These Big-Time Wrestlers Have All Been Members Of NJPW's Bullet Club

The intricate web of the modern professional wrestling world covers the globe, stretches across languages and cultures, and extends from low-lit gymnasiums in the U.S. heartland to the halls of the Tokyo Dome in Japan. And perhaps no part of it is untouched by New Japan Pro-Wrestling's most famous faction, Bullet Club.

Since Prince Devitt first turned on his former tag team partner, Ryusuke Taguchi, in 2013 and joined forces with Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale, and Tama Tonga, professional wrestling has never been the same. The villainous Bullet Club faction has conquered NJPW time and time again, at points holding every title the company has to offer, and many of its members have splintered off to become pillars in other major companies around the world, including WWE and AEW.

Bullet Club was "born from a desire for unhinged greatness, worldwide recognition, and ultimately personal power," according to NJPW announcer Kevin Kelly, and it has simultaneously paid homage to pro wrestling's past while carving its path into the future. The faction has undeniably bolstered the industry's health and popularity. From the twists and turns of its dramatic storylines drawing a worldwide fan base to Japanese wrestling, to the booming popularity of its bone skull t-shirts sweeping every promotion, to the eventual formation of AEW, its impact is felt almost everywhere in pro wrestling. Its members continue to top rosters in nearly every major promotion. Here are some of the biggest names to ever throw up the "too sweet" sign and swear allegiance to Bullet Club.

While Balor pulled the initial trigger that sent Bullet Club's trajectory shooting toward the top of professional wrestling, Styles' tumultuous tenure as the group's leader was what launched the faction into its heyday in the mid-to-late 2010s. Styles' introduction not only solidified Bullet Club's long history of its members staging coups in order to replace its leaders, but it also set the stage for in-fighting and paranoia among the stable.

Styles would win two IWGP Heavyweight Championships as Bullet Club's leader and gained notoriety around the world for impressive matches with the likes of Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, and Kota Ibushi, among others. When Styles captured the IWGP Heavyweight title a second time while the promotion's heavyweight and junior tag team titles also were in the hands of Bullet Club members, Anderson stood in the NJPW ring to proclaim that Bullet Club was "the greatest faction in professional wrestling in the last 20 years." 

While that was hard to argue given the group's soaring popularity and championships, it also meant other major promotions would once again come knocking at its leader's door. Styles would soon drop his title to Bullet Club's biggest individual rival, Okada, and jump ship to WWE, clearing the way for another leader to take charge and keeping the turnstile at the top spinning.

Rhodes' debut in NJPW was one of the most anticipated in recent memory. Often dressed in business attire, business is exactly what Rhodes came to NJPW to take care of. He immediately aligned himself with Omega and The Young Bucks in Bullet Club and made his intentions clear in aiming for the promotion's top prize, even if it meant being at odds with the group's leader, Omega. Rhodes' debut marked a unique point in Bullet Club's history, as a former WWE star had invaded NJPW for the first time, and it also proved the catalyst for Bullet Club's family tree to begin breaking off into sub-groups. 

Despite a constant intra-faction rivalry with Omega that eventually spilled over into the ring, Rhodes wound up joining forces with Omega and The Young Bucks on-screen and backstage as "The Elite." This version of Bullet Club wouldn't settle for just NJPW's top prize. On the heels of Bullet Club's ballooning popularity in the years preceding it, The Elite aimed to take over pro wrestling, forming the building blocks for what would become AEW. The four men would leave NJPW, recruit the likes of superstar Chris Jericho and wealthy wrestling fan Tony Khan, and in 2019 started what would soon become one of the top promotions in the world and WWE's first legitimate competitor in decades.

While The Young Bucks are the most popular tag team in Bullet Club's history, Anderson and Gallows are the faction's most dominant and feared duo. The pair stood tall in NJPW as members of Bullet Club, holding the IWGP Tag Team Championship three times before moving on to WWE, where they'd continue to find success as two-time WWE "Raw" Tag Team Champions. 

While The Young Bucks continued their friendship with Omega across the landscapes of ROH and AEW, Anderson and Gallows, aka The Club, remained closely connected with Styles and followed him to WWE, where the trio continues to reference their days in Bullet Club together.

Despite the fabled "forbidden door" standing between WWE and NJPW, Anderson recently held NJPW's NEVER Openweight Championship while under contract with WWE, holding open some sliver of possibility that The Club's days as members of Bullet Club might not be finished.

While Omega and The Young Bucks led Bullet Club storylines in NJPW, future AEW World Champion Adam Page would make a name for himself when he joined the group's United States faction. Page's villainous actions during that time would earn him the nickname "Hangman" when he and The Young Bucks hanged Chris Sabin from the ring ropes following an ROH War of the Worlds main event, establishing a brutality not seen since the early days of Bullet Club when Balor would perform finger-gun "executions" on wrestlers he laid waste to in the ring. 

Page would continue to represent Bullet Club in ROH, teaming on-and-off with The Young Bucks, original member Tonga and his partner Tanga Loa, and often coming to the aid of one-time Bullet Club member Marty Scurll. Page ultimately turned babyface near the end of his ROH run and rekindled an on-again, off-again friendship with The Young Bucks and The Elite in NJPW and once he joined AEW in late 2019.

Although Devitt, Styles, and Omega may have made bigger waves during their turns as Bullet Club's leader, the group's fourth and most recent captain, "Switchblade" Jay White, has led the faction longer than anyone who's come before him. And perhaps no one has aimed to represent Bullet Club across as many pro wrestling promotions as White has during his time at the top. White, a two-time world champion in NJPW, helped establish Bullet Club in Impact Wrestling when he recruited Chris Bey in 2021. A year later, White brought the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship with him to AEW while promoting the promotions' joint Forbidden Door event. 

But history often repeats itself — especially with Bullet Club –—and again the top promotions around the world have been knocking at the Bullet Club leader's door. White has reportedly received interest from both WWE and AEW with his NJPW contract set to soon expire, leaving Bullet Club's future in question once more. Whether White remains in NJPW or leaves the company to join either of North America's top brands remains to be seen, but Bullet Club's fans have come to learn the faction rarely leaves its members' blood. 

Original members such as Anderson and Fale officially remain tied to the group and could be poised to finally get their due leading Bullet Club. Or as fans have seen before, Bullet Club's members may have their eyes on an outside prospect they could welcome in and hand over the reins. Or could the unthinkable happen and Bullet Club leaves NJPW along with White? No matter what happens, the storied faction undoubtedly will undoubtedly continue to make an impact on pro wrestling.