Anderson mentions the rapid sell-outs also on the Steve Austin Show. "That first shirt they came out with when they sold like eight-thousand in two hours, I said, ‘What’s going on, man? What’s going on?’ That’s when I knew something really got cool. I felt it. Fale Simitaitoko was a Tongan-born former rugby player when he entered the New Japan dojo system in 2009. Having never wrestled before, he became the first-ever foreign-born trainee to go through the entire dojo process from start to finish (Devitt had already trained elsewhere when he joined). 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. Bullet Club has become a widely recognized brand that has almost crossed over into mainstream appeal outside of the wrestling world. It all started with four dojo boys and the brotherhood of the Gaijin living together and trying to make a name for themselves in Japan.

ANDERSON: He held the Too Sweet up in the air and looked at me. I started to get chills. I said, "Are we doing this right now?" ANDERSON: It started for sure with me and Finn in 2006, in Santa Monica in the New Japan Los Angeles Dojo. We were just buddies and would Too Sweet each other for the hell of it because we thought it was fun. Then, as we progressed and moved into New Japan Pro Wrestling, we always did it to each other on the bus. It was part of our handshake. 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 We met at the Los Angeles Dojo in California, where New Japan had like a feeder system. Then, me and him came through the Dojo in New Japan. We started in New Japan as absolute young boys, on small money, and we had to train every day, stay there for 3 or 4 months at a time.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. And it was so intimidating, all the boys were sat there around the ring, and I was in working on the fly against Taguchi. This was before the show and basically just a try-out for me. I guess it was a five-minute match, and we finished up, and the booker at the time pulls me over and was like: In 2009, he would form a team with his try-out opponent Taguchi, known as Apollo 55. The team would win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships within their first year. It would continue tagging throughout the next four years, cementing Devitt as a popular foreign babyface to the Japanese audiences when combined with the comedic fun-loving Taguchi. 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.

He gained a lot of notoriety as a singles competitor throughout 2012, with high-profile wins against Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi, reaching the finals in the G1 Climax. 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!’"

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." So, in the blink of an eye, Devitt had his new ring name that he would wrestle under for the next eight years in Japan. 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. 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. 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.

Devitt explains on Talk Is Jericho, "I was a full young boy. I would be woken up at 7.30. We’d have to clean the toilets, go out, clean the ring, sweep the streets, hose it down because of all the cat pee on the street outside. Fale explains, "Oh, completely natural. What people don’t know is that we were always together. We called ourselves the ‘Dojo Boys’ because we were the only foreigners who were here. At times they’d bring in foreign guys to do big shows, Giant Bernard would do a tour here or there, but we were always there since 2010 when Tama came, I and Ferg and Anderson had been there before I got there. Fale remembers, "The Japanese fans take it all very seriously. I think it did feel dangerous, but that’s when we knew we had something. Feeling that emotion, feeling that hate, it was, ‘Woah, we’ve gotta keep this going!’ 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. It changed everything. Before, nobody really took notice of us. But when we got this chance, we knew we had to take it, and we had to make people hate us. A lot of people don’t like being hated but look, figure it out, man. You’re either cheered and remembered, or you’re hated and remembered. We understood the situation."

Rubbing Guys the Wrong Way Backstage in NJPW

In 2006, Fergal Devitt made his official New Japan Pro Wrestling debut, initially facing some resistance from the Japanese management over his name "Fergal." The pair eventually faced each other at Kizuna Road in 2013. However, this time, Devitt was unable to get the win despite lots of attempted interference from the rest of the Bullet Club. Okada had retained the IWGP Heavyweight title, and Devitt would only get another chance if he entered and won the G1 Climax, a tournament typically reserved for Heavyweight only. ANDERSON: We loved The nWo. We loved Scott Hall. We loved Kevin Nash. It was just kind of our thing. After vanquishing the Ace of New Japan at Dominion, Devitt set his sights on the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Later on in the show, after the reigning champion, Okada finished his match. Bullet Club walked to the ring, and Devitt stood toe-to-toe with the champion, challenging him to a title match. Devitt challenges Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Devitt recalls, "I would always wrestle as Fergal Devitt. That’s my real name. I got to Japan, and they have problems pronouncing Rs. Problems pronouncing Fs. Problems pronouncing L’s. I think I was there for about three weeks, and they made me have a try-out match before one of the shows in Sendai.