Debuting in 2013, New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Bullet Club faction became a wrestling phenomenon.
The group has gone through multiple iterations ranging in popularity. At times they were the most popular group in all of wrestling led by some of the industry’s biggest and best stars.
However, not all of the members have been the biggest and best of pro wrestling. There have been dozens of Bullet Club members over the years and some of them have been pretty lame.
Here we will look at all the members of the main faction. The quality of their work and their impact on the faction will be taken into account in these rankings.
We will not be including part-timers and one-offs and I have chosen to exclude Marty Scurll from the discussion for obvious reasons.
With that in mind, this is our list of every Bullet Club member ranked from worst to best.
29. Bone Soldier
The original Bone Soldier is the worst that Bullet Club has had to offer. Kevin Kelly at one point said he was the worst wrestler he had ever seen in his career.
Whether or not that is hyperbole is irrelevant as it makes it clear this man was just no good.
Wearing a stupid halloween mask and track pants, not even the other Bullet Club members wanted to associate with him. He was only in the group from September 2016 until February 2017. Thankfully he has not been seen since.
28. Jado
Once upon a time, Jado was a capable wrestler. He was a multiple time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and a solid talent.
That was then and unfortunately now he is practically immobile. It took an eternity for him to walk the ramp at the New Japan Cup Final 2020 to interfere in the main event. Just watching him move is painful.
Jado has added nothing positive to the matches he has been involved with since joining Bullet Club in 2018 but he is still there.
27. Dick Togo
There is not much separating Dick Togo from Jado on this list. Dick Togo just doesn’t look like he is in pain when he walks.
Debuting at Dominion 2020 assisting EVIL, Togo has been EVIL’s second ever since. While Bullet Club has never been shy to use backup, Togo routinely drags down EVIL’s matches with his blatant interference.
However, at least Togo can say he has been in two of the most influencial factions in history. Bullet Club and Kaientai of course.
26. Gedo
Similar to the previous two entries, Gedo is primarily a manager for Jay White these days. Gedo was also once a very capable wrestler, working as Jado’s tag partner, but now he adds little to the on air presentation of the group.
He is the booker of New Japan and given how much success he has had in the role over the past decade, I would hope he would be self aware enough to back off from so much interference. Alas, that has not been the case.
25. Frankie Kazarian
“Frankie Kazarian was in Bullet Club?” I hear people say as they arrive at this entry. Yes. Well, sort of.
In Ring of Honor in 2017, Frankie Kazarian joined Bullet Club, turning on his partner Christopher Daniels. However, it turned out this was all a ruse as Kazarian turned on Adam Cole a month later, allowing Daniels to capture the ROH World Championship.
Kazarian is fantastic but a classic Bullet Club member he is not.
24. Cody Hall
Oh Cody Hall. So much potential. The son of WWE Hall of Famer Scott Hall, Cody has never lived up to his family name. He has the size to be a big star, but it just hasn’t happened.
Hall was in Bullet Club for a brief time, often assisting the Young Bucks in their matches. He was part of the group during some of their most successful times in 2015 but he was never the highlight.
He sure is big though.
23. EVIL
Each entry to this point has had low potential for greatness as a Bullet Club member. This one, however, has just been a disaster.
EVIL was pushed hard as a main event star in 2020, joining Bullet Club and winning the IWGP Double Championship in one weekend. This had the potential to be great but it has never lived up to it.
EVIL’s tremendous work as a babyface has not translated to his work as a heel and Dick Togo constantly ruining his matches has made EVIL’s work in Bullet Club a slog to get through much of the time.
22. Hikuleo
Hikuleo earns points for longevity even though he has yet to do anything of real importance.
The brother of the Guerillas of Destiny, Hikuleo has been in Bullet Club for over four years. Hard to believe considering the time has just been so uneventful.
He has continued to train to get better and we might finally see something more out of his when the pandemic allows him to do more in Japan but for now he sits in the bottom tier.
21. Chris Bey
We are now shifting out of the tier of bad Bullet Club members. In this case, it is far too early to say how Chris Bey will do in the group.
Only joining the faction in IMPACT last month, all Bey has to go off of currently is his talent. To his credit, he has a lot of it. Bey could be a big star in the faction but we won’t know until he is able to interact with more of his stablemates.
20. SHO
The newest addition to Bullet Club, SHO turned on YOH to join the House of Torture. The new subdivision of Bullet Club is the home of the Japanese division of the faction and SHO should fit right in.
