Opinion: Cody and BULLET CLUB - Who Could Benefit More From This Partnership?

Bullet Club members are becoming as common as NWO guys were back in the nineties as this weekend we were treated to our (not including associates such as Jeff Jarrett) 17th inductee, ‘The American Nightmare’ Cody Rhodes. 

The former WWE star was revealed in a wonderful video package at the World Tag League final on Saturday and suddenly the wrestling world is once again humming to the sounds of Cody Rhodes and the Bullet Club. 

Usually I would be weighing up whether this pairing would be a good idea or not. However, this just screams success for both parties and should give both Rhodes and Bullet Club a real jump start heading into the new year. 

But who will have the better of it, will Bullet Club gain more by being associated with Cody’s huge independent name or will Rhodes be better off having paired with New Japan’s notorious faction?

Firstly, let’s look at the Son of a Son of a Plumber, the Star that left them in the Dust, the Dashing one, Cody Rhodes. Back in May he caused a real stir as he departed the rough seas of the number one wrestling company in the world and headed towards calmer, clearer waters of the independent scene, TNA, ROH and now, NJPW. 

I’ve always been a big fan of Cody. He has always had an interesting gimmick and successfully stayed relevant since making his debut in WWE; be it Legacy or Dashing or Masked, hell, even Stardust was entertaining at first. He’s a great worker too but his interesting personas and commitment to each role has always kept him interesting in the eyes of the fans.

This, to me at least, is what Cody has been missing slightly on the independent scene thus far, a solid gimmick that he can run with in order to tell great stories as he is often has in the past. As we know, a fantastic tale can turn a good match into a great match, just look at Ziggler v Miz this year, it’s been unreal stuff.

By joining Bullet Club he can represent them wherever he goes, adding a story to each individual match, more of a meaning to feud with different wrestlers and ultimately giving him a character to express himself within. He will still be the guy who broke the mould and left WWE, and will still be the son of the legendary Dusty Rhodes, but he will also be Bullet Club’s exciting new chapter.

Joining the team built by the man formerly known as Prince Devitt means Cody also arrives in New Japan as a huge deal. Yes, he was already known around the globe from WWE, but throwing him into one of the leading groups makes Japanese fans stand up and pay attention to him; he’s not arriving as another guy who has been in WWE, he’s arriving in one of the hottest heel factions on the planet, giving him instant momentum.

Finally, he will get something for his personal gain too. He faces Juice Robinson at Wrestle Kingdom but then he will surely move onto one of the names on his list, Katsuyori Shibata. These matches should allow Cody to show exactly what he is made of and could be the best fights he has had since he departed the WWE. I for one, am greatly looking forward to him acing these two and more; hopefully we get to see him collide with Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Tetsuya Naito, Hiroki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and many, many more during his current New Japan tenure.

So how about BULLET CLUB? What do they, as a faction, gain from adding Cody Rhodes to their ranks?

Well firstly, I feel it is pretty safe to say that Cody is the most exciting of the recent additions to the squad; Adam Cole, Hangman Page and Tanga Roa are all building themselves up slowly under the Bullet Club umbrella but none of their reveals shook up New Japan quite like Rhodes. The video package reveal was something special, the stubbing out of the cigar on the Wrestle Kingdom logo was exciting and Omega telling us they ‘broke the bank’ to get Rhodes presents him as a truly sought after superstar.

Being a former WWE star obviously carries a whole heap of weight behind him already and as a result he feels like he a ready-made main eventer, despite only being in the company 5 minutes. And this is exactly what BULLET CLUB have been missing this year!

Sure you have Kenny Omega, who may be the most successful leader of them all given his G1 victory and his incoming Tokyo Dome headline spot versus Kazuchika Okada. But this year they lost AJ Styles and Karl Anderson who were both previous leaders, Bad Luck Fale is far from the force he once was in the land of Japan and they added the frankly laughable Bone Soldier (formerly Captain New Japan) just a few weeks back.

Rhodes can arrive, instantly raise the prestige of the faction again and easily establish himself as a co-leader, similarly to how Anderson acted under Styles and Devitt. This position has been unsuccessfully fulfilled since January following Omega’s promotion and, whilst Tama Tonga has stepped up another gear this autumn and Cole has been bought in, Rhodes truly feels like a higher level than those two; whether he will remain at this level remains to be seen but I’m confident in the man, the faction and the booking.

