A Major New Japan Star debuts with Impact Wrestling
By Sam Gladen
The forbidden door eeked open another quarter of an inch tonight.
Former two-time IWGP Junior Tag Team Champion El Phantasmo made his Impact Wrestling debut tonight on AXS TV, facing off against fellow debuting talent VSK.
“The Headbanga” made an immediate impact (pun intended) on Thursday night facing off against Create A Pro alumni VSK. This wasn’t the immediate squash match that many New Japan fans expected/ hoped for, with VSK able to get in quite a bit of offense before ELP seemed to flip the switch and take his opponent a bit more seriously.
El Phantasmo has been absent from New Japan Pro Wrestling in recent months due to Japan closing its borders to foreign workers. However, due to the new working relationship between NJPW, Impact Wrestling, and AEW, Phantasmo and other foreign New Japan talents have been given an opportunity to keep their in-ring skills sharp. While the current Bullet Club member is immediately making his presence felt in Impact, he has not yet crossed paths with The Elite (Kenny Omega, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson).
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The fallout from that eventual meeting could be catastrophic, as several active Bullet Club members have turned away from the former stance of Bullet Club for Life made popular by current WWE superstar A.J. Styles before his expulsion from the faction in 2016, choosing instead to only recognize current members of the Bullet Club as actual members. Could another edition of the Bullet Club civil war be on the horizon with more and more current members showing up in America?