Brian Damage
When you think of the top factions or stables in professional wrestling history, many fans will talk about the Four Horsemen, the New World Order and DX as some of the best groups to ever assemble in the business. While all of those listed have had their fair share of members and success, one other faction just may be even more influential than any other in the history of wrestling. That group was founded in New Japan Pro wrestling in 2013 and known simply as Bullet Club.
After close to 13 years as a top faction in New Japan Pro Wrestling, it appears that Bullet Club is coming to an end. In those years Bullet Club has existed, we have witnessed the faction win every existing title New Japan has had to offer. It has seen some of the biggest and brightest young stars become members and several former members become huge superstars due to their affiliation with BC. Bullet Club became so popular in Japan, that several sub factions and copy cat groups popped up around the world including CMLL in Mexico, Ring of Honor and TNA in the U.S., Rev Pro in England and various indie groups. Their shirts can be spotted at almost any wrestling event you attend no matter if the promotion has tied with New Japan or not.
Bullet Club was formed in 2013, when a hot, young Irish born talent named Price Devitt was turned heel and formed a team with Bad Luck Fale. The team generated a great deal of heat, so the decision was made to expand the tag team into a full-fledged faction led by Devitt. It was Devitt who came up with the name Bullet Club. According to him, the name was derived from a few factors…one was that he was nicknamed ‘The real shooter’ by Minoru Suzuki during training at the New Japan Dojo. Veteran referee Tiger Hattori overheard Suzuki call Devitt that and continued to use the name whenever he saw Devitt. Secondly, Karl Anderson was added to the faction and his nickname was ‘Machne Gun.’ Lastly, Bad Luck Fale had a finishing maneuver called ‘The Grenade.’ All of those names inspired Devitt to call his group Bullet Club.
The concept of Bullet Club was a group that consisted of all gaijin (Foreigners) wrestlers. There were eventually a select few Japanese wrestlers added to BC. The founding members were Devitt, Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga. Bullet Club were inspired loosely by the nWo from WCW in the 1990’s and were actually given the nWo’s stamp of approval by both Kevin Nash and Scott Hall. In fact, Hall’s son Cody was added to the group serving as the faction’s ‘Young Boy’ or apprentice. BC would adopt the Kliq’s “Too Sweet” hand gesture as a homage to the nWo. Bullet Club’s immense popularity helped Price Devitt become a top commodity and helped him land a deal with WWE.
Devitt was replaced by independent and former TNA sensation AJ Styles as BC’s new leader. Styles took the group to a new level as heels and won the IWGP heavyweight title. Once again, Bullet Club’s high profile in New Japan helped build up Styles resume and helped land him his own WWE contract. When Styles left New Japan for WWE, Kenny Omega was booked as the brand new BC leader.
It was under Omega’s leadership that Bullet Club really became so much bigger than ever before. As a faction within the faction emerged with Omega, the Young Bucks and Cody Rhodes being ‘The Elite.’ A great storyline developed where Kenny Omega and Cody Rhodes were vying for the leadership role of BC. It ended with a civil war within Bullet Club with Cody turning on Omega. Ultimately, Cody, the Young Bucks and Omega all departed New Japan and helped form All Elite Wrestling led by Tony Khan.
‘Switchblade’ Jay White became BC’s fourth new leader and brought with him a nasty edge that the popular Omega was lacking in the group. Bullet Club members came and went with a majority of them becoming bigger stars than before they joined BC. No question, Bullet Club was a worldwide phenomenon that had a big hand in launching successful careers. Even WWE, which operated in a bubble during Vince McMahon’s years running things acknowledged BC in their own little ways. McMahon tried to put a cease and desist on Bullet Club from using the Too Sweet hand gesture.
When White left New Japan and signed with AEW, David Finlay was made the new BC leader. Finlaw was never viewed as a main event star in New Japan and not for a lack of trying either. The group became known as Bullet Club War Dogs and had some talented members like Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors and The Knock Out Brothers. The faction lost a lot of steam and was never quite the same.
A new era of New Japan has begun, and it appears as if BC War Dogs will merge into a new faction led by Yota Tsuji known as Unbound Company. The announcement seemingly puts an end to Bullet Club which had left an indelible mark not only in New Japan, but all over the wrestling world.