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The Gaijin Stable taking over Professional Wrestling
May 3, 2013 Prince Devitt shocked the wrestling world when Devitt turned on long time partner with Apollo 55, Ryusuke Taguchi. Devitt then aligned himself with Bad Luck Fale, Karl Anderson, and Tama Tonga forming the stable known as Bullet Club.
Bullet Club quickly started to distance themselves from other heel factions in NJPW, getting heat just about every night. Devitt quickly used Bullet Club to win his second Best of the Super Juniors tournament going undefeated in the process. Devitt then set his sights on the IWGP Heavyweight Championship seeking to become the first ever person to simultaneously hold the IWGP Junior and IWGP Heavyweight championships. Winning the Super Juniors tournament led to Devitt getting a match with Japanese mega star Hiroshi Tanahashi.
On June 22, 2013, Devitt scored the biggest win of his career, pinning Hiroshi Tanahashi, with the help of Bullet Club. The milestone win in Devitt's career lead to Devitt getting a match for the IWGP Heavyweight championship. Devitt was unsuccessful in his title match against Kazuchika Okada, but Devitt was able to defeat Okada in the biggest tournament in Japan, The G1 Climax. Devitt however was unable to get out of his block in the tournament. Fellow Bullet Club member Karl Anderson was also in the G1 and made a run all the way to the semifinals of the tournament, solidifying Bullet Clubs place as a force in the company.
October of that year, NJPW announced that the Young Bucks would be joining the promotion and entering the Best of the Super Juniors Tag tournament. Young Bucks on their debut with the company aligned themselves with Bullet Club and won the tournament earning them a shot at the Junior Heavyweight Tag Champs. The Young Bucks defeated Suzuki-gun to win the Junior Heavyweight Tag titles, which made Bullet Club the possessors of all the Junior Heavyweight gold in NJPW.
The World Tag League tournament proved another huge milestone in the history of Bullet Club when Machine Gun Anderson and newest Bullet Club Member Doc Gallows defeated current NWA Tag Champions Tencozy in the final of the tournament thus earning them an IWGP Tag Title match at New Japan’s biggest show, Wrestle Kingdom 8. Bullet Club took over as the top stable in Japan by the end of 2013.
Around Wrestle Kingdom 8, something unheard of started happening, Japanese fans where starting to cheer for the heel stable Bullet Club. Everywhere you look more and more Bullet Club posters and shirts where popping up. At Wrestle Kingdom, Bullet Club added more gold when Doc and Anderson was able to defeat K.E.S to capture the IWGP Tag Team Titles. Prince Devitt, however later in the show wasn’t able to keep his Junior Heavyweight Championship, losing to Kota Ibushi.
Devitt losing his title started a turning point in Bullet Club. The writing was on the wall Devitt was on his way out of NJPW. This became reality when Devitt lost a Loser Leaves Town match to former Apollo 55 partner Ryusuke Taguchi. In the match the Young Bucks jumped Devitt, solidifying his exit. Bullet Club was without their leader, insert AJ Styles.
On the same night of Devitt leaving, AJ Styles made his Debut with the Bullet Club attacking the Heavyweight Champion, Okada. A month later AJ Styles did what Devitt couldn't do and that’s defeat Okada with the championship on the line, bringing the biggest title in Japan to Bullet Club.
On the same night of Devitt leaving, AJ Styles made his Debut with the Bullet Club attacking the Heavyweight Champion, Okada. A month later AJ Styles did what Devitt couldn't do and that’s defeat Okada with the championship on the line, bringing the biggest title in Japan to Bullet Club.
Global Wars earlier in the month proved just how over Bullet Club is. Everywhere you looked in the crowd, in Toronto you saw Bullet Club shirts, chants of Bullet Club rang through out the building. Bullet Club has arrived. At War of the Worlds, Bullet Club was getting bigger pops than Ring of Honor favorites all night, Doc and Karl Anderson had a bigger pop then Ring of Honor staples Briscoe Brothers. The Bullet Club is truly one of the most over and hottest stables in the industry now. After all the members getting wins at the Back to the Yokohama Arena event, Bullet Club is truly on top of the Japanese Professional wrestling world and can rival any stable in the WWE, TNA or ROH. What is it that puts Bullet Club so over? Lets look at some bullet club members who deliver in their own way.
Bad Luck Fale is the intimidating monster that every successful stable needs. Fale will never be the technical master that other wrestlers in the club are but that's not Fale's game. Fale's game is to brawl, he uses his size to his advantage and beats people up. The match that Fale put on with one of the top brawlers in all of Japan, Togi Makabe, showed just how tough Fale is. Fale plays the muscle and body-guard of the group, with his recent challenge to Shinsuke Nakamura he may also be bringing more gold to the group.
