Karl Anderson (real name Chad Allegra) had been wrestling eight years before he first signed with New Japan, after training in their California-based Dojo, in which he met Devitt, before signing a contract with NJPW in 2008. Bullet Club original members: Karl Anderson and Prince Devitt Devitt would enter into the Japanese dojo system, becoming a "young boy" in their developmental system, the first Gaijin to train this way for 20 years. The way I see it, it was four Gaijin, in the land of the rising sun, that were brothers, that ARE brothers. It was only us Gaijin, and the rest were Nihongo (Japanese). So, we became brothers, friends, best friends, because all we had was each other, to speak to each other in English. We had Devitt and Karl, who were our Sempais, and then me and Fale came in as young boys. It began with four foreign dojo boys in Japan who became friends and tried to make a name for themselves in a company that generally didn’t provide many opportunities for foreigners. This is the surprising tale of the creation of the Bullet Club!

Then there was Karl Anderson, who was known as the Machine Gun. So, I’m the Real Shooter, and he’s The Machine Gun. How do I tie all this together? We all fire bullets. So then I had Bullet Parade, Bullet League, and then Bullet Club.We were a group to ourselves every tour already. So, since we were already working, living as a group together, it only made sense." Becoming The Bullet Club Bullet Club "Too Sweet" Over Tanahashi Anderson had a lot of success in New Japan, winning the World Tag League and IWGP Tag Team Championship in his Bad Intentions team with Giant Bernard.

Devitt also had a great deal of success as a Junior Singles competitor during these years, with notable matches against Kota Ibushi, Low-Key, and Kushida, and won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship three times and 2010’s Best of the Super Juniors competition. Devitt and Karl really helped us grow as wrestlers to teach us the American style and still the Japanese style. We became really, really close, where we were drinking together, eating together every day, and working together.And I was like, ‘Okay, cool.’ I had no choice, you know? But I guess in the week they mulled it over and said, ‘Oh well, he’s only 24. He’s not old enough to be a king yet. He’s only a mere prince,’ ya know? And that’s how the name came about. Just in the blink of an eye."

He then trained to wrestle under the Dudley Boys at their school, Team 3D Academy, making his debut in 2008, and eventually finding his way to Japan in 2010 to become a young boy in the dojo system where he became friends with the other three members. The team found instant success by Prince Devitt entering the Best of the Super Juniors tournament soon after their formation. With the team using their bond to assist each other out in matches, it helped Devitt cheat his way through the tournament — much to the dismay of the Japanese fans not as accustomed to these kinds of heel tactics. They decided for me to switch to a heel, which I was really excited about because I hadn’t worked heel out there. I’d been about five-and-a-half or six years as a straight-laced babyface, and I felt like I’d, not peaked, but done all that I could do. I wasn’t as creatively fulfilled anymore, and when they said, ‘Would you turn heel?’ I said, ‘Absolutely!’"However, during these years, Devitt received many offers to join WWE’s developmental system, but he was reluctant to go, feeling he had unfinished business in New Japan. Devitt wanted to make his way to the top of the card in New Japan. He would train, wrestle, and teach in his home country until 2005 when he moved to California to train in the New Japan Inoki Dojo (where he would meet Karl Anderson), before signing with New Japan officially in 2006, moving to Japan in the process.

Originally a hand signal used by The Kliq in the mid-nineties, Bullet Club started using the "Too Sweet" gesture early in their formation, and it had begun to catch on. You could start to see fans doing the hand signal during Bullet Clubs’ entrances.

Rubbing Guys the Wrong Way Backstage in NJPW

Devitt recalls, "We were the only people who were really working proper heel. I went from being this super straight-laced babyface doing all these high-spots and dives to like, I completely changed my offense to eye-pokes, nut-shots, and I wouldn’t do any of the fancy stuff anymore. Devitt explains, "It was meant to be me turning heel with King Fale as my bouncer, similar to Shawn Michaels and Diesel. But then Gedo (NJPW Booker) had this idea of we might as well lump all the foreign guys together. So, there was Karl Anderson, there was Tama Tonga, and he put us together." Devitt went on to win the Best of the Super Juniors, defeating Kenny Omega in the semi-finals and Alex Shelley in the final to win the tournament, with a great deal of interference and help from the other members of Bullet Club. So you gotta understand that us foreigners when we leave home and come here, about 80% of our time is here in Japan. So that’s who we’re next to is the guys we work with. We’re with them more than with our real families at home. So, of course, these guys become your family, so the bond is really tight."