Matt Hardy Assesses WWE Star AJ Styles Time In Influential Bullet Club Stable

Despite being one of the cornerstones of TNA for nearly 12 years, it could be argued that without his run as part of the Bullet Club in NJPW, AJ Styles might not have had the run he has had in WWE. The former WWE Champion solidified himself in the eyes of the fans as one of the best to ever step in the ring during his NJPW run, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship twice, and leading Bullet Club into another echelon of popularity.

Someone who knows Styles very well is Matt Hardy, who was asked on "Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" how influential Styles' run was in establishing Bullet Club to the wider wrestling world. "It was huge because Bullet Club was one of those things that really transcended the business," Hardy said. "Once it caught a hold of people, they didn't let it go, they dug the Bullet Club, and AJ was really the guy who started all of that in many, many ways."

Hardy then recalled the times when Vince McMahon openly asked about the Bullet Club, as he didn't know who they were or where they came from. Hardy said that, much like when fans chanted "delete" at WWE events before The Hardys returned to the company, McMahon's solution was to simply buy the stable. "He's like 'damn it, give me the Bullet Club, I want them all,'" Hardy said. "There was a time where that's a quote which Vince said in a meeting, like 'damn all these shirts, they keep coming to our shows, give me the Bullet Club, I want them all,' and that was like a legitimate deal. So AJ was really the guy who launched that, I feel, into the next stratosphere."

Please credit "The Extreme Life of Matt Hardy" when using quotes from this article, and give a H/T to Wrestling Inc. for the transcription.