The Dogs Explain Why They Decided to Leave NJPW for AEW (Exclusive)

On the March 4 edition of AEW Dynamite, David Finlay made his re-debut with the company, reuniting with Gabe Kidd and Clark Connors in a brutal beatdown on both Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy.

Following this assault, AEW President Tony Khan revealed that all three members of the formerly known as Bullet Club War Dogs had officially signed contracts with the promotion and were now called The Dogs.

This followed weeks of speculation regarding all three men's wrestling futures after their contracts with New Japan Pro Wrestling had expired in early 2026. Most notably, Finlay was the subject of plenty of speculation and chatter in regards to where he was heading because of his father Fit Finlay working as a trainer in the WWE Performance Center and brother Uriah Connors now being featured in the Birthright stable in NXT.

Following their signing with AEW, The Dogs talked to The Takedown On SI to discuss their official arrival in their new home.

They made their presence known on Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite tonight, and now it’s official:
The Dogs @GabeKidd0115 @ClarkConnors @THEdavidfinlay are All Elite! pic.twitter.com/9bctYCtE4X
— Tony Khan (@TonyKhan) March 5, 2026

"Oh, this is an easy one for me," David Finlay explained about his decision to sign with AEW and stick with The Dogs over heading to WWE NXT. "So obviously, you know it’s well known I’ve got family ties all over the world specifically in another company and when it came down to it, I haven’t made a dime with Clark’s brother (Uriah Connors). I haven’t made a dime with my father (Fit Finlay)."

"I haven’t made a dime with anybody, but these boys, you know. I’ve almost paid off a house because we made so much money together. You know, so why would I stop that? It’s a business. I care about money."

The questions regarding Finlay's future and leaving New Japan has been prominent over the past couple of years and "The Boss Dog" heard all that chatter among the fans.

"I’m a hot commodity and everybody wanted me," Finlay said. "And the thing is, I was in New Japan for 11 years almost. Every year, it was, ‘oh this is the year he’s gonna leave, this is the year he’s gonna leave.’ I march to the beat of my own drum, I do what I want, I go where I want, whenever I want."

For Clark Connors, all signs pointed to him signing with All Elite Wrestling over the past few months after his standout performance against Darby Allin on the January 31 episode of AEW Collision.

The Dogs (@THEdavidfinlay, @GabeKidd0115, @ClarkConnors) are making their Trios debut!

Watch #AEWCollision LIVE on TNT & HBO Max pic.twitter.com/b5DZvT5YLk
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) March 8, 2026

"It’s good, man," Connors said. "You know what it’s good to be in All Elite Wrestling because this is a place where we can do whatever we want. There’s fresh bodies, there’s fresh meat, and a fresh canvas to bloody up any way we want to do it. And it feels good to be with my Dogs once again.

Recently on AEW Collision, a vignette aired that highlighted who Connors is and put the spotlight on a side of himself he's always been since his days in NJPW.

"I’m not doing a character or anything. If you look at my stuff in New Japan, I’ve been doing that same stuff this entire time," Connors stated. "This is just the first time where they actually let me do it, you know."

"These guys will tell you. And this is just the first time that the world actually gets to see me not just being like, ‘I’m gonna go in there and do a mere thing with Tomohiro Ishii.’ Dude, no. You know what I do, I show how beautiful I am, how cool I am, and how damn sexy I am because that’s who I am."

The Dogs are ready to showcase just how famous and ready to stand front and center in All Elite Wrestling moving forward now that they are officially "All Elite."

"So now the world gets to see it, see the artistic side of who I am too, so expect a whole lot more of that from not just me, but from the rest of The Dogs in AEW cause baby, we’re movie stars, baby," Clark explained. "We’re famous. We do stunts, dawg. So get used to it."

Meanwhile, Gabe Kidd has been competing in both AEW and NJPW over the past year. After stating he planned on coming back to New Japan in his last promo for the company back at The New Beginning in Osaka event, Kidd is adamant about his new position in AEW with The Dogs.

"All these questions acting like I know the answer to that, like I know what’s gonna happen today, you know," Kidd stated. "I’m here in the present moment, I’m here today in San Jose ready to kill Orange Cassidy and Darby Allin, straight up. So you’re asking me about going back to Japan, I just know one thing, ‘f*** New Japan Pro Wrestling,’ straight up."

"Last year, it was ‘f*** this place,’ not no more. We’re here to take over, run this s***. It is, ‘f*** New Japan Pro Wrestling,’ you know. Every single one of those wrestlers, I am the greatest Japanese wrestler of all time. Gabe Kidd: King of Japan, go and buy the t-shirt, still on the merch. King of Japan."

In regards to a potential return to New Japan Pro Wrestling in the future, "The Mad Man" says he will do what he wants and when he wants, leaving things more unpredictable on his status with his former home.

"So I might rock up there, I might not. I do what I want, we do what we want, that is the whole premise of what you’re seeing in front of yourself right now. We do what we want."

