THE EVOLUTION OF THE BULLET CLUB
By Jasmine Olan
They are the hottest faction in professional wrestling today. Since its formation in early 2013 the Bullet Club has become one of the most dominant forces on the independent wrestling scene in North America and abroad. At various times, they’ve held every single championship in New Japan Pro Wrestling and produced many of the top stars in the industry. Together they managed to take the wrestling world by storm and helped prove that you don’t have to go to WWE to find success as a professional wrestler. Through changes in their line up and leadership, the Bullet Club has managed to achieve unprecedented levels of success. Along the way fans have been right there as their story has unfolded and its members have evolved.
It all started five years ago with the Bullet Club’s original leader, Prince Devitt. Years before he became known as Finn Balor in WWE, Devitt was one half of the critically acclaimed junior heavyweight tag team, Apollo 55 with the Funky Weapon, Ryusuke Taguchi. Devitt turned on his long time tag team partner at NJPW’s INVASION ATTACK 2013 after losing to The Time Splitters, Alex Shelley and Kushida in a match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championships. That night, he proclaimed himself the “Real Rock ‘n’ Rolla” and introduced the newly returned King Fale as his “bouncer”, the Underboss Bad Luck Fale. Months later the two would be joined by the Machine Gun, Karl Anderson and the Bad Boy, Tama Tonga.
During the post match comments at WRESTLING DONTAKU 2013, they were announced as the Bullet Club, an all gaijin heel faction born from bitterness and disdain toward the Japanese audience and New Japan’s home grown talent. Under Devitt’s leadership, Bullet Club members won championship gold and dominated the landscape of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Karl Anderson and newer member, Doc Gallows would rise to the top of the heavyweight tag team division, while Devitt and the Young Bucks, Matt and Nick Jackson would find major success in the junior division.
In 2014, the club turned on Devitt after he lost a loser leaves NJPW match against former tag team partner, Ryusuke Taguchi, and the recently debuted AJ Styles took over and would go on to become the group’s most popular leader. During his time in NJPW, Styles would capture the prestigious IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and the Bullet Club remained a dominant force within the promotion and Ring Of Honor. The group also gained its first Japanese member in Yujiro Takahashi around this time as well as the Cleaner, Kenny Omega who would go on to become the Club’s most successful member. Before moving up to the heavyweight division, Kenny would have two great runs as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion.
In 2016, Kenny Omega would take over as leader of the Bullet Club after overthrowing AJ Styles. 2016 would also be the year that Kenny would truly begin to take those next steps toward becoming one of the top stars in New Japan Pro Wrestling, even winning the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and becoming the first foreigner to win the prestigious G1 Climax tournament. As his momentum continued to build so did the continued popularity of the Bullet Club. That momentum would carry over into 2017 which would be a banner year for the Club. Kenny Omega’s historic feud with the Rainmaker, Kazuchika Okada set the wrestling world on fire that year and Bullet Club merchandise sales began to surpass that of WWE.
Around this time, the Elite, a new sub faction of the Bullet Club emerged consisting of Kenny Omega and the Young Bucks. The Club itself would continue to grow with the additions of the American Nightmare Cody, Marty Scurll,and Hangman Page. The Bullet Club’s popularity would continue to soar with the debut of Being The Elite, a hugely successful YouTube show featuring Kenny Omega, the Young Bucks, and various other members of the Bullet Club. The group also slowly began to change from a group of angry bad guys to something a bit different. As leader, Kenny Omega was seeking to change what the Bullet Club stood for and wanted to change the wrestling world for the better. He wanted to leave it in a better place than he found it in.
Even with the Bullet Club achieving unparalleled success and popularity, things began to change within the group in late 2017. A rift started to grow between the Club’s leader, Kenny Omega and newer member, Cody. That rift has now turned into a battle for control of the Bullet Club that continues today. By this time, Kenny had built up an emotional wall over the past few years, and the facade of the Cleaner was beginning to crumble especially with the return of his long time partner and best friend, Kota Ibushi that Summer. Things broke down within the Bullet Club in early 2018 when Cody completely turned on Kenny, attacking him at NEW BEGINNING IN SAPPORO. What Cody didn’t expect was someone truly looking out for Kenny.
That night, the Golden Star, Kota Ibushi ran to the ring to make the save for the person he loved the most. He was returning the favor for Kenny making the save for him earlier that month. That also brought about the surprise reunion of the Golden Lovers and set in motion the feud between Cody and Kenny Omega in one of the most important and beautifully told storylines of the modern era of professional wrestling. That tug of war would include the Young Bucks and the rest of the Bullet Club who found themselves caught in the middle of it all as they had just moved up to the heavyweight tag team division. That would see the Bucks and the Golden Lovers have to go to war against each other at Strong Style Evolved in the spring in an intense and emotionally gripping battle to prove who was the best tag team in the world.
The rift between the Young Bucks and the Golden Lovers would slowly begin to heal heading into the Summer and New Japan Pro Wrestling would revisit the rivalry between Kenny and Kazuchika Okada. DOMINION 2018 would see Kenny realize a long time dream when he defeated Okada to become the 66th IWGP Heavyweight Champion. That night the strained friendship between Kenny and the Young Bucks was healed and the Elite became the Golden Elite with the addition of Kota Ibushi to the group.
It remains to be seen where the Bullet Club will go from here with the power struggle between Kenny Omega and Cody still going on. Can something originally born from anger and disdain now be reborn as something born from love and positivity? The answer to that will come in time. While their ultimate fate is still in question, the Bullet Club remains a very powerful force in professional wrestling, and their momentum is showing little to no sign of slowing down. One thing that is for sure about the Bullet Club is that as time marches on, they will continue to evolve and change with the times as well as play a hugely important role in the success and growth of New Japan Pro Wrestling. For many NJPW fans, the Bullet Club will always be for life.
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