5 reasons why KENTA joined the Bullet Club

On 12th August 2019, New Japan Pro Wrestling finally concluded their one-month long grueling tournament, the G1 Climax with Kota Ibushi emerging as the eventual winner. On the final night of the tournament, Ibushi ended the night as the first man to win the Best of the Super Juniors, New Japan Cup, and the G1 Climax, as he made history in NJPW.

However, Ibushi wasn't the only superstar who made all the headlines in Japan, as former WWE star KENTA (FKA Hideo Itami) shocked the entire world on the very same night. As seen on the undercard of the G1 Finals, KENTA stunned the entire pro wrestling world when he turned his back on his tag team partners Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi and helped the Bullet Club of all people win the match.

As the Bullet Club started celebrating their win, KENTA's close friend Katsuyori Shibata ran down to the ring and much to everyone's surprise, The wrestler finally got himself physically involved inside the ring as he brutally attacked his former tag team partner. However, within a few short minutes, the numbers game eventually got to Shibata as the Bullet Club made the former NEVER Openweight Champion their next target on the night.

The Bullet Club assault ended with KENTA mocking Shibata and exchanging Too Sweets with his new Bullet Club faction mates, much to everyone's shock. With that being said, here are 5 possibilities why KENTa joined the Bullet Club.

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#5 Bullet Club's NEVER representative

KENTA in the NEVER division against the likes of Ishii? Yes please!

With the addition of KENTA, the Bullet Club now has a total of 12 members. With members of the group mostly representing the Heavyweight, Jr. Heavyweight, and Tag Team Division, the Bullet Club doesn't really have a member to represent the NEVER Openweight Division.

With former NEVER Openweight Champion Yujiro Takahashi competing as a tag team wrestler these days, the Bullet Club could certainly use KENTA's services in the NEVER Openweight Division. After all, KENTA did attack the current NEVER Champion Tomohiro Ishii in order to begin with.

#4 Bullet Club's next big heavyweight star after Jay White

Could this be the end of Jay White's era or was this Jay White's plan all along?

In all fairness, Jay White is the only legitimate heavyweight star who represented the Bullet Club all this while. Bad Luck Fale, despite being a singles star, is likely to continue as a tag team wrestler, whereas, the likes of Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo are BC's Jr. Heavyweight representatives.

With all that being said and done, the Bullet Club certainly were in a need of a new heavyweight superstar. In the past, we have seen the BC being represented by more than one heavyweight stars at one go with the likes of Kenny Omega, Hangman Page, Adam Cole, Cody Rhodes all being a part of the faction at the very same time.

Now with The Elite long-gone from Bullet Club and NJPW, the BC was left with a single legitimate heavyweight star in Jay White, however, with Tama Tonga recruiting KENTA into the Bullet Club, the former WWE star could very well use this move as a stepping stone and eventually challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship down the line.

#3 Bullet Club was in a desperate need of a marquee name

The Bullet Club certainly lost a few big names over the past year

Let's face it, ever since The Elite's departure from NJPW and Bullet Club, the latter faction's stock has certainly declined a little bit even if it is in terms of popularity within the audience. With new members such as Jay White, ELP, Gedo, and Jado joining the group, the Bullet Club has certainly done a great job in the rebuilding process, however, somewhere down the line, the BC was still missing that 'it factor' within themselves.

KENTA joining the Bullet Club came in as a major shock to everyone and in doing so, he also became the fourth Japanese wrestler in history to affiliate himself with the Bullet Club. KENTA is definitely a marquee name both in Japan and in the US as well. And, with the Bullet Club now recruiting the services of the former GHC Heavyweight Champion, fans should definitely be in a for a treat from here on.

In terms of a business standpoint, KENTA joining the Bullet Club could certainly turn out to be historic for the Biz Cliz.

#2 Jay White could be the next member to get the boot

Bullet Club under the leadership of Jay White and under 'The Cutthroat Era' has been well and good. However, one certainly cannot deny the fact that White is still a bit inexperienced when it comes to in-ring competition.

Despite being a former one-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, Jay White lost his prestigious title in his very first defense at the Madison Square Garden, earlier in the year. And tonight at the G1 Finals, White was once again unsuccessful when it mattered the most as he fell short to Kota Ibushi.

KENTA, on the other hand, has had a brought a heap of experience with him into the Bullet Club, he is a former GHC Heavyweight and Jr. Heavyweight Champion and has also competed in the WWE, as well.

Considering Bullet Club's history of kicking out marquee members from the faction, it could be a matter of months before Jay White gets the boot from Tama Tonga and is kicked out of the faction if he continues to lose vital matches.

Fans shouldn't be surprised if KENTA catches White with a GTS sooner rather than later.

#1 Shibata's return opponent

Dream match in the making?

Another historic news that broke out on the night was the return of Katsuyori Shibata, who, for the first time in almost two years got physically involved inside the ring. Shibata hadn't wrestled a match in almost two years, ever since he suffered that gruesome injury in his IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against Kazuchika Okada in 2017.

However, with the wrestler setting his sights on his former tag team partner KENTA, so much so, that he decided to attack the latter right after he had joined the Bullet Club, means that Shibata could finally be on the verge of a return to in-ring competition.

Now, what better way to mark your return other than to compete in your return match against your former tag team partner, possibly at the Tokyo Dome next year at Wrestle Kingdom.

As of right now, we still aren't sure if Shibata is actually back for good but if he is, then expect him to be in action very soon and a match against KENTA at NJPW's biggest show of the year surely wouldn't do too much harm as well.