How Bullet Club Became the 21st Century’s Most Influential Wrestling Faction
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Bullet Club, 10 years later
On April 27, 2013, Fergal Devitt sat on his phone, contemplating what to name his brand-new faction.
Consisting of himself—Prince Devitt—as the leader, along with Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga, this new band of villains needed a signature moniker.
“Originally, it was just going to be me and Fale,” says Devitt, who now stars in WWE as Finn Bálor. “But the office saw how close I was with Chad [Karl] and Tama, and how we would spend every minute of the day together. So they asked me to come up with a name and extend our backstage relationship to the ring.
“I was trying to pick a name that tied us all together. Karl was ‘The Machine Gun,’ Fale had been calling his finisher the Hand Grenade, and Minoru Suzuki had been calling me a ‘real shooter’ for some months as we would roll submission wrestling in the ring before the shows.”
He narrowed it down to a short list, one that still sits, pristine and unchanged, in his iPhone notes:
- Bullet Club/Parade
- Reload Club
- Lock ‘n’ Load Club/Parade
- Getaway Club
“To me, Bullet Club sounded the coolest,” says Bálor. “However, I had mild concerns as the Japanese would sometimes mispronounce ‘bullet’ as ‘beret.’ But I chose to go with my gut, and the rest is history.”
For the last decade, Bullet Club has played an essential role in pro wrestling. Its reach and DNA have extended across every major brand in the industry, especially in WWE and AEW. Brash, arrogant and cocky, Bullet Club forged its way into the wrestling lexicon on May 3, 2013, at the Fukuoka Kokusai Center. Primarily known for its sumo wrestling tournaments, the venue in Fukuoka now stands as a birthplace of wrestling history.
During the Wrestling Dontaku card, Anderson took part in a fierce, violent beatdown of beloved New Japan Pro-Wrestling star Hiroshi Tanahashi. Anderson transformed into a full-fledged heel, joining Fale, Tonga and Devitt in wrestling’s newest faction: Bullet Club.
There was a reason that the vigor and brutality in which Bullet Club attacked its prey felt real. It came from a genuine place, embodying a refusal to accept their place. That mentality was captured perfectly by Devitt, who was making the point that he belonged among wrestling’s elite.
“The transformation of Prince Devitt is a big memory,” says Tanahashi, speaking through a translator. “Devitt used to be loved by the fans, but it wasn’t until he made that shift that you realized just how determined he was to succeed.”
Bálor, Gallows and Anderson have gone on to star in WWE since leaving Bullet Club.
Courtesy of WWE
Even though it is story-line-based, the best of pro wrestling is more real than reality. There was nothing fake about Devitt’s intensity. He knew his destiny was to become a wrestling star, and he took an unrelenting, vigorous approach toward making his dream turn into reality.
That hunger to succeed is the root of success for all the original Bullet Club members. Another key ingredient was the chemistry among the four.
“Me, Ferg, Fale and Tama, we were always together at the dojo,” says Anderson. “We were always on the bus together, and we were always eating together. When they finally put us together, we all realized, ‘We’re going to have a lot of fun together.’ It turned into one of the coolest factions of all time and a star-maker, but we didn’t anticipate that at the time. We were too busy having fun to recognize anything else.”
It all started 10 years ago. On a cool, cloudy night in Fukuoka, the wrestling world truly heated up. Bullet Club brought a global interest to New Japan. Over the past decade, there has been one constant in the famed faction: its ability to make stars.
All of that began with Devitt, whose performance in Bullet Club turned him into a king. His leadership paved the path for the likes of AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, Cody Rhodes and Jay White to reach the next level in their careers.
“For me, it represents a moment of time in Japan,” says Bálor. “I remember two incidents in particular. One was being carried to the ring by Fale at Korakuen Hall right after we established the group, and the usually respectful NJPW audience were audibly booing. A couple people even reached up to physically hit me as we made our entrance. The second was in the days that followed when I was at the office, and they informed me that they had to designate someone to answer calls from people complaining about Bullet Club’s cheating.”
There will always be comparisons to the NWO, and for valid reasons. The quintessential elements mirror one another, with both entities designed to rage against the machine. Seven years ago, in an interview with this reporter, Scott Hall complimented the group. “The Bullet Club is kind of like an NWO tribute band,” he said. “Basically, they’re doing us, just fifteen years later, but it’s getting over big.” Hall was right—Bullet Club captured the anti-authority spirit that he and Kevin Nash may as well have trademarked in WCW. It is a spiritual successor to the NWO, but one never focused on singing covers. Instead, Bullet Club wrote its own music.