He is a tremendous wrestler and has had the talent to be a featured star in the junior division for a long time. Now rid of his former partner, it will be up to SHO to show how far he can go as a heel.
This one is still very much wait and see.
19. Robbie Eagles
Robbie Eagles was a difficult one to place. He is extremely talented and had great matches while in Bullet Club, but he never quite fit the group.
Even when he was part of the faction, he was much more of a babyface than his peers. He would often chastise Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo for their heel tactics, leading one to ask why he was in the faction anyway.
Sure enough, after a classic match with former mentor Will Ospreay, Eagles left Bullet Club to join Chaos. His exodus was the most memorable thing he did with the faction.
18. Yujiro Takahashi
Longevity plays a large role with Yujiro Takahashi’s placement on this list. It is hard to believe now but there was a time when Yujiro joining the faction was a major angle.
He turned on Kazuchika Okada to help AJ Styles win the IWGP Heavyweight Title in 2014. This was a big moment but Yujiro has never really been featured since.
He has been involved in NEVER Openweight trios and such but he has been one of the least important members of the group for quite some time.
17. Chase Owens
Everything that was said about Yujiro Takahashi could be said about Chase Owens as well. A solid wrestler but never one that has been pushed by New Japan.
For years he has been the one to eat the pin in multi-man tag matches and he has done admirably in his role. He is Bullet Club through and through, just not one of the important members.
16. El Phantasmo
El Phantasmo joined New Japan and Bullet Club in 2019 and while he brings a different douchebag energy than others in the group nowadays, he has fit the role of heel gaijin well.
He is another excellent wrestler, having standout performances in his Best of the Super Juniors and Wrestle Kingdom outings.
He has yet to achieve much singles success but he and Ishimori have been a solid junior tag team for the faction, picking up where the Young Bucks left off.
15. Hangman Page
Hangman Page might be one of the most popular wrestlers in the world now, but in Bullet Club he had a ways to go. A fairly bland character at the time, Page joined the group with Adam Cole in 2016.
His work on Being The Elite brought him a long way as a character but his best work didn’t come until he left the group in 2018.
He still had good matches, having several in the 2018 G1 Climax, but Page will be best known for his ascent after leaving the group.
14. Taiji Ishimori
We have reached the tier of good Bullet Club members with the new Bone Soldier, Taiji Ishimori.
Ishimori could not be more different from the original Bone Soldier. He is a phenomenal wrestler, with his dynamic style and explosive moves making up for his size.
Seriously he is so small. Ishimori has been one of the best junior heavyweights in the world for years but has shown it on a huge stage since arriving in New Japan in 2018.
His matches with Hiromu Takahashi have been excellent and he is the best heel in the division by far.
The only problem with Ishimori in Bullet Club is there has rarely been a connection with him and the group. He is a heel, but he doesn’t quite match the identity the group had at the time of his introduction.
13. Tanga Loa
Tanga Loa has only recently started to put it together as an in-ring performer, but he has the other assets you need to be great. He and Tama Tonga have been a great team for years and a true fixture of Bullet Club.
They refuse to stop winning titles, becoming IWGP Tag Team Champions for the seventh time in 2021.
Tanga Loa hasn’t been great enough to crack the top tier of Bullet Club members but his identity is synonymous with the group and points have to be given for that.
12. Doc Gallows
One of the earliest members of Bullet Club, Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson were the faction’s heavyweight team for two years.
A solid wrestler, Gallows was firmly behind his partner in terms of importance within the group but more than held his own in the ring.
It is unlikely he was anyone’s favorite Bullet Club member during his time with the group but he was a key member during the faction’s first boom period of popularity.
11. Adam Cole
If this list was based purely on in-ring ability, Adam Cole would have to be near the very top. However, his spot with the faction is taken into account as well and Cole just didn’t quite fit the Bullet Club makeup.
He was perfect with The Elite, which is once again being seen in AEW, but at his core Cole wasn’t Bullet Club. This feels like the case with many of the Ring of Honor members of the group.
Cole’s ability and interplay with the Young Bucks and Kenny Omega put him in the top half of this list, but his short time with the group leaves him outside the top ten.
10. Cody
Cody Rhodes evolved a lot as a performer during his time with Bullet Club. Arriving with the faction in 2017, Rhodes immediately started causing chaos within the group.
He was never on the same page as Kenny Omega and was a key figure of the Bullet Club Civil War of 2018. That being said, he was one of the better parts of Bullet Club during this time.
