It has been confirmed that AEW World Defending champion Will Ospreay announced on the September 2 installment of Dynamite that he is creating his own version of the United Empire faction — which he co-founded alongside Outstanding-O-Khan in NJPW. He has since further stated Francesco Akira and Mike Bailey to the group, together with the AEW Women’s World Two-person unit Champions — the Brawling Birds (Jamie Hayter and Alex Windsor), and AEW National Champion Andrade El Ídolo.
Wrestling community have raised questions about how AEW can use the United Empire name, given that it was originally formed in NJPW. To add further context, likely due to trademark issues since NJPW owns that name, aEW changed the Bullet Club Gold name to the Bang Bang Gang. Nevertheless, sources from Fightful Select indicated that Ospreay actually owns the United Empire name — having trademarked it in April with assistance from Michael Dockins. This allows him the freedom to use the name as he wishes.