“It’s a hell of a faction,” says wrestling icon Steve Austin. “Lot of influence from NWO. They got clearance and a blessing from Kevin and Scott. Ten years, much respect to Bullet Club. That’s a bunch of badass workers.”
One of the best to ever lace a pair of boots is AJ Styles. Oddly, for all his brilliance in TNA, Styles is remembered even more for his breakout moments in New Japan with Bullet Club. He reached the promised land on two separate occasions, wearing the IWGP heavyweight title and tormenting burgeoning NJPW superstar Kazuchika Okada.
“The image that comes to mind is this really tough foreign-wrestler-focused team,” says Okada, speaking through a translator. “AJ Styles became a key figure, like Prince Devitt did, and later Kenny Omega and Jay White. They have this deep history, and it’s become a worldwide phenomenon. I see people all around the world in Bullet Club T-shirts.”
When Styles left New Japan—signing with WWE, like Devitt—he was not alone in his exit. WWE also signed Shinsuke Nakamura, as well as Anderson and Doc Gallows, Bullet Club’s Good Brothers. That set the stage for a new leader, one who is now an executive vice president and founding father of All Elite Wrestling, as well as the architect of a plethora of the best matches in wrestling over the past eight years: Kenny Omega.
Following his run with the DDT promotion in Japan, Omega signed with New Japan in the fall of 2014. He became aligned with Bullet Club in October, adopting the nickname of “The Cleaner.” But he did not wrestle until that January. With vivid clarity, he can recall the first time he wore his Bullet Club gear at the New Japan office.
“Until then, it was just sketches on paper,” says Omega. “When I finally stood in front of that full-length mirror for the first time, it was the first time I saw myself in my Bullet Club getup. The costume designer gave me the original ‘Cleaner’ gear, and I liked the way that I looked—and I liked the way I felt. New Japan president Naoki Sugabayashi walked in, and he is a very quiet individual, but he looked at me and said, ‘You look like a movie star.’ That was a big confidence boost heading into my first Wrestle Kingdom.”
Omega started in Bullet Club as a junior heavyweight, debuting in the ring at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 2015. With the Young Bucks in his corner, Omega defeated time-tested Bullet Club rival Ryusuke Taguchi to win the IWGP junior heavyweight championship.
“You know that old expression, ‘The clothes make the man’?” Omega asks. “That applied here. This was edgy. It was cool. I felt like it could be the key to bigger and better things in my career.”
A connective tissue from the original Bullet Club emerged during Omega’s reign at the helm. It was again the real-life friendship that gave the group its identity and authenticity.
“The guys were fun to be around, fun to bounce ideas off,” says Omega. “That confidence from being in the group, that was real. It made me feel unstoppable. Look at my promos from back then. I couldn’t be stopped. I was on top of the world. It allowed me to reveal my true self to the wrestling world.”
Omega’s best friends in New Japan were the Bucks’ Matt and Nick Jackson. In addition to cornering Omega, the Bucks enjoyed their own breakout moment to stardom in New Japan that carried over to Ring of Honor—and, eventually, AEW.
“We worked together, spent countless hours on the bus together, and when we were home for a few days in between, we never stopped talking in our group chats,” says Matt Jackson. “When I look back, I think of a group of friends temporarily living in Japan, having the time of our lives. We all had the common goal of having fun and supporting one another. That’s why it worked. There were no egos, no fight over who was the leader, or who were the champions. We didn’t just pretend to be a stable on the shows. We were a stable in real life. We wanted what was best for each other. There was a bond and camaraderie that is missing in today’s wrestling. I only look back fondly at those days. It’s what made us who we are today.”
An edge and excitement was part of practically every Bullet Club moment with Omega and the Bucks. They also benefited from an advantage that neither Bálor nor Styles possessed, which was the proliferation of social media and streaming. Their Being the Elite show on YouTube showed them in an entirely new light, and it blended story line with genuine personalities.
More than just wearing Bullet Club T-shirts, the ethos and pathos of the group reached a whole new level with Omega and the Bucks, particularly heightened when the group also included Cody Rhodes and Adam Cole.