The Bullet Club War Dogs become The Dogs in AEW

Unaffiliated and the Bullet Club War Dogs seem to have reached a tentative truce. | New Japan Pro-Wrestling

As previously mentioned, Finlay, Kidd and Connors were formerly known as the Bullet Club War Dogs since the group was created in 2023. However, the change to The Dogs moniker had many fans questioning the decision to drop "War" from their name.

"Oh, easy dude, so here’s the thing, we were top sellers of merchandise in Japan," Finlay explained. "We basically kept the economy, the entire Japanese economy from getting worse than it already was. And after 11 years, I am tired of paying child support to New Japan, so we get to keep more of our money if we’re not War Dogs."

"Yo, Sanae Takaichi, the f***ing prime minister of Japan should thank us that the economy is not worse than it already is because we sold so much merch, kept that country afloat," Kidd added. "Don’t play with us. Seriously, don’t play with us."

Ahead of their departure from NJPW, The War Dogs aligned with the former members of Los Ingobernables de Japon, then known as Unaffiliated. This led to Yota Tsuji announcing that this collaboration would become known as Unbound Co., putting an end to The Bullet Club after a 13-year run in the promotion.

"So Tsuji and I had a little talk, you know it was the War Dogs and what were they called, Unaffiliated, I don’t really pay attention to what he says," Finlay explained. "And he was like, ‘you know, we should probably come up with a name for this collaboration.’ I was like, ‘yeah, that sounds good, whatever.’ And he was like, ‘how bout this?"

"And I was like, ‘well that sounds lame, but whatever I don’t care. Dogs are gonna be Dogs. We’re gonna do what we want, sure if you want to put a label on it so we can move some merch, sounds good to me.’ You know, and then it comes from him. He goes on his own accord and says, ‘Bullet Club is dead, it’s over.”

After Clark Connors mentioned Tsuji stated all of this in Japanese, "The Savage King" elaborated that Bullet Club coming to an end proved his original mission statement to be correct that he got the Bullet Club before it was able to get him.

"In Japanese, I don’t figure out until much later, you know," Finlay detailed. "But after thinking about it for a bit, I’m fine with that. After, what was it, 13 years, that’s too long for something in wrestling."

"And that also means I’m the final leader, I’m the only leader that never got taken out and I said since day one, I will get Bullet Club before Bullet Club gets me. And because I’m the one who didn’t get taken out, that makes me undeniably the greatest Bullet Club leader of all time."

Gabe Kidd wanted to further explain that there are no leaders now with The Dogs and they stand united as one force that is looking to take over AEW now that they are signed.

“Let’s get this clear, this right here is a group of brothers. There’s no leaders here because we are all demons in that ring, let’s get that straight up, you know. Usually when you have a group of three people, there’s a star and two lackeys," Gabe stated.

"There’s no lackeys around here, there’s no foot soldiers, it’s three guns taking over this game, one step at a time, straight up. We are in this together and we will rise to the top together just like we did in Japan, just like we’re gonna do here. Send me to Guatemala, I’ll do it there too.”

THAT’S @THEDAVIDFINLAY WITH THE SHILLELAGH!

Watch #AEWDynamite LIVE on TBS & HBO Max pic.twitter.com/6CDYSauKiF
— All Elite Wrestling (@AEW) March 5, 2026

While Connors and Kidd have been competing on AEW Dynamite over the past weeks, Finlay will have his official in-ring re-debut on the Wednesday, March 11 episode. It will be Finlay teaming with Kidd to face the duo of Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy in tag team action.

The Dogs made their trios debut in All Elite Wrestling on the March 7 edition of Collision in a dominant victory and they believe things will go the same way on Dynamite this week.

"Well, you know we had a match on Collision, a little three-on-three match and we absolutely dominated that one," Finlay said. "It was all offense, we didn’t have to play a single second of defense and I would say you’re gonna see probably the same thing."

"The thing is, I’m very good at bullying people no matter how big they are. I powerbombed Brody King at the Tokyo Dome, you think I’m gonna have trouble throwing those two little guys around? Darby likes getting hurt, Darby likes jumping off things, I will happily oblige in helping do that. Let’s see how tough he is. OC, same thing. Small guy, I’ll throw him around and do what I want."

Now without the Bullet Club label and no leaders in their stable, The Dogs are ready to go to war with anyone because no one is prepared to take down each of every one of them regardless who is their opposition in the company.

I hope WWE are watching
David Finlay is a force to be reckoned with#AEWCollision pic.twitter.com/gAJonRVQDy
— Ace Humphreys 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🦢 (@Ace109610) March 8, 2026

"The thing about war, if you want to win a war, you take out a leader, that’s much harder to do when you have a group of three equals," Finlay proclaimed. "If you want to kill us, you have to kill every single one of us.”

David Finlay and Gabe Kidd of The Dogs will team to face Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy on the March 11th episode of AEW Dynamite from San Jose, California. The show will air live on TBS Network and HBO Max in the United States, while on Triller TV outside of America.

Meanwhile, AEW Revolution 2026 will air live on pay-per-view this Sunday, March 15. Part two of our conversation with The Dogs will be available ahead of the event this weekend. Also, the interview can be watched on The Takedown On SI YouTube channel later this week.