18.1%) aged 25 to 44, 4,606 people (36.4%) aged 45 to 64, and 2,322 people (18.4%) who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47.8 years. For every 100 females, there were 100.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.0 males.


title: Malibu, California

text: There were 6,864 housing units at an average density of , of which 3,716 (70.6%) were owner-occupied, and 1,551 (29.4%) were occupied by renters. The homeowner vacancy rate was 2.8%; the rental vacancy rate was 11.9%. 9,141 people (72.3% of the population) lived in owner-occupied housing units and 3,363 people (26.6%) lived in rental housing units.


title: Malibu, California

text: According to the 2010 United States Census, Malibu had a median household income of $133,869, with 10.6% of the population living below the federal poverty line.


title: Malibu, California

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 12,575 people, 5,137 households, and 3,164 families residing in the city. The population density was 632.9 inhabitants per square mile (244.4/km). There were 6,126 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 91.91% White, 8.49% Asian, 0.90% African American, 0.21% Native American, 0.10% Pacific Islander, 1.67% from other races, and 2.72% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.48% of the population.


title: Malibu, California

text: There were 5,137 households, out of which 25.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.5% were married couples living together, 6.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.4% were non-families. 27.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.39 and the average family size was 2.86.


title: Malibu, California

text: In the city, the population was spread out, with 19.6% under the age of 18, 7.9% from 18 to 24, 26.4% from 25 to 44, 32.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 97.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males.


title: Malibu, California

text: The median income for a household in the city was $102,031, and the median income for a family was $123,293. Males had a median income of $100,000 versus $46,919 for females. The per capita income for the city was $74,336. About 3.2% of families and 7.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.8% of those under age 18 and 1.1% of those age 65 or over.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Malibu Coast lies on the fringe of an extensive chaparral and woodland wilderness area, the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. Various environmental elements collectively create a recipe for natural disasters: the mountainous and geologically unstable terrain; seasonal rainstorms that result in dense vegetation growth; seasonal dry Santa Ana winds; and a naturally dry topography and climate.


title: Malibu, California

text: One of the most problematic side-effects of the fires that periodically rage through Malibu is the destruction of vegetation, which normally provides some degree of topographical stability to the loosely packed shale and sandstone hills during periods of heavy precipitation. Rainstorms following large wildfires can thus cause a phenomenon known as mudslides, in which water-saturated earth and rock moves quickly down mountainsides, or entire slices of mountainside abruptly detach and fall downward.


title: Malibu, California

text: After the 1993 wildfire stripped the surrounding mountains of their earth-hugging chaparral, torrential rainstorms in early 1994 caused a massive mudslide near Las Flores Canyon that closed down the main coastal transport artery, Pacific Coast Highway, for months. Thousands of tons of mud, rocks, and water rained down on the Pacific Coast Highway like a sluicebox. The destruction to property and infrastructure was exacerbated by the narrow constriction of the road at that point, with beachside houses abutting the highway with little or no frontage land acting as a buffer to the mudslide. Another large mudslide occurred on Malibu Canyon Road, between the Pepperdine University campus and HRL Laboratories LLC, closing down Malibu Canyon for two months. Yet another behemoth slide occurred on another main canyon road, Kanan-Dume Road about one mile (1.6 km) up the canyon from the Pacific Coast Highway. This last road closure lasted over a period of many months, with Kanan finally fixed by the California Department of Transportation (Cal-Trans) over a year after the road collapse.


title: Malibu, California

text: Mudslides can and do occur at any time in Malibu, whether a recent fire or rainstorm has occurred or not. Pacific Coast Highway, Kanan-Dume Road, and Malibu Canyon road (as well as many other local roads) have all been prone to many subsequent mudslide-related closures. During any period of prolonged or intense rain, Caltrans snowplows will patrol most canyon roads in the area, clearing mud, rocks, and other fallen debris from the roadways. Such efforts keep most roads passable, but it is nevertheless typical for one or more of the major roads leading into and out of Malibu to be temporarily closed during the rainy season.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu is periodically subjected to intense coastal storms. Occasionally, these storms unearth remnants of the Rindge railroad that was built through Malibu in the early 20th century.


