In 2013, Finn Balor (Prince Devitt in NJPW) aligned with Tama Tonga, Bad Luck Fale, and Karl Anderson to form Bullet Club. The formation came at the expense of Hiroshi Tanahashi, who was laid out by the group at Wrestling Dontaku.
Bullet Club took Balor and NJPW to new heights with Balor eventually moving up from the Super Junior division into a Heavyweight contender.
Speaking to NJPW, Tanahashi reflected on the transformation of Balor.
"Devitt was incredible in that spot. He was just so driven with that idea, that if he was going to do it, he was going all in. He completely changed his approach, changed his style. Turned on a dime, started building his matches around punches and kicks. That was all out of a desire to embrace that heel persona and do it properly," said Tanahashi. "I think he took risks that really gave him breadth and depth as a wrestler. This phase of his career made him the superstar he is now. He was a little softer when he first came to Japan, but the fans saw the effort he put in to get shredded like that. Visually he was a guy you wanted to get behind; I would if I was a fan. And he was developing and becoming more stable as a wrestler as well; he got hurt a lot at first in japan, but those injuries became much less of a factor. As he adapted to the Japanese style, he took a lot of ideas on board, made them his own, and got to be a hell of a talent."
Bullet Club is still going strong today in NJPW under the guidance of Jay White. Balor is now leading The Judgment Day in WWE while Karl Anderson is aligned with former Bullet Club leader AJ Styles and Luke Gallows in WWE.
Anderson will be part of NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17, defending his NEVER Openweight Championship against Tama Tonga.
Fans can check out the current lineup for NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 17 by clicking here.
