Bullet Club Cutest Tag Team (バレットクラブのキューテスト・タッグ Barettokurabu no Kyūtesuto Taggu) was a professional wrestling tag team formed by El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori in June 2019, where they worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), as part of the Bullet Club stable. The team worked on NJPW's junior heavyweight division, where they were former three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.
While forming their team, Phantasmo and Ishimori became one of NJPW's top wrestlers in their junior heavyweight division, with Ishimori becoming one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, while Phantasmo has challenged for the title on multiple occasions. Phantasmo as also won the Super J-Cup in two consecutive years in 2019 and 2020 and held the British Cruiserweight Championship. The team would disband in March 2023, after Phantasmo was kicked out of Bullet Club.
History[]
Background[]
On April 13, 2018, NJPW began promoting the return of the Bone Soldier, a wrestler last seen in the promotion in January 2017. On May 4 at Wrestling Dontaku 2018, Ishimori returned to NJPW revealing himself as the new Bone Soldier and in the process joined Bullet Club by attacking IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Will Ospreay. A year later, on March 8, 2019, a vignette was shown teasing a new member for the Bullet Club. On May 4, at Wrestling Dontaku of the next year, Phantasmo made his debut in NJPW being revealed as the newest member of Bullet Club, which had previously had been teased. In his debut match, Phantasmo teamed with Ishimori in a winning effort against IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Dragon Lee and Will Ospreay, with Phantasmo pinning Ospreay.
On June 5, 2019, following a six-man tag team match, Ishimori, who had usually teamed with Bullet Club stablemate Robbie Eagles, instead challenged alongside stablemate El Phantasmo, Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) to a title match for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, before attacking them. In a post-match interview, Roppongi 3K accepted the challenge. On June 16, during the Kizuna Road tour, Ishimori and Phantasmo defeated Sho and Yoh to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the first time in both's careers.
Tag Team (2019-2022)[]
On August 22, Phantasmo entered the 2019 Super J-Cup tournament, defeating Robbie Eagles in his first round match. On August 24, Phantasmo defeated TJP, in the second round. On August 26, Phantasmo defeated Will Ospreay and then Dragon Lee, in the semifinals and finals, respectively, to win the 2019 Super J-Cup. From October 16 until November 1, Ishimori and Phantasmo took part in the 2019 Super Jr. Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record of five wins and two losses but failed to advance to the finals due to losing to Sho and Yoh in their head-to-head match.
On January 5, 2020, on the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome, Ishimori and Phantasmo lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship back to Sho and Yoh. On August 29, at Summer Struggle in Jingu, Ishimori defeated Hiromu Takahashi to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. From November 15 until December 6, Ishimori took part in the 2020 Best of the Super Juniors, finishing the tournament with a record of seven wins and two losses, failling advance to the finals of the tournament, due to losing to El Desperado and Hiromu Takahashi in his head-to-head match. Since March, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Phantasmo along with several members of the Bullet Club were unable to work on NJPW events in Japan. Phantasmo made his return to the promotion on December 13, taking part in the 2020 Super J-Cup tournament. Phantasmo made into his second consecutive final, defeating ACH to win the tournament, becoming the third wrestler after Jushin Thunder Liger and Naomichi Marufuji to win the Super J-Cup on two different occasions and to win back-to-back finals. After winning the tournament, Phantasmo accepted Hiromu Takahashi's challenge to face him in a match. Leading to the match, NJPW announced that the winner of their match at Wrestle Kingdom 15, would face Ishimori in the second night of the event for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. On January 4, 2021 in the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 15 in Tokyo Dome, Phantasmo was defeated by Hiromu Takahashi. The following day, Ishimori lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship back to Hiromu Takahashi.
Meanwhile, following Wrestle Kingdom 15, Ishimori and Phantasmo entered a rivalry with Suzuki-gun, leading to on January 23, Ishimori and Phantasmo defeating Suzuki-gun members El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time, before losing the titles back to them on February 25.
On June 23, Ishimori and Phantasmo defeated Sho and Yoh to regain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the third time. As part of Bullet Club, Ishimori and Phantasmo formed a tag team named "Bullet Club Cutest Tag Team". In August, Ishimori and Phantasmo took part in the 2021 Super Jr. Tag League. After a record of four wins, Ishimori and Phantasmo were defeated in the final day of the tournament by El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru and thus failed to win the tournament. On September 5 at Wrestle Grand Slam in MetLife Dome, Phantasmo and Ishimori lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship to Desperado and Kanemaru.
On May 1, 2022, at Wrestling Dontaku, Ishimori defeated El Desperado to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. Later that month, Phatasmo and Ishimori took part in the 2022 Best of the Super Juniors, wrestling in seperate blocks. Both failed to advance from their blocks, with Ishimori entering the final day with a chance to reach the finals, but a loss against Hiromu Takahashi eliminated him from the tournament. The following month, it was announced that Phantasmo would be moving to the heavyweight division, and as such the two began teaming less frequently. Their team ended on April 8 at Sakura Genesis, after Ishimori turned on him, with Phantasmo was kicked out of Bullet Club.
In wrestling[]
- Ishimori's finishing moves
- 450º splash
- Bloody Cross (Elevated single underhook single leg gutbuster)
- Bone Lock (Omoplata crossface) – parodied from Daniel Bryan
- Hermosillo (Double underhook piledriver)
- Inverted Bloody Cross (Lifting inverted single leg backbreaker)
- Revolución (Pumphandle sitout side powerslam, sometimes preceded by a fireman's carry)
- Superstar Elbow (Handspring backflip elbow drop) – still used rarely
- Telaraña (Hammerlock cradle DDT)
- Phantasmo's finishing moves
- CRII - Canadian Revolution II (Double hammerlock inverted back to belly mat slam) – parodied from Milano Collection A.T.
- Thunder Kiss ‘86 (Frog splash)
- Greetings From Camwood Park (Double underhook piledriver)
- Senton bomb followed by a double jump moonsault
- Sudden Death (Superkick)
Championships and accomplishments[]
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (2 times) – Ishimori
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (3 times)
- Super J-Cup (2019, 2020) – Phantasmo
- Revolution Pro Wrestling
- British Cruiserweight Championship (1 time) – Phantasmo