title: Malibu, California

text: On Friday, January 25, 2008, during a storm that was unusually large for the Southern California area, a tornado came ashore and struck a naval base's hangar, ripping off the roof. It was the first tornado to strike Malibu's shoreline in recorded history.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu is within of the San Andreas Fault, a fault over in length that can produce an earthquake over magnitude 8. Several faults are in the region, making the area prone to earthquakes.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Northridge earthquake in 1994, and the 1971 Sylmar earthquake (magnitudes 6.7 and 6.6, respectively) shook the area. Smaller earthquakes happen more often.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu is a general law city governed with a five-member City Council including the mayor and mayor pro tem. The City Council hires a city manager to carry out policies and serve as executive officer. Every even-numbered year either two or three members are elected by the people to serve a four-year term. Usually, the City Council meets in April and chooses one of its members as mayor and one as mayor-pro-tem. In 2006, this pattern was deviated from when the council decided to have a cycle of three mayors and mayors pro-tem in the coming two years. Malibu does not have a police force. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department provides law enforcement services to Malibu.


title: Malibu, California

text: In the United States House of Representatives, Malibu is in California's 33rd congressional district, which has a Cook PVI of D+16 and is represented by .


title: Malibu, California

text: The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD) operates the Malibu/Lost Hills Station in Calabasas, serving Malibu under contract with the city.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Los Angeles County Department of Health Services SPA 5 West Area Health Office serves Malibu. The department operates the Simms/Mann Health and Wellness Center in Santa Monica, serving Malibu.


title: Malibu, California

text: The United States Postal Service operates the Malibu Post Office at 23838 Pacific Coast Highway, the Colony Annex at 23648 Pacific Coast Highway, adjacent to the Malibu Post Office, and the La Costa Malibu Post Office at 21229 Pacific Coast Highway.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District serves Malibu with two elementary schools: John L. Webster Elementary School (grades K-5, located in central Malibu) and Malibu Elementary School (grades K-5, located in northwestern Malibu's Pt. Dume district).


title: Malibu, California

text: Private schools include: Calmont, Our Lady of Malibu (Catholic), Colin McEwen High School, New Roads, and St. Aidan's School.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu High School (MHS) provides secondary public education for both middle school (grades 6–8) and high school (grades 9–12). MHS is located in the northwestern region of Malibu.


title: Malibu, California

text: Pepperdine University, a private college affiliated with the Church of Christ, which is located in central Malibu, north of the Malibu Colony at the intersection of the Pacific Coast Highway and Malibu Canyon Road. Malibu is also served by Santa Monica College, a community college in the nearby city of Santa Monica to the south.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu Public Library, a branch of the County of Los Angeles Public Library, is in the Malibu Civic Center Complex. The branch has an adult reading area, a children's reading area, a 125-person meeting room, and free parking. The library opened in 1970. Prior to 1970 residents were served by a bookmobile.


title: Malibu, California

text: Getty Villa, an art museum that is part of the J. Paul Getty Museum, is located just outside the city limits in the adjacent Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles. It is owned and operated by the J. Paul Getty Trust, which also oversees the Getty Center in West Los Angeles. The Museum at the Getty Villa houses Getty's collections of antiquities, sculptures, art pieces and cultural artifacts of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria.


title: Malibu, California

text: Adamson House, the historic house and gardens of the 19th-century original owners of Malibu, the Rindge Family, is a state museum.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Malibu Art Association, a non-profit organization to foster the arts in Malibu produces shows, demonstrations and workshops for its members, and offers art for public display throughout the community.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu High School offers musicals every spring and instrumental and vocal musical concerts every winter and spring.


title: Malibu, California

text: Smothers Theatre of Pepperdine University's Theatrical Drama Department offers concerts, plays, musicals, opera, and dance.


title: Malibu, California

text: California State Parkland in the hills behind Malibu provides extensive horseback-riding, hiking, running, and mountain-biking options, affording many different views of the Santa Monica Mountains, the curve of the Santa Monica Bay, Santa Catalina Island, and the San Fernando Valley. There are many points of access to the Backbone Trail System scattered throughout the local canyons, as well as a variety of smaller, local trail-heads.


title: Malibu, California

text: Pacific Coast Highway is popular with road cycling enthusiasts for its vistas. The route also has a reputation for being quite dangerous for cyclists, a fact which inspired the creation of the Dolphin Run, an annual community event commemorating local victims of reckless driving. The Dolphin Run was held each Autumn from 1990 to 2004.