Last of all, being a heavyweight, he’s another guy who can represent BULLET CLUB at the highest level in NJPW and I wouldn’t be surprise if he adds to the notoriety of the group by competing in the New Japan Cup and even the G1 Climax in 2017. Furthermore, based on his list, he will likely come face-to-face with the aforementioned Shibata sometime soon, maybe even taking the fan favourite’s NEVER Openweight title back to the ever growing BULLET CLUB trophy case.

So, whilst Cody will gain a lot of bonuses to his independent career by joining the mighty BULLET CLUB I feel that, despite both being big winners, the club themselves are to gain the most fruits from this relationship. Other than obviously freshening up a stable that many fans think may be growing increasingly stale, BULLET CLUB will benefit massively by having a former WWE Tag Team and Intercontinental Champion in their ranks. He will bring leadership, he will bring drama and he will likely bring titles too; all of this, I’m sure you’ll agree, can only be considered a good thing. 

I am so, so excited to see Cody break the Japanese scene in half and you too can follow the goodness, starting with Wrestle Kingdom 11 which takes place from the world-famous Tokyo Dome on January 4th 2017 on New Japan World. You’d be mad to miss it!

Words and Images - Thomas Brady

Editing - James Marston 

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Opinion: NJPW Power Struggle 2016 - AKA The Los Ingobernables de Japon Show

Power Struggle this year is all about one group, the wonderful Los Ingobernables De Japon; of the 5 matches announced so far for the 5th November event, 4 of them involve members of the stable in headline matches. 

The group, led by Tetsuya Naito, have been a true standout in New Japan this year, successfully filling the void of AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson and participating in main event level clashes throughout the year. Clearly they deserve to have this PPV based around them and I’m very excited to see their path of destruction continue in Osaka.

Throughout the year they have been a menace to all those before them, including: CHAOS, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin, commentators, ring announcers and beyond as Tetsuya Naito sneaked his way to win the New Japan cup and IWGP Heavyweight belt earlier in the year. People were worried after he dropped the title back to Kazuchika Okada that the clan’s momentum would be stunted and they would perhaps struggle to recover but in actual fact the opposite has occurred, as Naito, EVIL, BUSHI and SANADA have all going from strength to strength.

The 3 heavyweights all had solid showings in the G1 Climax with Naito just missing out of a place in the finals after a match of the year contender versus Kenny Omega and now he holds the IWGP Intercontinental championship having knocked off Elgin last month in another classic bout whilst BUSHI managed to claim his Junior Heavyweight strap over the same set of Destruction shows.

But how will their matches go at Power Struggle? Will they be able to topple their foes or could the faction have bitten off more than they can chew recently? I’m predicting a 50/50 split of wins and losses for the foursome, and here’s a rundown of their quartet of announced matches.

Match #1 – BUSHI (C) versus KUSHIDA

As mentioned previous, BUSHI managed to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship last month at the Destruction in Tokyo event. The masked apprentice won the belt in a match littered with dirty tactics as we saw interference from the other LIJ members, T-shirt choking and even the dreaded black mist to blind his foe. 

The man he screwed over that night was his challenger, KUSHIDA. BUSHI criticised the automatic rematch clause and was reluctant to give the number one contender his deserved shot, but following their 8-man tag at King of Pro Wrestling last week, BUSHI and company laid out KUSHIDA, forcing him to leave on a stretcher and ruling him out of the Power Struggle house shows with a neck injury.

Given the damage Ingobernables have inflicted on the former champion in recent weeks, BUSHI is the clear favourite to keep hold of his new belt as he is the fresher of the two and with the other members of L.I.J having their own fights to focus on I would predict far fewer shenanigans around the contest, which I’m all for based on their match in February at the New Beginning PPV. 

Expect a whole heap of high-flying from the pair as they both are high-risk, high-reward style fighters, and with the belt on the line again they are sure to give everything they have for the most prestigious junior championship in the game. BUSHI should have enough to defeat an injured KUSHIDA with his MX finisher again but it should be 15 minutes of pure action and is not one to be missed.

Match #2 – SANADA versus Hiroshi Tanahashi

You may know SANADA, the newest member of Los Ingobernables, from his orange-haired days in TNA but now the man is almost unrecognisable from those days as he looks to topple one of the greatest pro-wrestlers Japan has ever seen, Tanahashi. 

Tana hasn’t had the best of years so far, he lost the Wrestle Kingdom main event, his Intercontinental Championship match against Omega, got injured and didn’t reach the finals of the G1 Climax. He really needs a victory in order to end his 2016 on a high heading into the January 4th Tokyo Dome show where he is sure to have a huge match once again. 

