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Bullet Club
The logo of Bullet Club.
StableMembersSee belowName(s)Bullet Club
The Bullet Club[1] (ROH)DebutMay 3, 2013[2]PromotionsNJPW
Chikara[3]
CMLL[4]
ROH[5]
(The) Bullet Club (バレットクラブBarettokurabu?), sometimes referred to as "Bullet-gun" (Japanese for "Bullet Army") and shortened to BC,[6][7] is a professional wrestling stable primarily appearing in Japan's New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW)promotion. In the U.S., the group makes periodic appearances in Ring of Honor(ROH),[1] with which NJPW has a talent exchange partnership.
The group was formed in May 2013, whenIrish wrestler Prince Devitt turned on his partner Ryusuke Taguchi and came together with American wrestler Karl Anderson andTongan wrestlers Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga to form a villainous stable of foreigners, which they subsequently named Bullet Club. Before the end of the year, the stable was also joined by three other Americans; The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and Doc Gallows. Wrestlers from the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion have also worked tours of NJPW as members of Bullet Club, which led to the formation of a sub-group named Bullet Club Latinoamerica in CMLL in October 2013. At the end of 2013, Bullet Club held both the IWGP Junior Heavyweight and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships, while also having conquered three of NJPW's five annual tournaments. The stable marked a major turning point for the career of Devitt, a longtime fan favorite, who began his ascent out of the junior heavyweight division and into the IWGP Heavyweight Championshippicture.
In April 2014, Devitt left NJPW and was replaced in Bullet Club by American wrestlerA.J. Styles, while Anderson took over the leadership of the stable. The following month, Bullet Club received its first Japanesemember, when Yujiro Takahashi joined and helped Styles capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The following June, members of Bullet Club also won the IWGP Intercontinental and NEVER Openweight Championships, meaning that the stable had now held all titles NJPW had to offer. During the second half of 2014, Bullet Club was also joined by American Jeff Jarrett and CanadianKenny Omega, and in early 2015 recruited American Cody Hall.
ConceptEdit
Bullet Club was conceived by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) in early 2013, following a positive fan response to a storyline, wherePrince Devitt turned on his longtime tag team partner Ryusuke Taguchi to form a villainouspartnership with Bad Luck Fale. Originally, Devitt and Fale were scheduled to go on as a duo, but the storyline was tweaked to them coming together with Karl Anderson andTama Tonga to form an all-gaijin (foreigner)stable.[8] Devitt came up with the name Bullet Club, which was in reference to his finger gunhand gesture and "Real Shooter" nickname and Anderson's nickname, "The Machine Gun".[8][9] In naming the group, Devitt has stated that he specifically did not want the word "the" in front of the name or a name consisting of just three letters (like former NJPW stables C.T.U., G.B.H. and nWo).[8] As a way of paying homage to the nWo, members of Bullet Club began using the stable's signature "Too Sweet" hand gesture.[10] In March 2015, WWE filed a trademark application for the hand gesture.[11] Some, including Matt and Nick Jackson, have suggested this was done due to Bullet Club's popularity.[12][13] nWo's founding memberKevin Nash has praised Bullet Club as a more athletic version of the nWo, stating that there is mutual respect between the two stables.[14]Behind the scenes, the four founding members of Bullet Club were best friends and travel partners.[8]
Bullet Club's matches often involve excessive outside interference, ref bumps and other tactics, which are more common in "American" professional wrestling and are rarely seen in Japanese puroresu, even in matches involving other villainous acts. This disregard for Japanese traditions and culture got the stable over as a top act.[15][16] Bullet Club has garnered a substantial amount of worldwide popularity, especially among American professional wrestling fans.[16]
HistoryEdit
Formation (2013)
"Real Rock 'n' Rolla" Prince Devitt, the original leader of Bullet Club, on the shoulders of "The Underboss" Bad Luck Fale.