title: Malibu, California

text: There are several shopping centers in the Malibu Civic Center area including the Malibu Country Mart. The Malibu Civic Center is well known for being frequented by paparazzi and tourists looking to catch a glimpse of local celebrities.


title: Malibu, California

text: The former Malibu Bluffs State Park ownership changed hands in 2006 after the California Department of Parks and Recreation transferred the park's control to the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, They established the Malibu Bluffs Recreation Area, an Open Space Preserve of on the bluffs between the Pacific Coast Highway and Malibu Road, directly opposite Pepperdine University and Malibu Canyon Road. The bluffs rise above Amarillo Beach and Puerco Beach across Malibu Road. Five public stairways (which adjoin private property) lead down to the shoreline from the base of the bluffs. The trails begin from the spacious lawns in Malibu Bluffs Community Park


title: Malibu, California

text: The Malibu Bluffs Recreation Area surrounds the Malibu Bluffs Community Park, whose parcel the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy sold to the city. It consists of the Michael Landon Community Center, baseball diamonds, and soccer fields. Home of the Malibu Little League (MLL), once the largest youth team sports organization in Malibu. (That honor was wrested in the 1990s by Malibu AYSO, a youth soccer organization that shares park space (practice fields).) For over 20 years, the State Parks had tried to kick out Malibu Little League's baseball diamonds and tall baseball fences, with the intention of returning the land to its native wetlands and vegetation. A rider to a California state law was written specifically in the 1950s to allow baseball, with its attendant field accoutrements, to continue being played in the state park. Several generations of Malibuites worked to keep Malibu Bluffs Park for baseball and soccer.


title: Malibu, California

text: A vacant, plot of land owned by billionaire Jerry Perenchio was sold to the City of Malibu in 2005 with strict deed restrictions prohibiting any further commercial use. Malibu Legacy Park is an ongoing restoration project undertaken by the city with broad community support. The state-of-the-art water treatment plant takes stormwater runoff that accumulates in the park to mitigate the stormwater pollution in Malibu Creek, Malibu Lagoon, and Surfrider Beach. The Malibu Legacy Park Project responds to critical issues: (1) bacteria reduction by stormwater treatment, (2) nutrient reduction in wastewater management, (3) restoration and development of riparian habitats, and (4) the development of an open space area for passive recreation and environmental education. In addition, the Project will be linked by a "linear park" to neighboring Surfrider Beach, Malibu Pier, Malibu Lagoon, and Malibu Bluffs Park.


title: Malibu, California

text: Ball sports are prohibited in the park along with running/jogging and other sports. The park includes many educational features, an outdoor classroom, and other informative features which explain the different habitats.


title: Malibu, California

text: The park is located east of Webb Way, and between Civic Center Way on the north and PCH to the south. It was the site of the annual Labor Day Weekend Kiwanis Club Chili Cook-Off from 1982 to 2009 (in 2010, the Chili Cook-Off and Carnival went on as usual, but moved to still-open land across Civic Center Way, on the Ioki property, at the corner of Civic Center Way and Stuart Ranch Road). Further back, it was agricultural land, planted in geraniums, other flowers and vegetables by the Takahashi family since 1924.


title: Malibu, California

text: Across the street from the civic center of Malibu, Surfrider Beach is adjacent to the Malibu Colony and Malibu Pier. This surfing beach was featured in 1960s surf movies, like "Beach Party". The Surfrider point break stems from the Malibu Colony into Santa Monica Bay and carries the nickname "Third Point". Surfing at this spot is popular during the winter.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Malibu Chamber of Commerce was formed in 1949 to provide support to local Malibu business, and now has over 500 members.


title: Malibu, California

text: HRL Laboratories, the research arm of the former Hughes Aircraft Company, was established in 1960 in Malibu. Among its research accomplishments was the first working laser. Despite the aerospace industry's downsizing in the 1990s, HRL is the largest employer in Malibu.


title: Malibu, California

text: Established in 1937 in south-central Los Angeles, Pepperdine University moved to its Malibu campus in 1972. However, when Malibu incorporated as a city the boundaries were drawn to exclude Pepperdine, at the college's insistence.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Surfrider Foundation was formed in 1984 by a group of surfers gathered to protect of coastal waters from Marina Del Rey through Malibu to Ventura County, and represent the surfing community.


