Tama Tonga reveals why Kenny Omega took over Bullet Club's leadership from AJ Styles
In the aftermath of Wrestle Kingdom 10, AJ Styles was kicked out of the Bullet Club by Kenny Omega, as 'The Cleaner' took over the leadership of the faction and formed a sub-group known as The Elite with Matt and Nick Jackson.
While speaking on the decision to put Omega on top of the chain in the Bullet Club in place of AJ Styles, faction OG Tama Tonga claimed that one of the primary reasons was to put 'The Cleaner' as the shot caller of the Bullet Club, while Tama continued as the workhorse of the group.
Tama Tonga on why Kenny Omega took over from AJ Styles in the Bullet Club
In 2016, AJ Styles was kicked out of the Bullet Club after Kenny Omega and co turned their backs on 'The Phenomenal One' and marked the beginning of a new era in The BC. Omega, of course, claimed that he would be replacing Styles in the heavyweight division in NJPW and it was Bullet Club who made the latter a star and gave him the big matches in Japan.
Following his takeover, Omega also had an interesting run with the faction, bringing in top names such as Adam Cole, Cody Rhodes, Hangman Page, and Marty Scurll into the faction. 'The Cleaner' also brought the G1 Climax, IWGP Intercontinental, IWGP United States, and IWGP Heavyweight Championship into the Bullet Club, as the leader.
"The decision was made for him to be the guy calling the shots, and I said ‘OK’. Let’s do it. Again, I’m the workhorse."- said Tama on njpw1972.
As per Tama Tonga, the decision for Omega to replace Styles at the top was due to the former evolving to a position where he would call the shots. The former IWGP Tag Team Champion himself was in full support of Omega taking charge but eventually saw the other intentions the Canadian superstar had in mind for the group.
"When we knew that Kenny was going to be leading the group, I was behind that. I’m a big picture thinker, I’m always thinking about what would be best for the group as a whole, and so I was absolutely fine with Kenny taking charge, but...I guess he had other intentions. He had different goals in mind. I kind of started to see it when you saw him do more stuff popping up with the Elite here and there, but I was just trying to be supportive."
How did the Bullet Club fair under Kenny Omega?
The Bullet Club had quite the amount of success under Kenny Omega's leadership. The group expanded a lot more in the West and became a bigger brand in the US, courtesy of the members of The Elite sub-group.
However, The Elite and The Bullet Club eventually had a fallout with the former faction members marking their departure from NJPW and starting-off their own promotion, All Elite Wrestling.
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