It’s been about a week since news broke that Bullet Club members AJ Styles, Doc Gallows, and Karl Anderson, as well as Japanese Superstar Shinsuke Nakamura had given their notices to NJPW that they’re leaving “for WWE”. Since the news broke, it has dominated the wrestling website headlines with speculation as to what their roles will be and when we can expect them to debut. Everyone has their wishlist and everyone has their creative ideas on how and when to use the newly acquired talents. That what this article is about. I have my feelings and opinions on how this will all turn out for these guys and to leave it open for everyone else to chime in with their ideas as well. I’ll try to keep it short.
1. The Group will stay in NXT
This is the most realistic path for the group in my opinion. The group will remain an “indy” faction. The Bullet Club (Balor Club) will run rampant in NXT, but won’t make it to the main roster. All of the members will eventually be on the main roster, but not as the group as most people know them. I think there’s a much better chance of the group having a run in NXT, splitting up, and the members being repackaged before the main roster call up.
2. The Bullet Club Will Be Short-Lived
This is also a very realistic possibility in my eyes. With the recent tweets from Balor regarding the rumors, I’m thinking Gallows and Anderson will come in together and be part of the group. I’m still up in the air about AJ Styles being a part of that group, especially since the Bullet Club jumped him to write him out in NJPW.
I can see The Bullet Club, or Balor Club, or whatever the name will be, having a short feud with whatever faction makes the most sense at the time. I don’t think they’ll be stream lined into a main event feud with the League of Nations but perhaps a feud with New Day is possible. I don’t think they’ll be heels since there are already several heel factions in WWE at the moment. And if history suggests anything, face factions don’t last long. They break apart without actually having much of a storyline break up. The leader will have short-term success in a meaningful feud while other members float away into jobber orbit.
3. AJ Styles Won’t Be a Part of the Group
AJ Styles is clearly the brightest jewel in the chest out of this group who is making the jump. It seems to me that it would be counter-productive to have him in NXT at this point of his career. Of course, I also said the same thing about Samoa Joe and he’s still down in NXT with no real evidence suggesting he could be brought up anytime soon. The same fate could be in store for AJ Styles but I’m going to be optimistic that he’ll be brought immediately to the main roster. I mean, I understand that only super talented guys like Brawn Strohman get to skip NXT, but I think AJ is another one of the exceptions to the rule here.
The other part of this is, if the Group does come to the main roster as a faction, I don’t think AJ Styles will be someone who gets lost in the shuffle there. I think Balor will be the leader of the group and AJ will come in and do his own thing. What level of success he’ll reach remains to be seen. I’m not too optimistic about anything more than a middle of the road talent who won’t sniff the top, but it will be just AJ Styles, and not as part of the Group.
4. Shinsuke Nakamura Will Have a Major NXT Career
Nakamura, one of, if not the, biggest start in NJPW making the jump, will obviously find himself in NXT to start things off as he gets acclimated to the WWE way. There should be some great matches with the likes of Hideo Itami, Sami Zayne, and Samoa Joe, but I’m not sure how well he’ll get over on the Main Roster since that’s all about the soap opera, pop culture and social media and all that, and not really about the wrestling. With that being said, I don’t see Nakamura ever making it to the Main Roster and if he does happen to reach it, he’ll never do anything significant.
These are the four most realistic possibilities in my view. Overall, I think the addition of these guys will have a minimal impact on the main stage. It might be a nice novelty at first but will wear off quickly when the realization sets in that the WWE’s roster is too inflated and they’ll be lost in the shuffle. I don’t think it’s a realistic expectation that these guys will come in and suddenly be major players, especially since one of the members was already in WWE as a jobber, and the rest aren’t very well-known to anyone that isn’t a hardcore wrestling fan. So, while the excitement is in the air right now, once everything plays out, things will die down and once again, the indy stars will be nothing more than cogs in the WWE machine.
What are some of your feelings on these acquisitions? How do you see things playing out? What is your realistic expectation of what The Bullet Club in WWE will be?
Thanks for reading everyone. Be Safe.