His matches were consistently good and his impact on the group was always evident. He was as much a foreign heel as you can get, coming in straight from WWE, which matched much of what Bullet Club’s identity has always been.
9. KENTA
KENTA has been one of the better additions to Bullet Club in recent years. He joined the faction in 2019 after not being embraced by the New Japan fans and he hasn’t looked back since.
Despite being Japanese, KENTA works as a foreign heel. Even before working for WWE, he was a Pro Wrestling NOAH guy. New Japan was never his home and once he embraced that his character began to shine.
He fits Bullet Club better than most in the faction these days, honestly.
8. Jay White
It is no secret that Bullet Club has not been as important or as popular since Jay White took over the group in late 2018.
While it is not necessarily a bad thing that a heel faction is as popular anymore, it does sort of feel like the NWO after the hype died down.
With that negativity out of the way, Jay White is one of the most complete wrestlers in the world and sits this high on the list as a result.
Not the most iconic Bullet Club leader, but you could make the argument that he is the most talented.
7. Bad Luck Fale
One of the original four members of Bullet Club, Bad Luck Fale is Bullet Club through and through.
He has never been the best wrestler but given the right circumstances, he can have a good match.
His position on this list is entirely dependent on his longevity in the group as one of only two remaining members from the group’s inception.
After eight years in the group, Fale’s loyalties remain with Bullet Club.
6. The Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson)
The Young Bucks must be given a tremendous amount of credit for the growth in popularity of Bullet Club.
Their Being The Elite show brought in many fans in 2016 but they had been tearing it up long before then.
Joining the group in late 2013, the Young Bucks were Bullet Club’s junior tag team for half a decade. Not only that, but they established themselves as the best tag team in the world during this time.
They added so many things to Bullet Club and Being The Elite shaped much of the group’s identity during its most popular period.
5. AJ Styles
For my money, there was no time that Bullet Club was cooler than when AJ Styles was the leader.
Arguably the most successful leader of the group, Styles had a pair of lengthy reigns as IWGP Heavyweight Champion. No other Bullet Club leader has held the belt more than once.
Styles wasn’t as influential a leader as those who immediately preceded and succeeded him but man was he great. For many, this is where Styles cemented himself as one of this generation’s best workers.
For years he was bogged down by poor booking in TNA and here he was cut loose, wrestling many of the top names in the industry.
4. Tama Tonga
The only other remaining original member of Bullet Club, Tama Tonga is the heartbeat of the group these days.
Tama Tonga has always had a swagger about him that few can match and that swagger is very Bullet Club.
He and Tanga Loa have been tag champs a whopping seven times, making them the most successful tag team in the group’s history.
So much of the group’s attitude started with its original members and Tama Tonga is one of only two to carry that attitude into today.
3. Kenny Omega
What is there to say about Kenny Omega? Omega’s run in Bullet Club featured many of the most important storyline moments in the faction’s history.
Many of those moments involved Omega kicking AJ Styles out, his relationship with Kota Ibushi, and his rivalry with Cody Rhodes. It is undeniable that Bullet Club was at its most popular with Omega at the helm and that is for many reasons.
Omega putting on industry-shifting matches with Kazuchika Okada and Chris Jericho brought tons of new eyes onto the product. All the while, he proudly waved the Bullet Club flag.
In terms of talent, Omega would take the top spot, but there are two more who embodied Bullet Club even more than he.
2. Karl Anderson
The Machine Gun Karl Anderson. One of the original members of the group and a proper example of the attitude Bullet Club represented.
He was second in command to both Prince Devitt and AJ Styles and served as the group’s mouthpiece for much of that time.
An accomplished singles and tag wrestler, Anderson was one of the most successful members of the group during their early years.
Had he not left New Japan to go to WWE in 2016, there is a very good chance he might have taken the top spot.
1. Prince Devitt
It doesn’t get much more OG that this. The founder of Bullet Club himself, Prince Devitt takes the top spot on this list.
Now known by many more fans as WWE’s Finn Balor, Devitt was the superstar that launched the success of this cutting edge faction.
This group of foreign heels was not popular at first but eventually fans started to appreciate the nuance of their performances.
Devitt was at the center of this. Frustrated by constant disappointments and mistreatment from New Japan management, Devitt turned on Ryusuke Taguchi and aligned with Anderson, Fale and Tama Tonga.
To this day, no one has captured more of the spirit of Bullet Club than Devitt. He may have left before the faction reached its highest heights, but Bullet Club’s heart will always beat with the blood of the demon.
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