“From the time I entered the Bullet Club, my career went on this trajectory that couldn’t be stopped,” says Cole. “It’s one of the hottest pro wrestling factions worldwide ever, and I got to be part of it when it was such a hot commodity. That was absolutely vital for my career.”
Bullet Club became the single coolest entity in wrestling. While not every member fit perfectly, the majority of what took place from 2016 to ’18 generated incredible buzz on multiple continents.
“I couldn’t leave the house without seeing a Bullet Club shirt or being asked for a ‘Too Sweet’ in passing by a fan,” says Matt Jackson. “I remember sitting in a Hard Rock Cafe in Osaka, munching on some chicken tenders with a few of the Bullet Club guys, right in the middle of this run. We had just finished a huge show and we all had the foresight to reflect on what we were living. I remember saying, ‘This is probably the biggest and coolest thing any of us will ever do in our careers.’ The others agreed. I probably wasn’t wrong.
“Bullet Club will always have a part of me. When I see that skull logo, I’m immediately transported back to Tokyo Dome Hotel overlooking Tokyo Dome and a sea of skyscrapers. Or I’m back on a crammed hot bus that Karl Anderson just farted in, and everyone is scrambling to roll the windows down. Or I’m in a smoky restaurant after a show, at a sponsored dinner having Korean barbecue with the whole gang, laughing until my face hurts. Bullet Club worked because it was a story of friendship. Everyone wants to go on adventures with their friends. Everyone wants to go into battle with their friends. Everyone wants to laugh with their friends. Bullet Club created a movement that sparked the revolution, which created All Elite Wrestling. I’ll forever be in debt to it for a long time. Actually, for life.”
Rhodes, who starred in the main event of ‘WrestleMania 39’ in April, joined Bullet Club in 2016 after leaving WWE.
Courtesy of WWE
Rhodes is only a few weeks removed from headlining the most profitable WrestleMania in WWE history, so it should be no surprise that he also played a starring role in Bullet Club. But that is partially revisionist history. Rhodes was still finding himself when he joined the group in December 2016.
During this stretch, when he was working for multiple different promotions, he was overlooked in Impact, not deemed significant enough to wear the top title. But his presence in Bullet Club redefined him, giving him a whole new aura—even if he was advised against it.
“Bullet Club represented something completely different for me,” says Rhodes. “A lot of people told me I shouldn’t do it. Had my father been alive, he would have suggested against it. It went against what I wanted to do—I didn’t want to be in a group, I didn’t want to be on a team, I didn’t want to be in a faction—I wanted to be quarterback and the lead dog. Stepping into Bullet Club, seeing Kenny as the leader, and using my real-life quest to compete with him, this was an opportunity to take what Finn Bálor created and was extremely profitable, and take it to another level of profits. Look at the T-shirt sales. One Hour Tees has three storefronts now. We turned it into an even greater enterprise. That’s something I hold dear.”
The results in wrestling are manufactured. But the only way to arrive there with any semblance of significance is organically. The real-life friendships, once again, carried Bullet Club, leading to the industry-changing creation of AEW.
“That group was known for kicking people’s ass and being volatile, but what I’ll always remember is the friendships,” says Rhodes. “That’s the time in my life when I created a bond with three guys that will never be shaken. Because of Bullet Club, we were able to change the wrestling world. I never would have got that without Finn Bálor, and I never would have reached that level without the Bullet Club. I am very grateful for the Bullet Club.”
Bullet Club became more than just a collection of great wrestlers performing standout matches. It achieved what few groups can ever do by evoking a feeling.
“I remember the great matches I had with past Bullet Club leaders like AJ, Kenny and Jay White, but it runs deeper than that,” says Tanahashi. “Their cult of personality is key. They had this string of very charismatic leaders. When they enter, you know who Bullet Club is right away.”
A certain pattern repeats when it comes to the Bullet Club leaders. Initially, the group was all about Prince Devitt’s push. He was coming into his own, and New Japan was changing. He was smaller than the heavyweights, but he could stand in the ring with anyone. This is where he came into his own in major main events. Then there was Styles. The most decorated star in TNA history, he was X Division champ, TNA champ, then IWGP champ, then WWE champion. He started off as a junior, but never looked out of place as a heavyweight. Bullet Club also served as the launch pad for Omega toward his epic 2016 G1 Climax victory and ensuing run as IWGP champion, which wouldn’t have happened without his run in Bullet Club. The trajectory was similar for Jay White, who just left NJPW for AEW, and now that opportunity to lead Bullet Club belongs to David Finlay, who celebrated the 10th anniversary by defeating Tama Tonga at Wrestling Dontaku (back in Fukuoka) and winning the NEVER openweight title.
