Finn Balor Reveals Scrapped Faction Names For Bullet Club

WWE

In celebration of NJPW’s iconic Bullet Club faction passing its ten year anniversary, the group’s original leader Finn Balor has revealed the the scrapped names he had considered to name the group.

Speaking to Sports Illustrated as part of a celebratory feature on the Bullet Club’s landmark anniversary, Balor would reveal that along with the Bullet Club name there were three other ideas all surrounding a similar theme of weaponry.

Balor revealed the original list, something he still has saved in his phone, consisting of:

Bullet Club/Parade

Reload Club

Lock ‘n’ Load Club/Parade

Getaway Club

Whilst it’s hard to imagine the group being the same as any other name other than Bullet Club, Balor would reveal why the theme of guns was so prevalent in his choices and why it was so relevant to the bond he shared with the original members Karl Anderson, Bad Luck Fale and Tama Tonga.

Balor said:

“I was trying to pick a name that tied us all together.

“Karl was ‘The Machine Gun,’ Fale had been calling his finisher the Hand Grenade, and Minoru Suzuki had been calling me a ‘real shooter’ for some months as we would roll submission wrestling in the ring before the shows.”

Balor did say he had some concerns about the Bullet Club name, adding:

“To me, Bullet Club sounded the coolest.

“However, I had mild concerns as the Japanese would sometimes mispronounce ‘bullet’ as ‘beret.’ But I chose to go with my gut, and the rest is history.”

Despite Balor leaving for WWE only a year after forming Bullet Club, its legacy has continued long afterwards with other notable leaders Kenny Omega, AJ Styles and Jay White all finding massive success during their time in the group.

Recently, David Finlay would take over as the group’s seventh leader, continuing the historical theme of a foreign front man.

Elsewhere in AEW, former leader ‘Switchblade’ Jay White and Juice Robinson have opened up a new division of the group titled Bullet Club Gold, a moniker they have coined during their feud with Ricky Starks.

The OC, made up of former Bullet Club members AJ Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson, as well as ‘Michin’ Mia Yim, recently returned to WWE and was drafted to SmackDown.

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• Bullet Club
• Finn Balor
• NJPW

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