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When WWE signed AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson away from New Japan Pro Wrestling, rumor had it that they also approached the Japanese promotion about buying the intellectual property rights to the Bullet Club. New Japan held fast, and WWE teased its own slant on the faction as just The Club or The Balor Club with former Bullet Club leader Finn Balor at the helm.
WWE has never gone full tilt into pushing a formal stable, however, and aside from a handful of programs and one off matches, all Club affiliations have remained lax and impermanent.
The latest rumor is that All In caught WWE’s attention, and while Vince McMahon doesn’t feel threatened, he’d nonetheless like to nip any semblance of competition in the bud.
Between their entrepreneurship and being among the hottest acts in wrestling not already signed to WWE, McMahon is reportedly interested in bring back Cody Rhodes and signing The Young Bucks, and potentially bringing in Kenny Omega and other wrestlers affiliated with The Bullet club as well.
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So what if McMahon does sign these talents, and especially if they were to debut as a stable—with the Bullet Club name or otherwise? This article looks at five prospective results.
5. New Day vs. The Young Bucks
There’s a lot of talent in The Bullet Club, but The Young Bucks may be the most special of all. They’re a fast-paced, high-flying, increasingly veteran tag team that has earned main event status in Ring of Honor and New Japan. As WWE enjoys a bit of a tag team renaissance, particularly on SmackDown, there are a lot of first time dream matches awaiting Nick and Matt Jackson if they sign, ranging from The Usos to The Bar to The Bludgeon Brothers.
The Young Bucks vs. The New Day may be the most appealing possibility of all, pitting two of the most celebrated, high profile teams of their generation against one another. Both teams are great on the mic and at cultivating their brands. Both teams can deliver in the ring, and a program between these two sides could be something very special and produce its share of unforgettable matches.
4. A boost for AJ Styles and Finn Balor
WWE has made allusions to The Balor club and The Club before but has never quite pulled the trigger on a fully realized Bullet Club reunion or derivative faction. If fell Bullet club alumni were to arrive en masse, and particularly if they were to be pushed as a unit, it would invite familiar faces AJ Styles and Finn Balor to step into a leadership role with them.
Styles is particularly well situated to play this kind of part. He has reigned as WWE Champion for the better part of a year now and, particularly if he’s going to hang on in a featured spot like that, could use a bit of freshening up. The intrigue of heading up a newly arrive stable could be just the trick. Of course, Balor could probably benefit even more.
Though he’s been better pushed on Raw as of late, he remains outside the title picture and a bit directionless. Having his old running buddies to play off of, and potentially turn heel with, could do wonders for him.
3. Anderson and Gallows as Club jobbers
In an ideal world, a Bullet Club invasion would be huge for Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows as they return to old form and become a team that dominates the tag ranks. However, that ship seems to have sailed for The Good Brothers.
When they debuted as a team on Raw back in 2016, they looked like killers, but quickly became just another team, and have been more jobbers to the stars than stars themselves in the years to follow. Among The Bullet Club, especially if The Young Bucks come along to represent the group in the tag ranks, it’d be hard to buy Anderson and Gallows as big time threats now.
WWE probably wouldn’t ignore Anderson and Gallows’s Club affiliation, but rather they’d probably be positioned as the group’s designated jobbers, letting challengers gain momentum through them en route to more serious contests.
2. Kenny Omega vs. Chris Jericho crosses company lines
Kenny Omega is said to be one of the most sought-after Bullet Club guys for WWE. It’s not hard to see why given how widely acclaimed his ring work has been in recent years, including his classics with Kazuchika Okada and none other than former WWE Champion Chris Jericho.
Jericho has done his most high profile ring work with New Japan of late, but claims that he maintains a good relationship with WWE—a claim supported by him being booked for the Raw 25th-anniversary episode and talking on his podcast about almost being called into work WrestleMania 34. There’s little doubt he’d come back to WWE for another run under the right circumstances, and working Omega there, where more of his North American fans would see it would make a good bit of sense. Moreover, Jericho would be a logical choice as the veteran star cavalry WWE might call in to reinforce itself against a full-fledged Bullet Club invasion.
1. Cody Rhodes follows in his father’s footsteps
One of the biggest question marks around prospective WWE signees at this point isn’t whether WWE would want Cody Rhodes back. By all indications, they didn’t really want for him to leave in the first place but also didn’t see his value as anything but a lower mid-card character worker whom could occasionally be trotted out to pay tribute to his father, Dusty Rhodes. Now? Cody not only proved himself as a draw and a better worker than WWE gave him credit for on the indies, but also a great wrestling mind in the tradition of his father, who has reinvented his gimmick and was a key mastermind behind All In.
If WWE gets Cody to “come home” the odds are they’ll do better by him this time. A featured spot in a Bullet Club invasion would be one key move. Additionally, perhaps Cody would get a proper chance to follow in his father’s footsteps outside the ring, as a creative contributor, and one day a key figure in the NXT system to help young talent work out their characters—capitalizing on all of Cody’s key strengths that he has underscored since leaving WWE.
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