Clearly, not everyone in the group will wrestle the main event at the Tokyo Dome, but it certainly helps their standing in the company. It did for Finlay the moment he took over—and it gives new purpose to its members, which is currently on display with newest member Clark Connors. Every Bullet Club member gets their value enhanced through their inclusion in the group.
“I am who I am now because I’m part of Bullet Club, so I’m grateful for that,” Taiji Ishimori, perhaps the greatest junior heavyweight in the world, says through a translator. “It’s hard to believe how much my career has changed since I joined Bullet Club. A big part of why I came to NJPW and joined Bullet Club was because of that name value.”
Yujiro Takahashi is the first member of Bullet Club from Japan. He was honored to join, and he brought a new element to the eclectic group.
“Bullet Club was formed by an Irish guy,” says Takahashi, speaking through a translator. “There have been members from the UK, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, USA, all over. So I don’t think being the first Japanese member in Bullet Club is such a big deal.
“I’m very proud to be part of it. A whole lot of top guys have gone to the U.S. and become even more successful. Every time old members leave, new ones come in. There’s no other group that keeps evolving like Bullet Club.”
The evolution of Bullet Club will be fascinating to witness. Whether the current version can capture the spirit of the past—or develop its own wrinkle to the legacy—is another reason to follow New Japan.
“There will always be chatter that it ran its course, but I was just in Japan a few months ago, and it has that same feel,” says Anderson. “Bullet Club still gets a reaction. I don’t see Bullet Club dying. David Finlay is getting a nice push, and he’s showing what Bullet Club is still capable of doing.”
Bullet Club has proved to be a necessary entity in pro wrestling. To paraphrase Voltaire, if it did not exist, someone would have to create it. Its essence is fighting and clawing for an opportunity, providing the overlooked with a chance to shine in a dominant light.
Potential exists for even more must-see moments, but the best of pro wrestling is rooted in the past. Harnessing the same attitude that made wrestling explode in the 1990s, Bullet Club found a way to carve out its own distinct piece of history.
“I try to never really look backwards,” says Bálor. “Maybe when I’m done wrestling, I’ll have a different perspective. Right now, I’m too focused on doing my own thing with The Judgment Day and WWE. I do feel a certain bond to all the members, some that I have not yet met. I’m certainly proud of the group and how it’s evolved over the years.”
The (online) week in wrestling
- Cody Rhodes has a critical matchup against Brock Lesnar on Saturday at Backlash. He doesn’t necessarily need to win (yet), but he must deliver a strong, emotional performance.
- Some of these ideas allegedly pitched are atrociously offensive.
- For the first time since February 2020, Jon Moxley is returning to Japan to wrestle for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. This was announced on Tuesday night’s Wrestling Dontaku card, where Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii won the six-man titles, perhaps setting the stage for Moxley to team with Shota Umino to challenge for the belts.
- Whatever CM Punk has brewing for his return in AEW, it will be appointment viewing, especially his first few promos.
WWE draft fails to make sense
If you’re seeking logic in the WWE draft, then you’re bound to be disappointed.
It took less than 24 hours of this newest iteration of WWE’s draft dispersal for it to go awry.
WWE’s Twitter account posted on Saturday that Mustafa Ali, Dolph Ziggler and Von Wagner had been “declared” free agents and can appear on both Raw and SmackDown. Also, per story line, MVP negotiated a deal that allows Omos to appear on both shows.
Of course, there were more issues. Brock Lesnar is also a “free agent,” able to appear on both shows. And not everyone was drafted—no explanation was provided for why Logan Paul, Bray Wyatt and Alexa Bliss were not drafted.
How in the world does that make any sense? Why even bother holding a draft if you’re unable to follow through on the basics of it?
In theory, the draft represents a fun chance to shake up the roster and provide viewers (and talent) with new programs and matchups. But the lack of detail is insulting. The most frustrating element is that this is easily correctable. If only WWE would provide logic to its storytelling, it would go a long way in helping the stories make sense.
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Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.