Karl Anderson is the veteran of the group and widely considered second in command. Anderson is the heart and soul, back bone or what ever analogy you want to use that makes the Bullet Club tick. Machine Gun never fails to entertain in the ring or on the microphone. Machine Gun has never been better in all aspects of the business since turning heel. Anderson is one of the biggest reasons Bullet Club is so over. If you don’t believe how over the club is just ask Anderson on Twitter, he we tell you. Karl Anderson tweet after the recent event sums it up nicely
Karl Anderson is the veteran of the group and widely considered second in command. Anderson is the heart and soul, back bone or what ever analogy you want to use that makes the Bullet Club tick. Machine Gun never fails to entertain in the ring or on the microphone. Machine Gun has never been better in all aspects of the business since turning heel. Anderson is one of the biggest reasons Bullet Club is so over. If you don’t believe how over the club is just ask Anderson on Twitter, he we tell you. Karl Anderson tweet after the recent event sums it up nicely
https://twitter.com/Machinegunka/status/470762177083621376
Adding The Young Bucks was probably one of the bigger moves that Bullet Club did in the past year. The Young Bucks add the speed and high flying attack to Bullet Club that they lost with the departure of Prince Devitt. Matt and Nick where already one of the best tag teams in the world, holding the PWG titles before capturing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag titles in the first month of them being in NJPW. The status of the Bucks went through the roof when they also captured the ROH Tag Team champs from reDRagon. Even though they recently lost those titles back to the reDRagon at War of the Worlds, I wouldn't be surprised if Matt and Nick Jackson have another Super Kick Party in a ROH ring and recaptures the ROH titles.
Adding The Young Bucks was probably one of the bigger moves that Bullet Club did in the past year. The Young Bucks add the speed and high flying attack to Bullet Club that they lost with the departure of Prince Devitt. Matt and Nick where already one of the best tag teams in the world, holding the PWG titles before capturing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag titles in the first month of them being in NJPW. The status of the Bucks went through the roof when they also captured the ROH Tag Team champs from reDRagon. Even though they recently lost those titles back to the reDRagon at War of the Worlds, I wouldn't be surprised if Matt and Nick Jackson have another Super Kick Party in a ROH ring and recaptures the ROH titles.
Doc Gallows, is a 6’8 300 pound giant of a man, that has turned into solid in ring competitor. The improvements Gallows has made since his time in WWE is remarkable. Gallows seems to for the first time in his career be having fun while with Bullet Club, which I believe is the reason behind his improvement in the ring. The team of Gallows and Anderson has quickly become the best in Japan and I believe in the world. Good luck trying to get those titles off of them.
Yujiro Takahashi made an impact in joining Bullet Club in the best possible way, when he turned on Kazuchika Okada allowing AJ Styles and Bullet Club to capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Takahashi was floundering in Chaos, watching multiple members pass him by but after joining Bullet Club he has picked up multiple pin falls and is already in the title picture for the NEVER Open Weight Championship. This was clearly an up move for Takahashi.
Which brings us to the Phenomenal 1, AJ Styles. AJ work is known all over the world and especially in North America, adding AJ solidified and brought legitimacy to Bullet Club in North America. AJ put a face to the North American audience who other wise wouldn't know who Bullet Club was, and oh yeah he’s pretty good in the ring. AJ has won titles all over the world but no championship was bigger than him winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, becoming the first non-Japanese wrestler to hold the belt since Brock Lesnar. It's not an all one way street though, Bullet Club has been very beneficial to AJ as well. Bullet Club has given AJ the opportunity to come out of his shell personality wise, AJ has never been as entertaining in all aspects as he is now. If this AJ is going to be permanent, Styles may end up reaching all time great level, he needed a personality and seems to have found it in Bullet Club.
The Shield, The Wyatt’s, Evolution, MVP/King/Lashley, Suzuki-gun, are just a few examples of what seems to be a resurgence for stables in professional wrestling, and the Bullet Club are as good if not better than all of them. In just over a year of being established, the Bullet Club has taken over the top company in Japan by capturing 3 of the top championships and winning over the Japanese crowd while being a mostly Gaijin heel stable. This group is only going to get bigger and better in the coming years, I’d suggest wrestlers in Japan stay off their radar because they have already proven that nobody is safe. I’m going to sit back and enjoy the Bullet Club take over, as the group likes to say, “Too sweet me, Bro”
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