AEW's Don Callis Downplays Beef With NJPW's Bullet Club - Big Angle Coming Soon?
Don Callis deflects barbs from Bullet Club's Jay White and Tama Tonga after AEW Dynamite.
Last night's AEW Dynamite saw World Champion Kenny Omega team with NJPW's KENTA to defeat Jon Moxley and Lance Archer in a falls count anywhere, no disqualification main event, featuring heavy interference from The Good Brothers. Afterwards, manager Don Callis addressed the world in a worked press conference alongside his charges, fielding a question on potential tension with NJPW's Bullet Club.
This comes following comments from Tama Tonga and Jay White on AEW's pseudo replica of the signature NJPW heel stable. In January, Tonga referred to the group as "Bootleg Club" in an expletive-filled rant on his Tama's Island podcast, while White called Omega and co. "corny", and a "cheap ripoff trying to recreate the past."
Last night, Callis tried to pour cold water on the heat. Here's what he had to say (h/t Wrestling Inc. for the transcription:-
“We take all that can be taken — and then we take a little more. But I actually feel a little bit bad because look — the bottom line is when the three brothers left the Bullet Club, it left an opportunity for some midcard guys to move up the chain and fly the flag. Those guys are good guys, but you don’t replace Michael Jordan. I think the Bullet Club guys in Japan are great, I’m not familiar with what the names are just yet, but they’re flying the flag. I would like to put a stop all of these bad feelings. You know, they called us corny? I don’t know how you get over using words like that, but listen, I’d like to encourage all the fans out there, please, buy the merch. Let’s get them back in the Top 40 on Pro Wrestling Tees."
The Impact Wrestling executive's comment on not knowing the NJPW Bullet Club members' names will likely stoke the fires further, particularly now that the forbidden door between NJPW and AEW is open.
The wrestlers are clearly working on something here. It's hard to tell what, exactly, at the moment, as it'll be tough for Japan-based Bullet Club members to head to the United States given current travel restrictions, though KENTA and Omega were successful if uneasy allies last night.
We await the Japanese unit's response.