New Japan Pro Wrestling’s Rocky Romero recently revealed that Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers did not have permission to wear Bullet Club merchandise at IMPACT: Hard To Kill.
A former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Rocky Romero is both an active performer for New Japan Pro Wrestling while working in a backstage role aiding with the company’s expansion into the United States.
When appearing on the Wrestling Perspective podcast, Romero was asked if Omega, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson had permission to wear Bullet Club merchandise. Rocky revealed that although they did not, NJPW aren’t too upset about it:
“They did not get the okay to do that. They did not. It was a little strange for a second. I think it’s okay now, but it was kinda out of left field. I think everyone was just a little taken aback for a second, but I mean either way I’m sure it was good for Bullet Club t-shirt sales, so I mean it all worked out in the end.”
AEW World Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers, alongside The Young Bucks have all been teasing a new age Bullet Club reunion in IMPACT Wrestling and AEW. Since the working relationship between the two promotions has come to light, the group have often appeared together, referencing the legendary Japanese stable, and throwing up the “Too Sweet” sign.
Rocky Romero isn’t the only New Japan performer to comment on this new amalgamation of the group. Tama Tonga, co-founder and current member of Bullet Club, was critical of Kenny Omega and the group in a recent interview:
“How can it be a reunion if Bullet Club is still here [in NJPW]? We ain’t never went nowhere. They should have called it something else, like the ‘Ex Members’, right, the ex members reunion. Because all of y’all have gone. And when I say all of y’all, every single one that was in that different company, was indifferent other companies trying to do the same thing with Bullet Club. But they called it ‘The Club’, ‘The OC’, ‘Balor Club’. I mean, no matter what you guys try to do, you’re just not Bullet Club.”
Though details of a working relationship between AEW and NJPW remain somewhat unclear, Tony Khan alluded to a possible partnership between the two companies, alongside Impact Wrestling:
“Everywhere I go, people have been asking me for months, ‘Tony, when are you going to open the forbidden door? When is New Japan gonna come to AEW?’ I kept telling them, ‘I don’t know where the forbidden door is. I don’t know what the forbidden door is.’ Then I figured it out, all along the forbidden door was me. I’m the forbidden door. I just had to open myself and that has come from being here with you IMPACT Wrestling … I’ve opened myself up to new experiences.”
Most recently, NJPW’s Kenta appeared at AEW’s Beach Break, donning a Bullet Club t shirt as he attacked Jon Moxley in a shocking surprise run-in. Moxley, who currently holds the NJPW United States Championship, has recently stated he is still very much a part of Japanese promotion.
Credit for the interview: Wrestling Perspective Podcast