I don't get the Bullet Club hype...
 

Almost every thread now has people bigging up the Bullet Club and planning out big ambitious scenarios for them. I don't think that is a bad thing and am glad people are genuinely excited about something in WWE, but what are these guys honestly going to bring to the table?

It appears to be an underwhelming stable that got over well because a few foreign guys were acting "cool". Nakamura appears to be the shining late, but do people genuinely believe he can make a big impact in WWE? Every Asian wrestler that has gone before him would suggest otherwise.

As for AJ Styles, he is now 38 years old with a lot of miles on the clock. He has never been a massive mainstream star and doesn't bring anything to the table that they don't already have. He will be one more average size, very good worker with sub par mic skills to boot. Not to mention the few necks he has broken...

Festus and the remaining guy probably won't be any more than numbers for the group, IF they are even brought in as a group.

I guess this thread was started because I was reading and reading posts here and couldn't see why these guys are being hyped so much. It looks to me like a case of knowledgeable guys having unrealistic expectations. Is it just because it would be a surprise? Is it because it hasn't been done before? Or do people genuinely believe that the group will make a long term impact?

Obviously there is ignorance on my part too, I have seen only a little of them as a group and very little of Nakamura and only some Styles matches and promos here and there.

So tell me...why the buzz and why such high expectations? Educate me about the Bullet Club and make me a believer too..

I understand the hype in that they seem to be a well-booked stable created by NJPW. I don't think people are thinking ahead about the prospect of them being booked by WWE and losing 5 minute matches on Smackdown. I don't have much hope in them staying interesting for long in WWE's 50/50 booking world.

I've always liked AJ Styles, so I'm excited to see him in WWE. Gallows was good in the SES and as DOC in Aces and Eights. I don't understand why people are still referring to him as Festus. I think I saw a couple Nakamura matches in ROH, and I guess he's OK, but I don't really get the hype there.

I've never been super hyped over them, since I'm only a fan of a few of them, but those few arw the ones that are headed here. AJ's work speaks for itself, and I've always enjoyed Anderson's tag team matches, whether they were with Giant Barnard or Luke Gallows.

I will say the name Bullet Club, and the logo are both badass.

Not sure which matches you saw but his in ring work is typically a lot better than ok. Can't speak for his roh stuff cause I've never seen it, but his work in japan is tremendous. His style is very much a japanese style with his overflowing charisma mixed in. I dunno if maybe thats just not your thing.

The big thing is this weird insane rockstar character he's created. He just has a very unique personality, and at this point in pro wrestling thats extremely rare. Thats the main draw for most people I believe.

A stable of guys that managed to get really popular in Japan although Nakamura wasn't part of the group.

In terms of potential, doubt any of the new guys will reach mega/top star status unless they suddenly got the hand picked treatment by Vince and/or management but can still provide something very useful to the WWE. AJ and Nakamura can easily provide some quality and depth to the mid-card and main event scene while Anderson and Gallows gives more depth to the tag division.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the only reason they were huge in Japan is because they wrestled an American style and interfered in matches like it was the Attitude Era? I saw bits and pieces of them, but they seem just like average American wrestlers who differentiated themselves in another market.

Good replies from everyone, a few things...

Thrilla, I guess people are calling him Festus cause that is what he was first known by. Aces and Eights wasnt a mainstream deal and probably won't have been seen by a lot of WWE fans. SES is also largely forgotten in WWE history and, of course, he wasn't deemed valuable enough to keep first time round.

Is Anderson any good?

Do we not think AJ Styles age is a big negative? He has wrestled lots of high impact/high flying matches around the world by this point. Has he got to WWE too late?

Can Nakamura speak English and could his character translate to American crowds?


Videos were interesting and I can see that they are a big deal in Japan, but I didn't see anything mind blowing.

Good to get some well thought out replies to this though...

As opposed to, say, playing Impostor Kane during that infamously horrible May 19th storyline to promote his WWE Films starring role in "See No Evil"? That was all bad enough without him defeating Kane in that terrible match @ Vengeance 2006.

My (extremely cynical) issue with it all is that, unless the future disproves the past, this is just a cash and attention grab by WWE.

They want to sell the Bullet Club merch for a profit spike and getting the rub from something that made big noise outside of WWE (kinda like the nWo), and getting the talent in making that happen is incidental (in the sense that, in being in WWE, they aren't elsewhere helping another promotion).

People like KENTA, Devitt, PAC, El Generico, Samoa Joe, etc. seem like a begrudging concession on getting people in because they made noise somewhere else that took attention away from WWE to where they can't pretend they're the only game in town. Kinda like a combination between something Raven said about Stevie Richards run there, where he was "miserable" because he wasn't being used, and not able to go out and do what he loves doing, but they "paid him just enough to where he'd be stupid to leave" and what Heyman said about CM Punk in OVW, where they brought him in "because of the hype around him, but when they had him, had no clue what to do with him".