SANADA on the other hand beat his opponent at the aforementioned G1 on the first night with his dragon sleeper submission and I would imagine this match will be very similar barring the finish. Tanahashi, who is still getting over his shoulder injury will likely get dominated in the early game by SANADA’s striking before making a huge comeback to hit his patented Hi-Fly-Flo in order to gain revenge for his G1 defeat. But simply beating SANADA will surely not be enough for the face who runs the place in Japan…

With the January Tokyo Dome show looming Tanahashi will surely be in the co-main event at the very least, and as his rivalry with L.I.J just bubbling under at the moment I would predict it to boil over after this PPV with him almost certainly colliding with Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Champion at Wrestle Kingdom 11. The match has been in the pipeline for some time and seeing the pair explode on the grandest stage in Japan would be a delight, keep your eyes out for this feud unfolding.

Match #3 – EVIL versus Katsuyori Shibata (C)

EVIL gunning for Shibata’s NEVER Openweight Championship is something I have personally wanted to see for the majority of the year, and since the champion has beaten a whole flock of worthy contenders the King of Darkness seems an appropriate choice to attempt to knock of one of the hardest men in pro-wrestling today.

The big enforcer got his shot at the belt after blindsiding Shibata at Kings of Pro Wrestling when the latter was distracted by Go Shiozaki, who will instead get a non-title match with Katsuyori at NOAH’s show on October 23rd. With NOAH versus Shibata set to run throughout the winter his match with EVIL feels more like a side-quest rather than a main story adventure for the current belt holder, but that adds to the intrigue over who will leave with the strap. 

This match is going to be rougher than me on a Sunday morning after a night on the booze. As per the majority of Shibata’s matches, he and EVIL are going to kick the stuffing out of one another until one of the pair has nothing left to give. Clotheslines, giant kicks and suplexes will be the flavour of the bout with only the stronger surviving when the dust settles. 

Either man may finish the strongest in this case. Shibata could easily carry the belt through to Wrestle Kingdom to face either Go Shiozaki or Minoru Suzuki, but the story would still work without it, and EVIL could gain some real pedigree by having the championship round his waist, but in the same breath, he could kill it in the world tag league alongside Naito or SANADA. Personally, I’m going for a Shibata win as the belt has become synonymous with him this year and a big match for the title at WK11 would be the icing on the cake of his reign.

Match #4 – Tetsuya Naito (C) versus Jay Lethal

What more can be said about the 2016 of Tetsuya Naito? He has pushed the boundaries to become the most entertaining character and is right up there with Styles and Omega as my pick for wrestler of the year. He is more over than ever before and now the Intercontinental champion in New Japan after capturing the title from Elgin last month in a breathtaking match – and in this main event for Power Struggle I would expect another wonderful face-off.

Elgin was due for his rematch here but since he suffered an injury to the eye socket at KOPW the former ROH champion, Jay Lethal has stepped up. Lethal had aligned with L.I.J back in February but after turning face in August he no longer associated with the faction and scored a victory over Naito at ROH’s All Star Extravaganza, making him the perfect replacement as he is owed a title match.

Their previous match was very slick and smooth as to be expected and I would love to see them turn in up an extra notch here in Osaka; I’m dying to see a Lethal Injection reversed into a Destino or vice-versa. Lethal will surely put on a great show and give a tremendous fight to Naito but I can only see this top-card bout going one way, and that’s to the champion. 

Lethal, having beat his former partner previously, will lose little in defeat, and should he show the heart and desire we have come to expect from him, the New Japan crowd will surely get behind him through the contest and in the future. But Naito is perfectly placed to star in the co-main at the Tokyo Dome and a loss here would make zero sense to the man who has more momentum than a bullet train right now. Naito v Tanahashi is a dream match and if it doesn’t occur it’ll be criminal, I just pray we get given what we so crave. 
So there you have it, Los Ingobernables De Japon are on a roll and deservedly will be featured all across the Power Struggle card. Naito and BUSHI should retain their prestigious belts and so long as SANADA and EVIL perform well in their matches they will be able to threaten in the upcoming World Tag League too. 

If you have not checked out Japan’s hottest faction yet I would fully recommend it as you are missing out on some incredible matches, antics and stories. Here’s to them and here’s to Power Struggle 2016, it should be a cracker!

Words & Images - Thomas Brady 
Editor - James Marston