Bullet Club Co-Founder Karl Anderson Talks NWO Comparisons, Prince Devitt Leaving For WWE, More
On the new episode of the Sam Roberts Wrestling Podcast (Episode 009), "Machine Gun" Karl Anderson discusses a number of topics, including the success enjoyed by NJPW's Bullet Club.
Host Sam Roberts suggested that a lot of the Bullet Club's success with fans seems to come from the fact that the group evokes memories of the NWO and The Kliq. Anderson agreed and spoke on the idea.
"First off, we were just doing whatever we wanted to do and to see if we'd get in trouble for it with the front office?which we didn't," said Anderson. "We grew up watching?we loved the NWO. Scott Hall?I put over Scott Hall all of the time on Twitter?and he has kind of blessed us to do it? They paved the way for us to do what we're doing."
Roberts asked about indy guys and other wrestlers using the "Too Sweet" gesture and Anderson said he didn't have a problem saying that the Bullet Club brought it back to wrestling. He said he loves seeing pictures of Triple H, Kevin Steen, KENTA and Fergal Devitt throwing up the sign.
Anderson said he didn't worry too much about the future of Bullet Club when Prince Devitt left NJPW, ultimately becoming NXT's Finn Balor.
"People have asked me about that before and and I wasn't worried?" he said. "I knew AJ was coming in and right before Ferg (Devitt) had left, they'd just made us those sweet shirts with the black and white and the bones and those things were selling like crazy. I think those might have gotten us over more than anything in Japan because it was just a cool-ass t-shirt? But I wasn't panicked when Ferg was leaving. I think he's one of the best wrestlers in the world. He's one of my best friends. He's awesome. But I knew we'd be fine."
Anderson said that earning heel heat early on was an important factor in getting over in Japan. He recalled starting in NJPW in 2008 when he worked with Fergal Devitt and Matt Bloom (a.k.a. Albert, A-Train, Tensai and Giant Bernard) and said that at the time, the trio were the only "foreigners" in the company. He indicated there are around 15 folks in the company now who are not from Japan and suggested that fans are much more receptive to workers from abroad nowadays. Anderson said Bullet Club is now so huge in Japan that he can't walk the streets of big cities in Japan while wearing apparel featuring the Club's logo because he'll be recognized and mobbed by fans.
It's also interesting to note that when asked if he ever wants to go to WWE, Anderson said, "If anybody says they don't want to go to WWE, they're probably lying." Anderson's teammate AJ Styles was asked a similar question by his fellow Bullet Club members on a recent episode of the MLW Radio's "Talk'n Shop" podcast and Styles emphatically indicated he had no interest in working for the company. Incidentally, Anderson said he likes where he is in his career right now and that if he never makes it to TNA or WWE, he's okay with that.
You can listen to the entire episode of the Sam Roberts podcast at this link.