title: Malibu, California

text: Heal the Bay, a non-profit organization for environmental advocacy, was formed in 1985 to protect Santa Monica Bay, which extends from Malibu's Point Dume along the entire coastline of Malibu past Santa Monica to the Palos Verdes Peninsula.


title: Malibu, California

text: Following the opening of Passages Malibu in 2001, the city has become home to numerous residential drug-abuse treatment centers. As of 2013, there are 35 state-licensed drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities in Malibu, in addition to a multiplying number of unlicensed sober-living homes.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Malibu Arts Festival is held annually on the last weekend in July by the Malibu Chamber of Commerce.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Malibu International Film Festival is held every year showcasing new films and filmmakers from around the world.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Malibu Chili Cookoff, held every Labor Day weekend, is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club of Malibu. Proceeds benefit children and youth organizations.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Malibu Nautica Triathlon is held every September. In 2007, it raised $718,000 to benefit Children's Hospital Los Angeles.


title: Malibu, California

text: The Polar Plunge (Los Angeles) is held each year in February at Zuma Beach to help raise funds for the Special Olympics in Southern California.


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu has been used as a location or setting for many films, television programs, fashion shoots and music videos.


title: Malibu, California

text: Surfrider Beach was home to "Gidget", and surfing movies of the 1960s. Jill Munroe and her sister Kris Munroe's Charlie's Angels beach house was located in Malibu. The residence can also be seen in the first scene after the opening theme song of Beach Blanket Bingo. Important scenes in the "Planet of the Apes" series were filmed at Point Dume. The hero's trailer in "The Rockford Files" was parked by the Paradise Cove Pier. "Love American Style" and "The Mod Squad" are among many TV series and commercials filmed in Paradise Cove. A 1978 film starring Suzanne Somers was entitled "Zuma Beach". In the 1990s and 2000s (decade), it was the setting for "MTV Beach House", "Malibu's Most Wanted", and Nickelodeon's "Zoey 101". Point Dume is the location of Tony Stark's mansion in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, first appearing in Iron Man (2008).


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu is the setting for the television series "Two and a Half Men". The television series "So Little Time" (2001) portrayed two Malibu teens (Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen) who attend the fictional school West Malibu High. Fictional teen star Hannah Montana / Miley Stewart (portrayed by Miley Cyrus) and her father Robbie Ray Stewart (portrayed by Billy Ray Cyrus) live in Malibu on the Disney Channel Original Series, "Hannah Montana". In the Fox TV series "The O.C.", both the Cohen house and the Cooper homes were actually located in Malibu. "Malibu Shores", a teen drama that aired on NBC, was set in Malibu. Some scenes from "The Even Stevens Movie" were filmed on Westward Beach in Point Dume. The small hit TV show "Summerland" was also filmed and set in Malibu.


title: Malibu, California

text: In 2006, Bravo television aired "Million Dollar Listing", a real-estate related show based on million-dollar listings in Malibu, as well as Hollywood, including real-life Malibu agents such as Chris Cortazzo, Scotty Brown, Madison Hildebrand, and Lydia Simon.


title: Malibu, California

text: The MTV reality show "Buzzin'" starring Shwayze and Cisco Adler is mostly filmed in Malibu, at locations including Westward Beach, Malibu Courthouse, Pacific Coast Highway, Point Dume Trailer Park, Malibu Inn, and the outside of PC Greens.


