The Club Is Over: Finn Balor Doesn’t Need a Bullet Club Reunion

It seems like an idea that’s been proposed by the internet every week since Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows debuted in the WWE.

“Put the Bullet Club back together,” the faceless mass of the internet wrestling community says. “They’re barely doing anything with Finn Balor or Anderson and Gallows. Turn Finn heel and let them loose!”

On paper, it sounds like a decent idea. The three are still friends and maybe it would work out better than when Gallows and Anderson were helping AJ Styles beat up John Cena. However, the more the idea kept getting tossed around, the more I felt uncomfortable with it and couldn’t say why.

That is, until Balor explained why he’s not fond of the idea, despite all of his internet trolling to the contrary.

In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated Now, the question of reforming Bullet Club in WWE came up. Finn answered with, “…[F]or us as a group, especially myself and Karl, you know, two of the original members […] it was very much like a moment in time. You know, to kind of like reform that now would be kind of like regressing like in our careers, maybe, so to speak. Maybe going forward in the future that could be a possibility but right now I think we’re both, you know, pretty happy doing our own thing.”

Reading that line from Balor, my discomfort with a Bullet Club reunion made absolute sense. To reform Bullet Club in WWE would be regression for the three of them and goes against why Bullet Club was formed, mostly because they wouldn’t really stand out in WWE in the grand scheme of things.

The reason Bullet Club is so successful in NJPW is because they brought dishonorable American heel tactics to the game. Mixing parts of NWO and Degeneration-X, Bullet Club was formed out of the anger of a group of gajin in a company still stuck to their own xenophobic origins. To this day Bullet Club wants it all and are ready to take it if New Japan is too afraid to give it to them. Kenny Omega wasn’t kidding when he said Bullet Club wants to change the wrestling world, and they just might, as they’re a crucial part of NJPW’s attempt to get a foothold in the US.

For the WWE, though, that idea really wouldn’t work. As it stands, all former Bullet Club members currently signed to WWE are white men. If you were to group them all with the same motivations next Monday, you essentially have a group of disruptive white heels demanding attention and gold. Cool, because that’s not any different than most other heel factions in the history of the company. As awesome as the sight of the Real RocknRolla and the Machine Gun too sweeting each other would be, they could easily get lost in the shuffle on WWE TV, as the uniqueness of their motivation in New Japan couldn’t be replicated. At least in Ring of Honor, the smaller roster and talent exchange program work to Bullet Club’s advantage.

As much of a bummer as it is to hear, Balor is right. To reform Bullet Club in WWE at this point wouldn’t really help anyone stand out from the crowd. The things that make them unique in NJPW are old hat in WWE, and unless creative comes up with something really special to make it work, it will still remain old hat. At this point the only Bullet Club reference these three need is the black and white aesthetic of their ring gear.