On February 3, 2013, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Prince Devitt pinnedIWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in a tag team match, where he and Karl Anderson faced Tanahashi and Devitt's longtime Apollo 55 tag team partner Ryusuke Taguchi.[17] This led to a match between Devitt and Tanahashi on March 3 at NJPW's 41st anniversary event. Though neither man's title was on the line in the match, Tanahashi vowed to relinquish the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in case Devitt was victorious.[18] After defeating Devitt, Tanahashi went to help his opponent up, but was pushed away by the disappointed Junior Heavyweight Champion.[19][20] The following weeks, Devitt began portraying a more cocky and villainous persona, regularly disrespecting both partners and opponents, with the exception of Ryusuke Taguchi, whom he tried to get to go along with his new attitude.[21][22] However, this changed on April 7 at the Invasion Attack pay-per-view, when Devitt turned on Taguchi, after the two had failed to recapture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from the Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida). During the attack, Devitt was helped by the returning King Fale, who attacked not only Taguchi, but also Shelley, Kushida andCaptain New Japan, whom Devitt then proceeded to unmask. Following the attack, Devitt took a microphone, introduced Fale as his new "bouncer", giving him the new name "The Underboss" Bad Luck Fale and dubbed himself the "Real Rock 'n' Rolla".[23][24] At the following pay-per-view, Wrestling Dontaku 2013 on May 3, Devitt and Fale teamed up for the first time to defeat Taguchi and Captain New Japan in a tag team match.[25] Later in the event, Devitt and Fale entered the ring to attack the now former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi, after he had defeated Karl Anderson in a singles match. Anderson first went to stop Devitt and Fale, but then turned on Tanahashi, hitting him with the Gun Stun. As the three men continued their attack on Tanahashi, they were also joined by Tama Tonga,[2] with whom Anderson had formed a partnership during the past two weeks.[26][27][28] In a post-match interview, the four men announced the formation of an all-gaijin stable named "Bullet Club".[29][30]
Under Prince Devitt's leadership (2013–2014)
"The Machine Gun" Karl Anderson, founding member and second leader of Bullet Club as one half of the IWGP Tag Team Champions.
The four members of Bullet Club wrestled their first match together on May 22, when they defeated Captain New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi in an eight-man tag team match.[31]Two days later, Devitt entered the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors tournament, where he won his block with a clean record of eight wins and zero losses,[32] though most of his matches featured outside interference from the rest of the Bullet Club.[33][34][35][36][37][38] On June 9, Devitt advanced to the finals of the tournament after defeating Kenny Omega in his semifinal match, again with help from Bullet Club.[39][40][41] During the final match, later that same night, Bullet Club was ejected from ringside after getting into a brawl with Captain New Japan, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kushida, who accompanied Alex Shelley to the match. Despite losing his back-up, Devitt defeated Shelley to win the 2013 Best of the Super Juniors, after which he proceeded to challenge Hiroshi Tanahashi.[39][40][41] Devitt's old tag team partner Ryusuke Taguchi had originally earned a spot in the semifinals of the tournament, but a legitimate hip injury forced him to pull out.[42][43] During the following day's press conference, Devitt also mentioned a move to the heavyweight division, aiming to become the first wrestler to hold the IWGP Junior Heavyweight and IWGP Heavyweight Championships simultaneously.[44][45][46] On June 22 atDominion 6.22, Devitt defeated Tanahashi, again following interference from the rest of the Bullet Club, to earn his first-ever shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.[47] The reigning champion, Kazuchika Okada, accepted Devitt's challenge for the title later in the event on the condition that he first defend the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against his Chaos stablemateGedo.[48][49][50] Bullet Club's feud with Tanahashi continued at the July 5 Kizuna Road 2013 pay-per-view, where Tama Tonga and visiting Mexican wrestler Terrible lost theConsejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)World Tag Team Championship to Tanahashi and Jushin Thunder Liger.[51] Terrible worked also the rest of his two-week NJPW tour as a member of Bullet Club.[52][53][54] In the main event, Devitt successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Gedo to earn his IWGP Heavyweight Championship match with Okada.[55][56][57]The Heavyweight Championship match took place on July 20 and saw Okada retain his title, defeating Devitt despite interference from the rest of Bullet Club.[58][59][60] From August 1 to 11, both Devitt and Anderson took part in the 2013 G1 Climax, wrestling in separate round-robin blocks.[61] During the tournament, Devitt picked up big wins, albeit through outside interference, over reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada and former champions Hiroshi Tanahashi, Satoshi Kojima and Togi Makabe,[62][63][64] but failed to advance from his block. Meanwhile, Anderson entered the final day with a chance to reach the finals, but a loss against Tetsuya Naito eliminated him from the tournament.[65][66][67] On September 5, Rey Bucanero, another CMLL wrestler, started a NJPW tour working as a member of Bullet Cl