title: Malibu, California

text: There are also many music videos filmed on Malibu's beaches. In 1998, the alternative rock band Hole shot the video for the song "Malibu" at the Matador Beach. Mariah Carey's video for her 2009 single H.A.T.E.U. was filmed there. American singer Nick Lachey's video for his 2006 single "I Can't Hate You Anymore" from the What's Left Of Me album, was filmed at the place on June 27, 2006, before Lachey's divorce from the American singer-actress Jessica Simpson became final three days later after its release. Selena Gomez's "Love You Like a Love Song" video was partly filmed in Malibu. Music videos for "Survivor" by Destiny's Child, "If It's Lovin' That You Want" by Rihanna, "Sunshine" by Lil Flip, "Natural" by S Club 7, "Feel It Boy" by Beenie Man featuring Janet Jackson, "You're Still the One" by Shania Twain, and many others were filmed on Westward Beach. Linda Ronstadt who lived in the Colony is photographed in front of her home for her 1976 Grammy award-winning album "Hasten Down the Wind". Girls Aloud filmed their video "Call the Shots" on the beach at Malibu. In 1999, Britney Spears shot the video for the song "Sometimes" directed by Nigel Dick on the pier at Paradise Cove. Also in late 1998, Madonna shot her video for "The Power of Good-Bye" near Silver Top mansion. The music videos for "Lost" by American band Maroon 5 and "Somebody to You", from British band The Vamps featuring Demi Lovato were both filmed on Malibu Beach. One Direction's video "What Makes You Beautiful " on July 11, 2011, and Watermelon Sugar filmed on January 30, 2020, by Harry Styles (One Direction's member).


title: Malibu, California

text: Pepperdine University's TV-32 is fed on Educational-access television cable TV channel 32, and was previously on channel 26.


title: Malibu, California

text: Broadcast radio stations licensed for Malibu include FM booster station KPFK-FM1 for 90.7 KPFK Los Angeles. 92.7 KYRA, Thousand Oaks, has a booster KLSI-FM1 with a city of license of "Malibu Vista".


title: Malibu, California

text: Malibu has three local newspapers: "The Malibu Times", founded in 1946, the "Malibu Surfside News", and Pepperdine University's student newspaper, the "Graphic".


title: Malibu, California

text: There are also three magazines in Malibu: "Malibu Arts Journal", "Malibu Magazine", and "Malibu Times Magazine" and "Malibu Biz".


title: Leopard 1

text: The Leopard 1 (also styled Leopard I, before the Leopard 2 simply known as Leopard) is a main battle tank designed and produced by Porsche in West Germany that first entered service in 1965. Developed in an era when HEAT warheads were thought to make conventional heavy armour of limited value, the Leopard focused on firepower in the form of the German-built version of the British L7 105-mm gun, and improved cross-country performance that was unmatched by other designs of the era.


title: Leopard 1

text: The design started as a collaborative project during the 1950s between West Germany and France, and later joined by Italy, but the partnership ended shortly after and the final design was ordered by the Bundeswehr, with full-scale production starting in 1965. In total, 6,485 Leopard tanks have been built, of which 4,744 were battle tanks and 1,741 were utility and anti-aircraft variants, not including 80 prototypes and pre-series vehicles.


title: Leopard 1

text: The Leopard quickly became a standard of many European militaries, and eventually served as the main battle tank in over a dozen countries worldwide, with West Germany, Italy and the Netherlands being the largest operators until their retirement. Since 1990, the Leopard 1 has gradually been relegated to secondary roles in most armies. In the German Army, the Leopard 1 was completely phased out in 2003 by the Leopard 2, while Leopard 1-based vehicles are still widely used in utility roles.


title: Leopard 1

text: The Leopard 2 has replaced the Leopard 1 in service with many other nations, with derived vehicles using the Leopard 1 hull still seeing service. Currently, the largest operators are Greece, with 520 vehicles, Turkey, with 397 vehicles and Brazil with 378 vehicles. Most of these vehicles have been upgraded with various improvements to armour, firepower and sensors to maintain their ability to engage modern threats.


title: Leopard 1

text: The Leopard project started in November 1956 in order to develop a modern tank, the "Standard-Panzer", to replace the Bundeswehr's American-built M47 and M48 Patton tanks, which, though just delivered to West Germany's recently reconstituted army, were rapidly becoming outdated. On 25 July 1957, the detailed specifications were released. The new design needed to weigh no more than 30 tonnes, have a power-to-weight ratio of 30 horsepower per tonne, be able to withstand hits by 20 mm rapid-fire guns on every side as well as to operate in a battlefield contaminated with chemical weapons or radioactive fallout, the then-standard baseline for combat with the Warsaw Pact.


title: Leopard 1

text: The main armament had to consist of a 105 mm caliber weapon (the new British L7A3 105 mm gun was selected), carrying at least as many rounds as current US tank designs. Mobility had priority, while firepower came second. Armour was seen as less essential, as it was believed that no real protection against hollow charge weapons was possible anyway. At the time it was suspected that future conflicts would involve nuclear weapons, which no tank at the time could directly protect from.


