Bullet Club: Who’s in, who’s out?

With David Finlay as self-appointed leader and Bullet Club Gold springing up in AEW, things are changing quickly.

As hard is may seem to believe, we’re coming up rapidly on the 10-year anniversary of Bullet Club. Arguably the most influential stable in all of pro wrestling during that time, the group came together for the first time on May 3, 2013, when Prince Devitt (you may know him better now as Finn Balor) turned on Ryusuke Taguchi and formed a pact with Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga.

The Bullet Club roster grew and morphed numerous times, and it expanded its influence far beyond NJPW. Some of the top talent in WWE, AEW and promotions all around the world have thrown up the “Too Sweet” sign at one time or another.

But while the leadership of Bullet Club has changed hands several times — occasionally against the leader’s will — and subgroups have formed that don’t always align perfectly with the direction of the main group, the recent ouster of Jay White (necessary because his NJPW contract was coming to an end) set an especially turbulent time in Bullet Club lore in motion.

So who’s in Bullet Club and who’s out? Let’s take a look at the rundown by promotion.

NJPW

In: David Finlay, Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, Dick Togo, Evil, Gedo, Kenta, Sho, Taiji Ishimori, Yujiro Takahashi

Out: El Phantasmo

With White gone, it left a leadership void that Finlay was only too happy to fill. Whether he has the support of the entire main Bullet Club group remains to be seen, but if it sticks, this will be his highest profile run in his New Japan career.

Phantasmo was a White loyalist and he paid for it last week, getting violently ejected from the stable at Sakura Genesis.

Impact Wrestling

In: Ace Austin, Chris Bey

Bey was recruited to Bullet Club by White, but there’s no reason to think he isn’t still in good standing. The same goes with Austin, who officially joined the group about a month before his tag team partner.

Most importantly, both men still have Bullet Club in their Twitter bios, and we all know those are unassailable.

AEW

In (according to them): Jay White, Juice Robinson

Unaffected by any drama in Japan, Robinson has been up front about his Bullet Club loyalties since he signed with AEW in December. The real intrigue began when White, who had been rumored to be talking with WWE, became All Elite a few weeks.

On the April 12 episode of Dynamite, White and Robinson declared themselves “Bullet Club Gold,” and fans have taken them to literally mean they were creating their own offshoot. Numerous viewers also noticed they did the guns up taunt but not the “Too Sweet” gesture.

Might that mean something? Finlay seemed to fire a shot across the bow of White and Robinson on Twitter, though this was before this week’s Dynamite.

Reading through the replies to that tweet, one quickly gets the impression that fans aren’t sold yet on Finlay as Bullet Club leader and may back White if there turns out to be a full fledged BC civil war. With Forbidden Door 2023 only a few months away, everything seems to be in place for the rockiest era in the group’s storied history to potentially break out into open combat in the ring.

Stay tuned.