Gedo, Jado, and “Switchblade” Jay White join forces with Bullet Club OGs

Hiroshi Tanahashi’s defense of his G1 Climax 28 winner’s contract at New Japan Pro Wrestling King of Pro-Wrestling 2018 against “Switchblade” Jay White today (check here for full results) went about the way you’d expect.

In classical New Japan main event style, White went after Tanahashi’s leg with vigor, forcing the 1/100 Ace to dig deeper and deeper to overcome him until at last he nailed two High Fly Flows in a row... and Gedo pulled referee Red Shoes Unno out of the ring to deny him the victory. Things proceeded from there with the introduction of a chair, but eventually Switchblade’s desire to punctuate his victory by hitting Blade Runner backfired and Tanahashi put him away with a small package.

It was a great match to be sure, but it’s only afterwards that things got really interesting.

White went on the attack, and Kazuchika Okada made the save for his greatest rival. Soon he found himself at odds with his former mentor Gedo only for Gedo’s long time partner in the World Class Tag Team, Jado, to come in and try to play peacemaker.

That’s when the gates of hell opened, and the Firing Squad arrived.

They surrounded the ring and White gave them a wide berth. Okada was seemingly not their target, however, as they grabbed Jado and Gedo and held them up, giving the Rainmaker his choice of who he wanted to attack. After a moment’s hesitation, Okada ran the ropes to take Gedo out, and Tama Tonga struck, hitting the Gun Stun.

The BCOGs and the World Class Tag Team were quite chummy, but the question of whether this was a proper alliance or just a momentary convenience hung in the air until Switchblade returned, laid Okada out with Blade Runner, and all seven men stood tall, Too Sweeting each other.

This is an interesting and completely unexpected move, one that really took me by surprise. I had figured Jado would eventually join Gedo in his alliance with White, but tying the last smoldering ash of the Bullet Club civil war into the sparking ignition of the Chaos civil war by uniting the two splinter factions feels like a clever move even if maybe I feel like the Firing Squad have sort of worn out their welcome after their shenanigans in the G1 Climax.

There you have it, folks

Bullet Club OGs, Firing Squad, whatever you want to call them, they’re breathing with the Switchblade now. Excited to see where this is going, Cagesiders?