title: Leopard 1

text: France was very interested in the design as its own AMX 50 project had just failed. In June 1957, West Germany and the French Fourth Republic signed an agreement to develop a common tank, designated in German "Europa-Panzer". Three German ("Arbeitsgruppe" A, B and C) and one French design team were included in a competition, with each team producing two prototypes. In September 1958, Italy joined the development program. Several prototypes were entered for testing in 1960. Among the prototypes were Porsche's "Model 734" from team A, sporting a cast turret, and that of team B (Rheinmetall), whose cast turret was somewhat higher. Team C from "Borgward", designing a very futuristic tank, failed to have a prototype ready in time.


title: Leopard 1

text: Even before these first prototypes were finished, it had (in 1959) been decided that a second phase with improved designs would be started: Team A had to build 26 phase II prototypes for testing, team B six. Only two tanks of the required six were constructed by team B.


title: Leopard 1

text: The Porsche Prototype II was eventually selected as the winner of the contest in 1963. This did not come as a surprise: it had already been decided in 1961 to build a pre-series of 50 vehicles based on this design. Production of these was started that very year. This "0-series" was modified with a new cast turret and several hull changes to raise the rear deck to provide more room in the engine compartment and move some of the radiators to the upper sides of the hull. Before mass production of the standard version started, it was decided to add an optical range-finding system for better long-range gunnery, which required the turret to be somewhat taller, and added "bumps" on either side of the turret to mount the optics for triangulation. Germany dropped France from the joint program after France repeatedly missed deadlines for its contribution to the program.


title: Leopard 1

text: In February 1963 Defence Minister Kai-Uwe von Hassel announced he would soon ask the defense committee in Parliament to approve production of the tank. At this time the tank weighed 40 tons and cost $250,000 each. In July the Defence Ministry ordered 1,500 tanks with production to take place between 1965 and 1970. Germany also announced its agreement to develop a successor with the United States. Called the MBT-70, the program failed to materialize a tenable design.


title: Leopard 1

text: Production was set up at KraussMaffei of Munich from early 1964 onward, with deliveries of the first batch between September 1965 and July 1966. The Leopard was soon being purchased from Germany by a number of NATO members and other allies, including (in chronological order) Belgium (1968), the Netherlands (1969), Norway (1970), Italy (1971), Denmark (1976), Australia (1976), Canada (1978), Turkey (1980) and Greece (1981). It is also key to note that Germany has a strict export-policy for their military equipment. Greece, Spain and Chile, while still under dictatorships, purchased the French AMX-30 instead.


title: Leopard 1

text: After the first batch was delivered, the next three batches were the "Leopard 1A1" model, which included a new gun stabilization system from Cadillac Gage that allowed the tank to fire effectively on the move. The 1A1 added the now-famous "skirts" along the sides to protect the upper tracks, and a new thermal jacket on the gun barrel to control heating. A less important change was to use rectangular rubber blocks fastened to the treads with a single pin instead of the earlier two-pin "shaped" versions. The rubber blocks could be easily replaced with metal X-shaped crampons for movement on ice and snow in the winter.


title: Leopard 1

text: Between 1974 and 1977, all of the machines in the first four batches were brought to the same "Leopard 1A1A1" standard, and given additional turret armour developed by Blohm & Voss. An upgrade in the 1980s added leftover image-intensifier night sights, which were being handed down from the Leopard 2 as they were themselves upgraded. The PZB 200 image intensification system was mounted in a large box on the upper right of the gun, creating the "Leopard 1A1A2". An upgrade with SEM80/90 all-digital radios created the "Leopard 1A1A3". Later improvements to the image intensifier created the "Leopard 1A1A4".


title: Leopard 1

text: The first 232 tanks of the fifth production batch were delivered as the "Leopard 1A2" between 1972 and 1974. The A2 included a heavier and better armoured turret, and therefore did not receive the B&V armour add-ons as did the earlier machines. They received the other upgrades; the "Leopard 1A2A1" received the PZB 200, the "Leopard 1A2A2" received digital radios, and the "Leopard 1A2A3" got both.


