NJPW: It’s time for Robbie Eagles to leave Bullet Club

The 26th Best of the Super Juniors is coming to a close with the B Block in a heated race between El Phantasmo, Will Ospreay, Robbie Eagles and Ryusuke Taguchi. As the tournament has gone on, though, one thing has become increasingly clear – Robbie Eagles just doesn’t fit in with Bullet Club.

Nobody does tournaments like New Japan Pro Wrestling. Each year, several different round-robin tournaments take place and throughout each of them are weaved storylines and character development adding intrigue to every match-up. It’s not just about who wins each block and the entire tournament – it’s also about what happens along the way. Despite what one may be lead to believe due to the company he keeps, Robbie Eagles has been committed to wrestling a clean tournament from beginning to end.

Missing are the usual tricks and underhanded tactics present when Bullet Club is in the conversation and, notably, Eagles has come to the ring without Jado, Gedo, or any other member of BC by his side.

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In this year’s BOSJ, Eagles has been a standout performer racking up a solid 10 points as of May 27. Eagles has been impressive so far with wins over Rocky Romero, Ryusuke Taguchi, and Will Ospreay. Unfortunately, that last one is going to be a sticking point for Eagles as things go forward.

As Eagles battled Ospreay in a fantastic match on May 26, El Phantasmo suddenly appeared at ringside. While it would be easy to write this off as one member of a faction supporting their partner, it was pretty easy to read between the lines.

ELP had just suffered his first pair of losses in the tournament to Rocky Romero and YOH. (Side note: Who can blame him? Isn’t RPG3K everybody’s kryptonite?) Due to the losses, ELP’s perfect record had him locked in at 10 points as Ospreay and Eagles began their bout. Ospreay and Eagles sat at 10 and 8 points apiece respectively, meaning Ospreay had a chance to takeover ELP as the block leader.

As New Japan tournaments work, the person with the most points wins the block and, in the case of a tie, the person who won the block match between the tied competitors is awarded the tiebreaker win. In this case, if ELP and Ospreay end with the very same amount of points, ELP takes the win as he defeated Ospreay in their match on May 22.

Once the Eagles/Ospreay match began, Eagles showed signs of sportsmanship with the former NEVER Openweight Champion, with whom he has a storied past, but denied his former friend the opportunity for a handshake in favor of a slap to the face. From there, these two were off to the races in a match that wound up clocking in at 28:01, just under 2 minutes from a time limit draw.

The match went on and as it did, it began to look more and more like Eagles could pull off the upset against Ospreay. More importantly, it looked like he was about to do so on his own merit. Unfortunately, that’s exactly where El Phantasmo came into play.

With a bum leg that Eagles had worked over the entire match, Ospreay took a chair shot to the knee from El Phantasmo while referee Red Shoes was down on the mat. Conflicted, but knowing what was at stake, Eagles begrudgingly roused Red Shoes awake before applying the Ron Miller Special to elicit a tapout from Ospreay.

ELP, elated, hugged Robbie Eagles in the ring who looked despondent and frustrated at how things had gone down. In post-match comments, Eagles let his feelings be known by telling ELP that he was only acting in his own best interests in an attempt to win the block – that nothing he had done was for the good of Eagles or Bullet Club.

Attempting to smooth things out, ELP tried convincing Eagles that he had the wrong idea to no avail. Eagles stormed off while ELP lamented, “one day you’ll see” before walking out of frame himself.

The boiling point has almost been reached between the Junior Heavyweights of Bullet Club. El Phantasmo came into the group, and New Japan, like a bolt of lightning and certainly seems to capture the aesthetic and attitude of the faction. Eagles, on the other hand, seems to be at a moral quandary.

Can Eagles go on competing under the banner of Bullet Club as he comes to the realization that the members of Bullet Club place selfishness above selflessness? Will we continue to see Eagles wrestle a clean tournament in his quest to prove to El Phantasmo that you don’t need to fight dirty to make it to the top of the block? Perhaps more importantly, will we see Eagles become a factor in ELP’s remaining matches against Ryusuke Taguchi and DOUKI?

Whatever happens with Eagles in the rest of the BOSJ, one thing is for sure – it’s time for him to spread his wings and leave the Bullet Club nest. For a Junior Heavyweight with as much heart and virtue as Eagles, there could be space for him in a group like CHAOS or Taguchi Japan.

This could be Robbie Eagles’ chance to take a stand doing what few others have done of their own volition in the past and exit Bullet Club. Without a doubt, he will feel the wrath of the group if he makes the move, but the future could be full of untold heights for the Sniper of the Skies.