The rift between the mainline Bullet Club and the Elite grows

Today at NJPW New Year Dash!! (check out full results right here), after a ten-man tag between Bullet Club and Taguchi Japan, Cody Rhodes seemed intent on finishing Kota Ibushi off once and for all. A post-match beatdown turned into something darker, as a chair came out and Cody seemed to have intentions to Pillmanize Kota, or worse.

This brought Kenny Omega down to save his former Golden Lovers teammate. He and Rhodes got into it, shoving and yelling, but eventually Cody took his leave and Kenny looked to address the situation.

Omega got on the mic and cut a promo about how he’s sick of the infighting and Bullet Club talking behind everyone’s back. Bullet Club hasn’t been whole for a long time but they need unity and need to be a team again. Bullet Club needs to be number one, no more fighting, so he has an idea, he knows exactly what they need-- Switchblade.

Jay White came down and Omega says he’s always seen his potential and he reminds him of himself in 2015 as the Cleaner. He offered a t-shirt, White thought it over for a second, put the shirt on, and offered up a Too Sweet only to hit Blade Runner on Kenny.

It was a bit of a roller-coaster of a segment, as the Bullet Club infighting stuff came off pretty exciting. The Elite splitting away from the mainline Bullet Club has been mooted for quite a while now, and having it happen by Omega making the save for his old friend is a cool idea. Plus it doesn’t hurt that Kenny and Cody’s showdown had that proverbial big fight feel to it.

Then the Switchblade stuff came in and... I dunno. Kenny inviting him to save Bullet Club seems silly on the face of it but makes sense after a bit of thought. Plenty of folks have tried to save a failing relationship by having a baby, after all. His logic is thus faulty, but realistic, or at least realistic enough for a pro wrestling story. I can dig it.

But all the same it took what felt like a hot angle that I was excited for and inserted a guy who unfortunately is coming off like a flop after a poor showing at Wrestle Kingdom. I like Jay, he has all the potential in the world and I hope this is the springboard he needs to make something of the role he’s given here, but as of right now there’s one half of this development that I’m looking forward to and one half... not so much, and that’s a bummer.

There you have it, folks

I’m more excited by the prospect of Omega/Rhodes than I am by Omega/Switchblade, but what about you, Cagesiders?