Bullet Club
Bullet Club (バレットクラブ, Barettokurabu) is a professional wrestling stable that competes in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The stable was created on May 3, 2013.
| Bullet Club | |
|---|---|
 Bullet Club during A.J. Styles' leadership in 2015 | |
| Stable | |
| Members | See below |
| Name(s) | (The) Bullet Club |
| Debut | May 3, 2013 |
| Years active | 2013–present |
The current leader of Bullet Club is David Finlay. Over their years of existence, Bullet Club has had many different members join the group and leave. Former leaders of Bullet Club were Prince Devitt, A.J. Styles, Kenny Omega, and Jay White. They all portray a group of heel gaijin (evil foreigners). A branch called Bullet Club Gold with Jay White, Austin Gunn, Colten Gunn, Juice Robinson wrestle in All Elite Wrestling (AEW).
Leadership under Prince Devitt
changeFinn Balor was wrestling in a tag team with Ryusuke Taguchi called Apollo 55. After losing a match to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Devitt would start to change his personality and become more disrespectful.[1]
He would try to get Taguchi on his side but Taguchi refused. At Invasion Attack, Devitt and Taguchi would face the Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships but lost. Devitt would attack Taguchi after the match and end Apollo 55. King Fale ran down to the ring and joined in on the beatdown. Devitt would call himself the Real Rock 'n' Rolla and renamed Fale as "The Underboss" Bad Luck Fale.[2]
At Wrestling Dontaku 2013, Tanahashi would defeat Karl Anderson. After the match, Devitt and Fale ran out and attacked Tanahashi. Anderson and his partner Tama Tonga would join in on the beatdown and join the other two. They would announce after the match that their new group would be called "Bullet Club".[3]
Devitt would enter the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors. He would sweep his block and make it all the way to finals, defeating Kenny Omega and finally Alex Shelley in the finals to win.[4]
At Kizuna Road 2013, Tonga and Terrible would lose their CMLL World Tag Team Championships to Tanahashi and Jyushin Thunder Liger. On the same show, Devitt would successfully defend his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Gedo and earned a shot at Kazuchika Okada's IWGP Heavyweight Championship.[5]
At the 2013 G1 Climax, Devitt and Anderson would both join the tournament. Devitt would lose in his block and Anderson would be eliminated by Tetsuya Naito. Members of Bullet Club would interfere in many of the matches during the tournament.[6]
During the 2013 Super Junior Tag League, The Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) would join Bullet Club.[7] They would win the tournament and go on to defeat Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships at Power Struggle.[8]
Anderson and the debuting Doc Gallows would win the 2013 World Tag League on December 8.[9] At Wrestle Kingdom 8, Anderson and Gallows would defeat K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) to become the new the IWGP Tag Team Champions. Also during the event, Devitt would lose his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Kota Ibushi.[10]
Devitt would lose a Loser Leaves Town match to his former Apollo 55 partner Taguchi at Invasion Attack. During the match, the Bucks would turn on Devitt and attack him after he told them multiple times not to interfere in the match. Devitt would leave New Japan Pro-Wrestling after his loss.[11]
Leadership under AJ Styles
changeAfter Okada's tag match, he would stare down Fale. A hooded man would then run into the ring and attack Okada. He would take the hood off and he would be revealed as AJ Styles.[12] At Wrestling Dontaku 2014, Styles would face Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. During the match, Okada's former CHAOS stable member Yujiro Takahashi would turn on and attack Okada behind the referee's back. AJ would then hit Okada with the Styles Clash and pin him to win the championship.[13]
The Bucks would lose their ROH World Tag Team Championships to reDRagon (Kyle O'Reilly and Bobby Fish) on May 17, 2014 and would lose the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on June 21 at Dominion 6.21. However, also at Dominion 6.21, Fale would defeat Shinsuke Nakamura to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.[14] Takahashi would win the NEVER Openweight Championship after defeating Tomohiro Ishii on June 29 at Kizuna Road.[15] Fale would lose the title back to Nakamura at Destruction in Kobe.[16] Both Takahashi and Styles would lose their titles to Ishii and Tanahashi respectively at King of Pro-Wrestling. Jeff Jarrett would join the stable after hitting Tanahashi with a guitar afterwards.[17]
Kenny Omega would join the stable at Power Struggle and would be known by the nickname "The Cleaner".[18] At Wrestle Kingdom 9, Omega would defeat Ryusuke Taguchi to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and Anderson and Gallows would lose their IWGP Tag Team Championships to Goto and Shibata.[19] Scott Hall's son Cody would join the stable the next day.[20]
