The Bullet Club has been one of the most important wrestling angles in recent memory. New Japan allowing Finn Balor to come up with the group of foreigners looking to take over was the best storyline of its kind since the New World Order was the hottest act in wrestling. Bullet Club merchandise sales and general popularity proved that the company could expand in the United States.
The first core of the group made it special even though some of them did not stick around in the long run. Every member had a different level of importance from making the faction relevant to being a short-term background player. Find out which wrestlers were the first ten to join the Bullet Club and who was the best of the bunch.
10 Rey Bucanero
The Bullet Club expanded from just New Japan to CMLL as part of the working relationship in the early stages of the faction. Tama Tonga wrestling there saw a few Mexican wrestlers having short stints in the faction.
Rey Bucanero joined the group, but he only spent about five weeks before losing his spot. The in-ring work of Bucanero was strong, but he struggled to make an impact fitting in with the popular faction.
9 La Comandante
La Comandante was another CMLL talent to join the Bullet Club as part of the Bullet Club-Latin America chapter of the group. The induction saw her as the first-ever female member of the faction managing the male wrestlers of the stable.
CMLL saw La Comandante in the Bullet Club for about two months before her association ended. The lack of a long-term role ranked her lower in the pecking order, but it was a cool accomplishment to say she was the first woman in an iconic stable.
8 El Terrible
The third wrestler from CMLL to have a role in the Bullet Club-Latin America version of the faction was El Terrible. Fans unfamiliar with him likely will be wary of his name, but Terrible was capable of having good matches.
The Bullet Club expanding in Mexico didn’t have the same appeal as it did in the United States a few years later. However, the short run of the CMLL faction certainly added some bigger moments for Terrible and his peers.
7 Bad Luck Fale
The size and strength of Bad Luck Fale made him the original enforcer of the Bullet Club when the faction started. Fale accompanied Prince Devitt to the ring often by putting the star on his shoulders.
The in-ring work of Fale lacked compared to most of his peers, but he had an important role in the group. Fale is still in the Bullet Club today and has remained in the faction for each chapter of different members coming in and out.
6 Luke Gallows
Luke Gallows signed with New Japan to join the Bullet Club just a few months into the group starting. The idea to place Gallows and Karl Anderson together saw them instantly forming chemistry in and out of the ring.
Anderson and Gallows dominated the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championship picture for years and played a huge role in the group’s success. Gallows’ size was a bigger attraction in Japan as they didn’t focus on his failed stints in WWE and TNA.
5 Tama Tonga
The success of Tama Tonga in New Japan has seen him having various roles of importance in the Bullet Club. As an original member of the group, Tonga was always involved in the early work that made them an unpredictable heel group.
The changes throughout the years would see Tama taking a more important role with a lot more promo time in recent years. Tonga is now tagging with his brother Tanga Loa as the Guerrillas of Destiny team still thriving today.
4 Matt Jackson
The Young Bucks were in a tough spot coming off poor runs in TNA and Ring of Honor. Matt Jackson was a few years older than Nick with a family to take care of and felt it may have been time to retire until New Japan called him.
Nick and Matt were each called to join the Bullet Club as the top tag team to represent them in the IWGP Jr. tag division. The instant success saved the careers of the Young Bucks. Matt decided to put his all into this run instead of retiring and it paid off in the strongest way possible.
3 Nick Jackson
Kazuchika Okada developed a friendship with the Young Bucks when all three talents were being used poorly in TNA. Nick Jackson revealed that Okada was the one pulling for them to get signed by NJPW when he became the top heavyweight star there.
The Bullet Club adding the Young Bucks gave them a popular duo on the American indie wrestling scene. Nick and Matt worked hard to build their brands in NJPW while still making dates in the United States. Bullet Club grew immensely in popularity with the Bucks as the first members who still wrestled commonly in America.
2 Karl Anderson
The importance of Karl Anderson to the Bullet Club was huge. Anderson was a rising star when the faction formed and had the credibility as another top tier talent who put his all into getting the group off the ground.
The matches of Anderson in singles action always delivered, but he shined even more in the tag team with Luke Gallows. Anderson was viewed as an unofficial leader even though he was never the most pushed star in the group.
1 Prince Devitt
Finn Balor’s run as Prince Devitt in New Japan saw him putting together a legendary career. The outstanding matches in the junior heavyweight division as a face led to him peaking for a while before coming up with the Bullet Club concept.
A desire to become a heel saw Devitt leading the Bullet Club foreigners in a takeover of New Japan. Devitt was viewed as one of the best wrestlers in the world and the reason fans from all over the globe took note of the Bullet Club. It is hard to envision the faction lasting beyond a year if Devitt didn’t fire on all cylinders to make it thrive.