title: Leopard 1

text: The next 110 vehicles in the fifth batch were fitted with a new welded turret, which was equipped with a new armour consisting of two spaced steel plates with a plastic filling between them ("high-hardness armour"), and a wedge-shaped gun mantlet, creating the "Leopard 1A3". Although the level of armour area density was equivalent to the A2's new welded version, the internal volume was increased by 1.2 m³ and the effective protection level was increased by half. The improved TRP 2A independent sight was installed for the commander. Upgrades were identical to the 1A2 models, the "Leopard 1A3A1" with the night sights, "Leopard 1A3A2" with the new radios, and the "Leopard 1A3A3" with both.


title: Leopard 1

text: The "Leopard 1A4" formed the sixth batch of 250 vehicles, starting delivery in 1974. The 1A4 was externally similar to the 1A3, but included a new computerized fire control system and the new EMES 12A1 sighting system to aim it. The commander was provided with his own independent night sighting system, the PERI R12. The new equipment used up space and the ammunition load was reduced to 55 rounds, of which 42 were stored in the magazine to the left of the driver.


title: Leopard 1

text: In 1980, a research program was undertaken to study further improvements to the Leopard 1, providing it with a completely modern fire control system and fully effective night/bad-weather vision system. The decision was made to base the upgrades on the earlier models, which were no longer competitive.


title: Leopard 1

text: The resulting "Leopard 1A5" was based on 1,225 vehicles of the Leopard 1A1A1 model. The turrets were again modified for the 1A5, both in order to store all of the new equipment, as well as to move more of the ammunition into the rear of the turret, as opposed to the left side of the driver where it had previously been stored. The new turret was able to mount the newer 120 mm gun from the Leopard 2 if desired, although this option has not been used.


title: Leopard 1

text: After trials, the Krupp-Atlas Elektronik EMES 18 fire control system, which was developed from the EMES 15 used on the Leopard 2, was selected in December 1983. The EMES 18 included two new sights on the top of the turret, and no longer required the "bumps" as the earlier optical systems did. A crucial part of the upgrade was the introduction of more effective ammunition, including new APFSDS rounds.


title: Leopard 1

text: The Leopard tank could be fitted with bolt-on polycarbonate (Lexan) armour panels, which have increased the effectiveness of the armour. The first modified vehicle was delivered in early 1987. Since then, almost all users of the Leopard 1 have applied similar changes to their own vehicles, and in most ways the 1A5 can be considered the "standard" Leopard 1 today.


title: Leopard 1

text: In the Netherlands, an improved version equivalent to the A5 called "Leopard 1 Verbeterd" (improved) was developed. The same version is still in service with the Chilean Army.


title: Leopard 1

text: The "Leopard 1A6" prototype was a single Leopard 1 A1A1 testbed, modified with additional armour on the turret and equipped with a 120 mm L/44 gun. The project was ended in 1987, as the Leopard 2 was in widespread service at this point and the 1A5 offered a more reasonable upgrade path for a fraction of the cost.


title: Leopard 1

text: Simultaneous to the production of the battle tanks, a number of engineering, bridging and recovery vehicles were developed, as well as a number of versions used in the anti-aircraft role.


title: Leopard 1

text: The most well known Leopard variants are the Bridgelayer "Biber" (Beaver), "Bergepanzer 2" armoured recovery vehicle, "Pionierpanzer 2 Dachs" ("Badger") armoured engineer vehicle and the "Gepard" self-propelled anti-aircraft gun. The Warsaw Pact equivalent of the Gepard is the ZSU-23-4. Marconi Electronic Systems once offered conversions to the Marksman SPAAG for existing users of the Leopard 1. The Leopard 1 chassis would be used to carry the Marksman turret.


title: Leopard 1

text: The Canadian Army operates the Beaver Armoured vehicle-launched bridge, Taurus ARV, and Badger AEV, all based on the Leopard 1.


title: Leopard 1

text: The United Kingdom's Royal Marines operate a vehicle known as the Hippo beach armoured recovery vehicle. The Hippo is a conversion of a Leopard 1A5 chassis by Alvis Moelv. The main alteration has been the replacement of the turret with a raised superstructure that resembles the wheelhouse of a boat. The original 830 hp (634 kW) diesel engine has been retained, but the gearing of the transmission had been lowered, reducing the vehicle's road speed to 32 km/h (20 mph), but increasing tractive effort to 250 kN (56,000 lbf).