Yes, they're the most popular and most successful by a country mile, but they seem to want to be SYNONYMOUS with anything anybody considers about wrestling. The true fear is that they don't let the cream rise to the top, because they have a narrow view of what cream even is. It's why Danielson took so long to even be cosidered a top draw*, but they kept shoving the Leakee quare peg into that round hole until years later the sides finally wore down enough to make it fit. Nakamura hopefully won't become yet another Japan wrestling Western stereotype (in presentation), and AJ won't get the Christian treatment, but I am so not hopeful.

I understand that he was Festus, but you can't tell me that the Straight Edge Society was more forgettable than Biscuits and Gravy. He was last known on WWE television as Luke Gallows, and anyone still calling him Festus is being a douche.

Said it before: A.J Styles is just like Sting: over-hyped by the IWC and being made a way bigger deal than he actually is. He's fucking awful on the mic.

He is the guy that wears the red leather pants, right?

I'll agree with the mic comment, but I know I would much rather watch an AJ Styles match than a Sting match.

Got to see AJ Styles vs CIMA live at a roh event years ago. Was super fun.

I agree with that

Is Claire Lynch part of Bullet Club too? :shifty:

My biggest problem with the hype is the expectations from fans for a company that had built up no one properly since 2005, save for the Shield. What can they do with the Bullet Club that would be any different from what we've already seen through the years? I sense an NWO, cool heel style stable/invasion angle that ends the same way every other one ends... with the WWE and their "face of the franchise guy" standing triumphant. I just want something new.

Be optimistic about something one time bro...

I enjoy quite a bit of the shows I watch, but it is just frustrating at times to see them bungle very easy aspects or constantly recycle ideas for 15 years.

But they haven't fucked it up yet.

But their recent track record hadn't given me much hope. Mostly a "I'll believe it when I see it" mentality.

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vsYeHqkiTRA?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

plenty of his matches to go and see online but this entrance probably sums him up the best

Dunno. Seems like a dweeb to me.

AJ Styles might be overhyped by the IWC.

Sting is/was a pretty big deal though. I don't get the comparison.

This should be their theme song.

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I love that theme so much.

AT, calm your tits

At what point in this thread have I not been calm?

I don't know I wanted to make a post in this forum for the first time in 2 years alright, go to the casual forum you're being killed on a speedboat

CSL nails it. :y:

Nakamura oozes charisma. Of all the Japanese guys, he is the one to sign. You just want to watch what he does. The dynamics he could create with guys like Dean Ambrose gets me pretty excited. The NXT idea is a good one, but I also wouldn't mind him being put into a program with a guy like Chris Jericho to introduce him.

<iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="270" src="//www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x3krl9a" allowfullscreen></iframe><br /><a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3krl9a_shinsuke-nakamura-vs-aj-styles-njpw-wrestle-kingdom-10_sport" target="_blank">Shinsuke Nakamura vs AJ Styles─NJPW Wrestle...</a> <i>by <a href="http://www.dailymotion.com/scottdec10" target="_blank">scottdec10</a></i>

There you go. Watch a great match and hope that they get to do similar things. Well, pray they do.

http://i.imgur.com/7D9Zxzy.gif

Sting never really drew unless he was with Flair or Hogan of you go back and look at the numbers. His title runs were pretty bad business wise.

More and more I'm starting to think they shouldn't do the Bullet Club thing right away. Especially since they may not have the name. I'd consider just debuting Styles as to what originally made him the stand-out he was in TNA -- a plucky, likable, good ol' boy worker.

Have Del Rio beat Kalisto at the Rumble, but make Kalisto look like he's got some stuff there. Del Rio then loses the title to Neville in the build to WrestleMania (this could also be Dolph Ziggler, Ryback or even Daniel Bryan), but Neville's reign is short-lived because The League of Nations cost Neville the title to Kevin Owens.

Owens starts cutting those promos in French again, and Styles makes a challenge to him and points out he also has a family to feed. The WWE play off old fashioned patriotism and have Styles challenge Owens for the US Title at WrestleMania. Then you have The League of Nations face Dolph Ziggler, Neville, Ryback & Daniel Bryan (providing he gets medical clearance) in an 8-Man Tag.

It's doubtful the WWE will have much in mind for Bryan even if he is cleared. Putting him with Ziggler and Ryback puts him with alleged friends, and he gets to give the rub to them by teaming with them. It also plays into Vince's fetish of running Sheamus vs. Bryan again. The match itself could be good too.

Nakamura does the Triple Threat with Ambrose and Jericho, and Anderson and Gallows only debut once Styles is firmly established as the US Champion and Finn Balor debuts and makes a friendly challenge. In the meantime they work heel in NXT against American Alpha.

More excited for A.J. and Festus coming to WWE. The Young Bucks are gobshites, hope they don't float in at all. Meltzer sheep