NJPW: How The Rise Of Jay White Led To Kazuchika Okada’s New Rainmaker Era

The OG Bullet Club Is Formed

When Jay White’s Bullet Club was born, it seemed like an odd mishmash of a bloated stable teetering on over-saturation. The feud between Bullet Club Elite and Bullet Club OG had done little to spark enthusiasm, and miserable performances in the summer’s G1 caused groans whenever a Bad Luck Fale or Tama Tonga match kicked off.

For a moment it felt like White’s move to Bullet Club was more of an afterthought as the group attempted to reform itself as a viable threat to the top names in the company. Once they were allowed to fully flesh out their story though, everything fell into place perfectly.

When White first came to New Japan as a Young Lion, it was at the behest of Prince Devitt and Fale, two of the founding fathers of the original Bullet Club. Though he cut his teeth in true Young Lion fashion and wasn’t a part of any faction at the start of his NJPW career, the reasons for him being in the promotion were hard to miss.

The first time White was invited to join Bullet Club, he teased the idea before ultimately planting Kenny Omega with the Blade Runner. The next time, things would be different. But why?

In post-match comments from Tama Tonga on January 5, 2018, he suggested that “maybe we had the wrong guy trying to recruit him.”

Tama, another founding member of Bullet Club, had been outspoken about his disdain for The Elite and the way they tried running the stable. It was only fitting that, once Omega and company were no longer a part of the core group, that White would find his place.

Standing alongside the two remaining founders of Bullet Club (Fale and Tama), White took the reigns as the leader of the faction. With the battle lines clearly drawn between Kazuchika Okada and White, there was only one direction for them to go – straight forward, full-speed ahead toward one another.