title: Leopard 1

text: Other modifications include the addition of working platforms, a nosing block, raised air intakes and an Auxiliary power unit. This raised the weight of the vehicle from 42.5 tonnes to 50 tonnes. The Hippo has a fording depth of 2.95 m (10 ft) and can pull vehicles up to 50 tonnes weight or push off from the beach a 240 tonne displacement landing craft.


title: Leopard 1

text: Almost as soon as the Leopard was introduced into service in 1965, Porsche was awarded a contract to study further improvements to the existing design, while awaiting deliveries of the MBT-70 in the mid-1970s. This original "Gilded Leopard" ("vergoldeter Leopard") program expired in 1967 with no production order. In 1967, it had already become obvious that the MBT-70 would be a failure. The agreement between the US and the Federal Republic of Germany forbade any national development of an MBT apart from technological experimentation, so a new tank project was begun under the designation of "Experimentalentwicklung" or "experimental development", two prototypes of which were built.


title: Leopard 1

text: When the MBT-70 program was ended, a further contract was offered under the name "Boar" ("Eber"), with an emphasis on using as many technologies from the MBT-70 as possible, but without the problematic XM150 152 mm (6.0 in) combined gun/MGM-51 Shillelagh missile launcher. Two prototype vehicles were constructed using a new chassis from Porsche with the road wheels from the MBT-70 and the original Leopard engine. This was combined with a new Wegmann turret, mounting the MBT-70's Rheinmetall 120 mm smoothbore gun. Some also mounted the original 105 mm L7.


title: Leopard 1

text: These were considered promising enough that seven more were ordered, this time powered by the MTU engine designed for the MBT-70. When this happened, the "Experimentalentwicklung" team went public with their alternative design which they called the "Keiler" (a synonym of "Eber"). In 1971, the minister of defence, Helmut Schmidt, decided to abandon the "Eber"-project and build 17 prototypes of a Leopard 2, based on the "Keiler" design, which had a turret with spaced sloped armour. The maximum weight was to be 50 tonnes.


title: Leopard 1

text: During the 1973 Yom Kippur War, 1950s and 1960s generation tanks were badly beaten by wire-guided missiles, and it was realized that dramatically improved armour protection was needed. The decision was made to allow the tank to increase its weight to the next classification, Military Loading Class 60 (tonnes). A new design effort was started, with the spaced armour replaced with a much denser perforated armour assemblage. The new design would go on to augment and, after the Cold War, sometimes replace the Leopard in many countries' armies.


title: Leopard 1

text: In 1974, the Australian government confirmed the purchase of the Leopard, with a total of 101 vehicles being acquired, consisting of 90 MBTs, five Bridgelayers and six Armoured Recovery Vehicles. Two more ARVs were purchased later. The first Leopards arrived in Australia from Germany in 1976, ending a selection and trial process against the US M60 series that started in 1971, when the army decided it needed a replacement for its British Centurions, which had served since 1952 and had been deployed during the Vietnam war.


title: Leopard 1

text: In March 2004, the decision was made to replace the Leopard 1 with reconditioned US M1A1 Abrams AIM. The first 18 of 59 M1A1 Abrams arrived in September 2006. The M88A2 Hercules is concurrently replacing the Leopard family of support variants in Australian service. The Leopard 1 was operated by the 1st Armoured Regiment and was officially withdrawn from service in July 2007. Their guns were never fired in combat operations. Some of the retired tanks were offered to military museums or RSL clubs.


title: Leopard 1

text: The Belgian Army received 334 Leopard 1BE between 1968 and 1971. They equipped eight tank regiments, each equipped with 40 Leopards, and the Armour School. The first regiment to receive the Leopard was the 4th Lancers, followed by the 1st Lancers, 2nd Lancers, 3rd Lancers, 8th Lancers, 1st Guides, 2nd Guides and finally the 2nd Mounted Rifles. From 1974, they were modified with a gun stabilization system and an Automatic firing direction system ("Automatisch VuurLeidingsSysteem", AVLS) from SABCA. This system allowed the gun to fire on the move.