Aaron Frobel (born December 13, 1986) is a Canadian professional wrestler and promoter, better known by his ring name Michael Elgin. He most recently worked for Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was a one-time GHC Tag Team Champion with Masa Kitamiya. He is best known for his work with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former NEVER Openweight Champion. In NJPW, he was also a one-time IWGP Intercontinental and a one-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion. He is also known for his work in Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a one-time ROH World Champion. He has also worked for the Southern California-based company Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, where he is a one-time PWG World Tag Team Champion with Brian Cage.
Frobel debuted in late 2004 using his ring name Michael Elgin, and by the age of 16, he was a regular on the independent circuit. He has competed for promotions including Combat Zone Wrestling, World League Wrestling, Alpha-1 Wrestling, and the Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South, where he won the IWA Mid-South Strong Style Championship in 2008. Elgin first appeared for Ring of Honor in 2007. He started competing regularly in 2010 as part of the House of Truth and signed a contract with the company in 2011. That November, Elgin won the 2011 Survival of the Fittest tournament. In 2015, Elgin won the 2015 Survival of the Fittest tournament and became the first wrestler to win the tournament twice. In 2015, Elgin made his debut for NJPW, signing a contract with the promotion the following year. After three years with the promotion, Elgin left New Japan Pro-Wrestling in March 2019 and signed with Impact Wrestling the following month.
Professional wrestling career
Training and early career
Frobel had begun training at a wrestling school at the age of 14. He later moved to training at Squared Circle Training in Toronto, Ontario, Canada under Rob Fuego in early 2004.
In late 2004, Frobel made his professional wrestling debut in Hamtramck, Michigan using the ring name Michael Elgin. By the age of 16, Frobel, as Elgin, was a regular competitor on the independent circuit. The Ontario Athletic Commission did not allow people under the age of 18 to wrestle professionally in the area, so Frobel travelled to Montreal, as well as to the United States to wrestle in the states of Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana.
Independent promotions (2005–2010) Frobel, as Elgin, has been a mainstay in several independent promotions, both in the United States and Canada, since 2005.
He has wrestled for the Pure Wrestling Association since 2005. That same year, he made two appearances for Empire State Wrestling, and a third in 2009. He made a single appearance for Ultimate Championship Wrestling on November 12, 2005, losing to Alcatraz. He also made a single appearance for World League Wrestling, wrestling at an October 19, 2008 show in a tag team match. In 2011, Elgin appeared at a CRW show, losing a triple threat match to Jake Matthews.
Elgin made two appearances for Combat Zone Wrestling; he defeated Jay Fenix at Night of Infamy 5 in 2006 and teamed with Andrew Sullivan to defeat Cory Kastle and Danny Pagan at Down With The Sickness 4Ever in 2008. In 2009, he competed in Independent Wrestling Association: Deep South's Southern Classic Invitational tournament, making it to the three-way final, where he lost to Chrisjen Hayme.
Elgin debuted for Independent Wrestling Association Mid-South (IWA Mid-South) in September 2006, at Lethal Lottery 2006, when he and Jason Dukes lost to Ian Rotten and Vito Thomaselli. His next IWA Mid-South appearance was in February 2007, when he and Ashley Sixx lost to Blackout (Joker and Sabian). Elgin and Ash continued to team together throughout early 2007, losing to team including The Iron Saints, and Southern Rock (Hillbilly Jed and Indiana Kidd, Jr.) before earning their first win against The Naptown Dragons (Die Hard and Vortekz) at April Bloodshowers 2007. The team of Elgin and Sixx named themselves "Pretty Unreal" and continued to feud with various members of The Naptown Dragons faction, winning several tag team matches against them. At Summer Scorcher in June, The Pretty Unreals suffered their first loss to The Naptown Dragons, when they were defeated by Die Hard and Vortekz in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. After a hiatus, Elgin returned to IWA Mid-South in October as a singles wrestler, wrestling against Drake Younger, Roderick Strong, Eddie Kingston, and 2 Cold Scorpio.