Yota Tsuji has announced a major shake-up of the factions in NJPW and brought an end to the legendary Bullet Club in the process.
At Wrestle Kingdom 20, Yota Tsuji defeated Konosuke Takeshita to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship for the first time. Now the face of NJPW, the 32-year-old star has wasted no time in making big changes for the promotion. At New Year Dash on January 5th, Tsuji led the Unaffiliated and Bullet Club War Dogs alliance into an 8-man Tag Team match against the United Empire.
The star carried his Global Title belt on his shoulder but kept his new championship hidden until he hit the ring. There, he opened his coat to reveal that he had made good on previous promises and consigned the World Heavyweight Championship to history, and brought back its predecessor, the V4 IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt. That design is beloved by many New Japan fans and is synonymous with NJPW’s golden era of the 2010s, led by Hiroshi Tanahashi and the likes of Kazuchika Okada, Tetsuya Naito, and Kenny Omega.
.@njpw_yotatsuji "IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT & IWGP GLOBAL HEAVYWEIGHT"
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— NJPW WORLD (@njpwworld) January 5, 2026
Yota Tsuji Announces New NJPW Faction
The changes didn’t end there, as, in a backstage interview after New Year Dash, Yota Tsuji announced that he was bringing an end to the alliance between the Unaffiliated and the Bullet Club War Dogs. Instead, he revealed that the two groups would now be merged into a single entity known as ‘Unbound Co.’
“Until now, WAR DOGS and the independents have maintained an alliance. But that ends today. Our alliance ends today. We will fight henceforth as a single unit. Our name is ‘Unbound Co.’. An organisation unbound by anyone.” (translated from Japanese by DeepL)
The announcement means that Bullet Club has seemingly been brought to an end after almost 13 years. The group – originally founded by Finn Balor when he was known as Prince Devitt in May 2013 – is one of the most influential in modern wrestling history.
Before its most recent iteration under David Finlay, its leaders have included AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, and Jay White. Over the years, it also featured the likes of Cody Rhodes, Adam Cole, and Tama Tonga.
While Omega was the leader, he formed The Elite sub-group with The Young Bucks. The group also grew to include Adam Page and Cody Rhodes, amongst others, and in 2019 led to the formation of All Elite Wrestling in partnership with Tony Khan.
By 2025, Bullet Club encompassed War Dogs led by Finlay, and House of Torture led by EVIL. This led to a split in the faction, which was resolved when War Dogs defeated HoT in a ‘Lose leaves Bullet Club’ Dog Pound Cage match at Wrestling Dontaku in May.
Around the same time, Los Ingobernables de Japon leader Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI made the surprise decision to leave NJPW. The other members of the group decided to stay together as ‘The Unaffiliated.’ In the following months, the group feuded with the War Dogs before the two factions reached a position of mutual respect and joined forces in October.
