The Bang Bang Gang name change finally has a pretty simple explanation, and it comes down to ownership.
The group used to run around AEW under the Bullet Club Gold banner, but that name slowly disappeared from TV. Now it’s being said that New Japan Pro Wrestling’s intellectual property is the reason AEW moved away from it.
During his Fightful Select Q&A, Sapp was asked why Bang Bang Gang stopped using the Bullet Club Gold name. He said it was not some deep mystery. Bullet Club belongs to New Japan, and AEW moving the group into its own identity made sense.
“Yeah, it’s just New Japan intellectual property.”
Sapp compared the move to what happened with The Elite. They were once tied to Bullet Club too, but eventually broke off and became their own thing. That name change ended up being a major part of AEW’s foundation.
“It doesn’t seem a lot different from The Elite branching off and making themselves The Elite. They were Bullet Club Elite, then they were just The Elite, which helped launch a company.”
New Japan has moved away from using Bullet Club itself. Sapp said AEW quietly phased out Bullet Club Gold, and by this point, the Bang Bang Gang name has taken over enough that the old branding is not really needed anymore.
“Now that New Japan has completely stopped using Bullet Club in any capacity, it seems like it was the right move. They just quietly did away with it in AEW and we saw it get phased out.”
Sapp also made it clear that the group has already built enough identity under the new name. At this stage, Bang Bang Gang is not just a replacement label. It is the name AEW has pushed forward.
“Now they’re just as much known as the Bang Bang Gang as Bullet Club Gold.”
The bigger takeaway is that New Japan likely did not want another company using the Bullet Club name if they were moving away from it themselves. That made the AEW name change less about creative drama and more about business.
“I think that if New Japan completely killed off Bullet Club like they did, then they probably didn’t want anybody else using it either.”
Bang Bang Gang dropping the Bullet Club Gold name may have confused some people at first, but the reason now looks pretty obvious. AEW moved the group away from New Japan’s branding, gave them their own identity, and avoided any possible issue over the Bullet Club name.
What do you think about AEW changing Bullet Club Gold to Bang Bang Gang? Was it the right move, or should they have kept the old name as long as possible? Sound off in the comments and let us know.
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