Wheeler Yuta
Paul Gruber (born October 26, 1996) is an American professional wrestler. He is currently signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs under the ring name Wheeler Yuta and is a member of the Blackpool Combat Club. He also makes appearances for AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a former ROH Pure Champion with a record-setting two reigns, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was formerly a member of the Chaos stable. Early life
Paul Gruber was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 26, 1996, the son of a Japanese mother and an American father from Philadelphia. His parents met while his father was on tour as a master chief petty officer in the U.S. Navy. He moved with his parents to South Carolina, where he graduated from Carolina Forest High School. The family then settled in Philadelphia, where he earned a degree from Villanova University. Professional wrestling career

Early career (2014–2020)

Yuta debuted in 2014. He made his Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) debut in late 2015 and consistently appeared for CZW until late 2016. On October 5, 2017, at One Shot, he made his debut for Major League Wrestling (MLW) in a losing effort to MJF. His last match for the promotion would be in 2019 against Low-Ki. Ring of Honor (2020–present)
Yuta made his debut for Ring of Honor (ROH) in the first round of the ROH Pure Tournament, where he was defeated by Jonathan Gresham. After Tony Khan's purchase of Ring of Honor, it was announced that Yuta would face Josh Woods at the revived Supercard of Honor XV for the ROH Pure Championship. At the event, Yuta defeated Woods to win the title. On the May 24, 2022 episode of Dark, which aired almost two months after their bout at Supercard of Honor XV, Yuta would successfully defend the ROH Pure Championship against Woods in a rematch. Yuta once again defended the title on the June 29 episode of Dark, defeating Tony Nese. After the match, Yuta was attacked by 2point0 and Daniel Garcia. This led to a match between Garcia and Yuta for the title at Death Before Dishonor, in which Yuta successfully retained the championship. Yuta lost the title on the September 7 episode of Dynamite to Garcia, ending his reign at 159 days. On December 10, 2022, Yuta regained the ROH Pure Championship from Garcia at Final Battle, in turn becoming the first person to hold the title on multiple occasions. On January 18, Yuta made his first title defense against Hagane Shinno at The Jay Briscoe Celebration of Life. Following the start of ROH programming on Honor Club, Yuta successfully defended the title against Timothy Thatcher. After the match, Yuta called out the NJPW LA Dojo, causing dojo graduate Clark Connors to confront Yuta seeking a title shot, which Yuta granted. The following week, Yuta defeated Connors to retain the Pure title. Post-match Yuta called out LA Dojo trainer, Katsuyori Shibata. On March 30, after successfully retaining the title against Leon Ruffin, Yuta was confronted by Shibata, setting up their title match the following day at Supercard of Honor. At the event, Yuta lost the Pure Championship to Shibata, ending his second reign at 111 days. All Elite Wrestling (2021–present)

On the June 29, 2021 episode of Dark: Elevation, Yuta made his debut for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) against Karl Anderson, and would consistently appear on AEW's YouTube shows throughout the coming months. He also joined the Best Friends stable, filling in for the injured Trent Beretta in trios matches. On the November 10 episode of Dynamite, Rocky Romero announced that Best Friends would become a sub-group within the NJPW stable Chaos and would represent Chaos in AEW. After losing to Bryan Danielson on the March 30, 2022 episode of Dynamite, Yuta walked away from his Best Friends teammates and teased a potential alliance with Danielson's Blackpool Combat Club faction. On the April 8 episode of Rampage, Yuta was defeated by Blackpool Combat Club member Jon Moxley in a hard-fought match that saw him earn the group's respect. After the match, he was accepted into the group by its creator and then-manager William Regal. On the March 8, 2023 episode of Dynamite, after his Blackpool Combat Club teammates Moxley and Claudio Castagnoli defeated The Dark Order members John Silver and Alex Reynolds, Yuta joined them in beating down "Hangman" Adam Page, turning heel for the first time in his AEW career. Danielson then returned from his short hiatus to rejoin the Blackpool Combat Club, leading to an Anarchy in the Arena match being scheduled for Double or Nothing, where the Blackpool Combat Club defeated The Elite (Kenny Omega, Page, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) after Yuta pinned its leader Omega. At the Forbidden Door event on June 25, Yuta, Moxley and Castagnoli teamed with Konosuke Takeshita and Shota Umino to take on Page, The Young Bucks, Eddie Kingston and Tomohiro Ishii in a ten-man tag team match, but were defeated. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (2021–present)
In April 2021, Yuta made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) with the promotion's American subsidiary, appearing on NJPW Strong. On May 1, 2022, Yuta was announced to be competing in the 29th Best of the Super Juniors tournament as part of the B Block. Yuta finished with a record of five wins and four losses, resulting in 10 points, failing to advance to the finals. On the tournament finals day, Yuta, Ace Austin, Alex Zayne and El Lindaman defeated Robbie Eagles, Yoh, Clark Connors and Titán in a tag-team match. Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (2022–present)
In January 2022, Yuta made his debut for Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG) at the Battle of Los Angeles. He defeated Blake Christian in the first round, but would lose the second round match to Mike Bailey. Personal life
In his spare time, Gruber enjoys playing steel drums. Championships and accomplishments
Chikara
Chikara Young Lions Cup (1 time)
Combat Zone Wrestling
Dramatic Destination Series (2016)
Trifecta (2018)
Dojo Pro Wrestling
Dojo Pro White Belt Championship (1 time)
NOVA Pro Wrestling
Men's Commonwealth Cup (2018)
Pro Wrestling Illustrated
Ranked No. 43 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2022
Powerbomb.tv
IWTV Independent Wrestling World Championship (1 time)
Ring of Honor
ROH Pure Championship (2 times)

References

External links
 
 
 
 

1996 births
Living people
Entertainers from Philadelphia
Professional wrestlers from Pennsylvania
American male professional wrestlers
American people of Japanese descent
All Elite Wrestling personnel
21st-century professional wrestlers
Villanova University alumni