Artist Collective (professional wrestling)

The Artist Collective was a professional wrestling stable in WWE that consisted of Canadian wrestler Sami Zayn, Swiss wrestler Cesaro, and Japanese wrestler Shinsuke Nakamura.
The stable was formed as an alliance between Zayn and Nakamura in August 2019, when the duo joined forces as Zayn became Nakamura's mouthpiece and manager and helped him in retaining the Intercontinental Championship. Soon after, Cesaro joined the group and began teaming with Nakamura. In March 2020, the stable was renamed The Artist Collective. After Zayn's absence on television due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Cesaro and Nakamura began wrestling as a duo and won the SmackDown Tag Team Championship.
History
Sami Zayn's leadership (2019-2020)
At the 2019 Extreme Rules event, Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Finn Balor to win the Intercontinental Championship. On the August 20 episode of SmackDown, Nakamura formed an alliance with Sami Zayn during Miz TV segment, during which Zayn revealed himself to be Nakamura's official spokesperson due to Nakamura's weak English. Zayn assisted Nakamura in retaining the title against The Miz at Clash of Champions. Shortly after, Cesaro joined Zayn and Nakamura as their frequent ally as he occasionally teamed with Nakamura. On the November 8 episode of SmackDown, Cesaro and Nakamura teamed together for the first time as a team and defeated Ali and Shorty G in a tag team match. The duo unsuccessfully challenged The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship on the November 29 episode of SmackDown. During the end of the year, the trio began feuding with Braun Strowman, who began pursuing Nakamura's Intercontinental Championship. They lost to Strowman and the New Day in a six-man tag team match on the December 27 episode of SmackDown and Cesaro and Nakamura lost to Strowman and Elias in a tag team match on the January 24, 2020 episode of SmackDown.
Strowman earned himself an Intercontinental Championship match against Nakamura by defeating him in a non-title match on the January 10 episode of SmackDown. On the January 31 episode of SmackDown, Nakamura lost the title to Strowman. At Elimination Chamber, Zayn, Cesaro and Nakamura defeated Strowman in a 3-on-1 handicap match, with Zayn pinning Strowman to win the Intercontinental Championship. Shortly after, Zayn began feuding with Daniel Bryan and his student Drew Gulak. On the March 20 episode of SmackDown, the group was named The Artist Collective with Cesaro and Nakamura losing to Bryan and Gulak in a tag team match. The following week, on SmackDown, Gulak defeated Nakamura to earn Bryan, an Intercontinental Championship match against Zayn. At WrestleMania 36, Cesaro defeated Gulak at the kickoff show while Zayn successfully defended the Intercontinental Championship against Bryan, with the help of Nakamura and Cesaro. Zayn disappeared from television after the title defense and refrained from competing during the COVID-19 pandemic.
SmackDown Tag Team Champions (2020-2021)
Cesaro and Nakamura formed temporary alliances with King Corbin and Mojo Rawley during Zayn's absence. Cesaro failed to qualify for the Money in the Bank ladder match against Daniel Bryan on the April 17 episode of SmackDown. On May 12, Zayn was stripped from the Intercontinental Championship and a tournament was set up to determine a new champion, with Nakamura losing to A.J. Styles in the quarter-final round on the May 22 episode of SmackDown. On the June 12 episode of SmackDown, Cesaro and Nakamura defeated the SmackDown Tag Team Champions New Day in a non-title match, which earned them a SmackDown Tag Team Championship match against the New Day on July 10 episode of SmackDown, which ended in a no contest. Cesaro and Nakamura would earn wins over Big E and Kingston in singles matches respectively to earn another title shot against New Day in a tables match at The Horror Show at Extreme Rules, which Cesaro and Nakamura won, thus beginning Cesaro's second reign and Nakamura's first reign with the title. They successfully defended the titles against Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado) on the August 21 episode of SmackDown.
Zayn returned from hiatus on the August 28 episode of SmackDown, reuniting with Cesaro and Nakamura backstage; however, Cesaro dismissed him from the locker room so that he and Nakamura could have some discussion by themselves, thus removing Zayn from the group. Cesaro and Nakamura continued their tag team as they retained the SmackDown Tag Team Championship against the Lucha House Party at Clash of Champions. They lost the titles to The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) on the October 9 episode of SmackDown.On the October 16th episode of Smackdown they teamed with Sheamus to face The New Day in their farewell match, which they lost At TLC: Tables, Ladders & Chairs, Artist Collective unofficially reunited as Cesaro, Nakamura, and Zayn teamed with King Corbin against Big E, Daniel Bryan, Chad Gable, and Otis in an eight-man tag team match in a losing effort. On the January 29, 2021 episode of SmackDown, Nakamura helped Big E and Daniel Bryan fight off Cesaro, AJ Styles, and Sami Zayn, thus disbanding their team.
Championships and accomplishments
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**Ranked No. 24 of the top 50 tag teams in the PWI Tag Team 50 in 2020 - Zayn, Cesaro, and Nakamura
*WWE
**WWE Intercontinental Championship (2 times) - Nakamura (1), Zayn (1)
**WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championship (1 time) - Cesaro and Nakamura

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See Also

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