NJPW: Jay White and the remarkable staying power of Bullet Club
Last weekend, the G1 Climax 29 concluded as Kota Ibushi made it out of Block A and went on to win the tournament. However, Bullet Club came out looking just as strong and relevant as ever.
This year’s G1 Climax 29 was one of the best editions yet. In the end, Kota Ibushi unexpectedly won to claim the trophy and the “Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate.” It was a great moment for the recent New Japan signee, but it’s hard to deny that it felt even more triumphant because he defeated the leader of Bullet Club—Jay White—in the finals.
White stumbled in the earlier rounds, losing three in a row. Fans and critics quickly assumed he was done, and he would never recover from his loss to Kazuchika Okada at the G1 Supercard. Then, on the eighth night of the tournament, the “Switchblade” picked up his first win over Jeff Cobb to gain two points.
Afterward, White promised this was the first of six wins in a row, which should give him enough points to head to the final and win the G1 Climax.
True to his word, he went on to pick up five consecutive wins and emerge from Block B. White was now one win away from fulfilling his proclamation, and heading to the Tokyo Dome to attempt to regain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
Even though he lost in the finals, his performance in this year’s G1 reestablished him as a credible threat.
We’ve seen him call his shot before when he defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi. So, the impending chance of a tournament win felt real. That very possibility made it easy to root for Ibushi and it made his eventual win feel bigger.
White proved once again that he is the biggest “gaijin” heel in the company, which makes him the perfect leader for Bullet Club. He isn’t as popular as Prince Devitt, AJ Styles, or Kenny Omega. Still, he and Tama Tonga brought the stable back to its roots as ruthless bad guys, who garner jeers from the Japanese crowd. That’s when Bullet Club is at its best.
That was lost towards the end of Omega’s tenure as leader. Fans of The Elite, who left to form All Elite Wrestling, assumed the popular stable would struggle without them. However, they have proven to be as effective and controversial as ever.
In the most talked-about moment from the finals, KENTA betrayed his best friend, Katsuyori Shibata, and joined Bullet Club.
The former Pro Wrestling Noah stalwart had a strong showing in his first G1 appearance. He picked up dominant wins over Ibushi and Tanahashi, and nearly defeated Okada.
KENTA finished with eight points, but he still made a huge impact, making him a great addition to his new stable. Moreover, the heat he and the others received for beating down Shibata will make them the most hated villains in the company for some time.
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The Cutthroat Era doesn’t have as many established stars as other iterations of Bullet Club. But it’s just as pertinent because it reverted the group back into the murder’s row of disgraceful heels that it was meant to be. The stable has been around for six years, and they’ve still found a way to remain a topic of discussion.