At The New Beginning in Osaka, the Bucks would once again become IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions after they defeated reDRagon and Time Splitters in a three-way. Anderson and Gallows would also become IWGP Tag Team Champions again after defeating Goto and Shibata and Styles would defeat Tanahashi to become a two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion.[21] At Invasion Attack, the Bucks would lose their titles to Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero) and Anderson and Gallows lost their titles to The Kingdom (Matt Taven and Michael Bennett). The Bucks would defeat Roppongi Vice and reDRagon at Wrestling Dontaku to win their titles back.[22][23]
At Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall, Omega would lose his title to Kushida, Anderson and Gallows would defeat Bennett and Taven to become three-time IWGP Tag Team Champions, and Styles would lose his IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Okada.[24] On August 16, the Bucks would lose their titles to reDRagon and Omega would win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship back after defeating Kushida at Destruction in Okayama on September 23.[25][26]
Members
changeBelow are the current and former members of Bullet Club and the timeline of the group along with the multiple sub-groups:
References
change- ↑ "New Japan Cup 2013". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 14, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Caldwell's New Japan "Invasion Attack" iPPV report 4/7: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of new IWGP World champion, U.S. stars in title matches, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ↑ "Caldwell's New Japan "Invasion Attack" iPPV report 4/7: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of new IWGP World champion, U.S. stars in title matches, more". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 9, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Best of the Super Jr. XX". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "吉野家Presents Kizuna Road 2013". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 13, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Live results – New Japan's G1 Climax Finals 8/11: Caldwell's complete coverage of Sunday's event featuring Naito vs. Tanahashi, Shelton, Hoyt, Bulldog, Jr., Devitt, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ↑ "Japan news: Funks arrive for reunion match, Bucks & Hooligans advance in NJPW tourney, NWA Tag Title defense next month". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ↑ "Power Struggle". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on November 9, 2013. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "アンダーソン組が天コジ倒し結成即Ｖ". Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). Archived from the original on August 11, 2017. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ↑ "飯伏悲願のＩＷＧＰジュニア王座／新日本". Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). Retrieved October 19, 2023.
- ↑ "飯伏悲願のＩＷＧＰジュニア王座／新日本". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 8, 2014. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Caldwell's NJPW PPV results 4/6: Complete "virtual-time" coverage of "Invasion Attack 2014" – Nakamura regains IC Title, A.J. Styles big angle, new NWA tag champions, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
- ↑ "レスリングどんたく 2014". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 8, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Dominion 6.21". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 24, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Kizuna Road 2014". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on June 29, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Destruction in Kobe". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on September 24, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "King of Pro-Wrestling". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 17, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "New Japan Power Struggle live coverage from Osaka – More matches made for Tokyo Dome, New Bullet Club member, UWF dream match announced, 2 Osaka PPVs announced". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Wrestle Kingdom 9 in 東京ドーム". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on January 4, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Liger vs. Desperado, next IWGP challenger set, Cody Hall debuts and more: 1/5 NJPW 'New Year's Dash' in Tokyo, Japan report". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
- ↑ "The New Beginning in Osaka". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on February 13, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Invasion Attack 2015". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "レスリングどんたく 2015". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on May 4, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "New Japan Dominion live coverage from Osaka Jo Hall – Styles vs. Okada for IWGP title, Nakamura vs. Goto for IC title and notes on biggest event since the Tokyo Dome, plus all G-1 main events". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "バディファイトPresents G1 Climax 25". Pro Wrestling Torch. Archived from the original on August 18, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2024.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ↑ "Show results – 9/23 NJPW "Destruction in Okayama" Event: New Jr. Hvt. champions, A.J. Styles & Bullet Club in big matches, ROH stars, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved September 8, 2024.