Q&A: Karl Anderson on Facing Hiroshi Tanahashi, Bullet Club’s Longevity and His Free Agency

Long associated with his tag team partner Doc Gallows, Anderson is striking it out on his own in Japan.

Karl Anderson is back home in New Japan Pro-Wrestling.

The reigning NEVER Openweight champion, Anderson will wrestle the great Hiroshi Tanahashi at the Burning Spirit show on Sunday in Hyogo at Kobe World Hall. This marks his first defense of the title. Primarily known as a tag-team wrestler with Doc Gallows, the match represents a significant step in his transition from tag team to singles wrestling.

A founding father of Bullet Club, Anderson is in the midst of a program with Tama Tonga. The former partners are now fierce rivals, and Anderson dethroned Tonga to win the openweight title. With Tonga now operating outside the walls of Bullet Club, this is a feud that can help elevate him to new heights in New Japan. He has the benefit of working with a seasoned veteran—and extremely underrated singles performer—in Anderson.

Speaking with Sports Illustrated earlier this week, while sitting in Fukuoka during a typhoon, Anderson discussed his singles future, whether he would consider a return to WWE and his upcoming showdown against Tanahashi.

Sports Illustrated: Your most recent singles match in Japan, which was at Dominion in June, saw you defeat Tama Tonga in Osaka to win the NEVER Openweight title. Your history with Tama is extensive. What made the match meaningful to you?

Karl Anderson: That match with Tama, it meant a lot. We’ve been on the road together for so long. You hear this a lot, but it’s not cliché—people become like family in this business. We’ve spent so much time together on the road. Tama isn’t a friend to me; he’s more of a brother.

When Gallows and I decided to come back to Japan, we made it a point to do some different s---. We wanted to do something people didn’t expect. And the decision was made for me to attack Tama in Fukuoka and go into a program with him. And it’s really cool to see how good Tama’s become. He was basically starting in the business in 2009, 2010, and he’d only had a handful of matches when he came into New Japan as a young boy. I watched him go from a guy with a great look and potential to someone who has come into his own. He’s really f------ good now. Anytime you can get into a big match with a brother of yours, there’s nothing f------ cooler.

SI: You helped create Bullet Club in 2013, and now you’re back in Japan as an integral part of it. In your estimation, is it the most powerful entity in wrestling since the NWO? Bullet Club has had an impact in every major promotion over the past nine years.

KA: Each time somebody has talked s--- about Bullet Club or started to say Bullet Club is dead, or there’s too many members, something else cool happens. It just remains hot.

If you look at the totality of wrestling, there’s a bunch of great factions. I look at it this way—I grew up on the Four Horsemen. I love the Four Horsemen. There’s the Four Horsemen, the NWO, Degeneration X and the Bullet Club. Of course, there are other great factions, and I’m not slighting anybody. But look at all the guys that have gone through the Bullet Club, where they are now, and how they still show their Bullet Club roots in AEW, WWE and Impact. Bullet Club has been reinvigorated again in New Japan Pro-Wrestling with Jay White, who’s turning into a massive star. Now he’ll always be attached to the Bullet Club.

[Kevin] Nash and [Scott] Hall passing on the Too Sweet to us, that completely legitimized us. Then Shawn Michaels and Triple H throwing up The Kliq sign to us in the Manhattan Center on Monday Night Raw [in 2018], that was another big moment. That’s all because of what we did in Japan. It’s pretty crazy to think back to 2013. There’s no way we could imagine where this was going to go.

SI: About a month ago, there were some rumors online that you were carrying a NEVER six-man belt in Japan instead of your title. Inevitably, unique situations always arise when traveling internationally. Was the belt lost temporarily? Is there a story behind it?

KA: There’s a rumor online that I did not have the real NEVER Openweight championship in Japan? [Laughs.] I don’t know how a rumor like that could get started. Oh, man. I’ll say one thing in response to that rumor—and it’s I’m going to plead the fifth on that.

SI: The chance to step in the ring with Tanahashi represents a platform for you to remind the world of your brilliance in the ring. What motivates you most about this match? And do you enjoy sharing the ring with Tanahashi?

KA: To me, Tanahashi is top-10 all-time. I would watch him in 2008, 2009 and 2010 have these ridiculous matches. I learned from the emotion he brought out of the fans, how he’d accelerate at the right times, the way he would bring the fans to life. I look at him as one of my greatest teachers. He knows that, and we have a great relationship.

It’s crazy to think I’m defending a championship against him. Just saying that still feels surreal to me. I’m really grateful for this moment. I always tell young wrestlers to enjoy the journey. I look back on some of my memories in Japan, and there were times I didn’t appreciate it enough because I wanted to get home, or the travel sucked. So it’s a reminder to appreciate the moment. And Tanahashi is one of the greatest ever. Just getting in the ring with him motivates me.

SI: You are primarily known for your outstanding work with Doc Gallows as a tag-team wrestler, but during the stretches when you’ve worked singles, your talent is undeniable. Would you prefer to extend your singles run in NJPW?

KA: People look at us primarily Anderson and Gallows, or Gallows and Anderson, and I love tag-team wrestling, but I do want a singles run. I came into my own during the G1 in 2011 when I started learning from Tanahashi and Shinsuke [Nakamura]. I wanted to build the types of matches they were creating, and then I started to do that.

I absolutely want an extended singles run in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. I was pushing for one in Impact, but the timing just didn’t work out. I love singles matches. It’s a different way to show people what I can do. I f------ love it.

SI: Even if your future is singles, will you remain aligned with Doc Gallows?

KA: No matter what, I’ll always be aligned with Gallows. When we came back to New Japan, there were no plans for a real tag team feud with anybody. It was this program with Tama, but with me and Gallows, it’s always understood that we’re together. I’ve been on the road with him for 10 straight years. I don’t know what I’d do without him. He’s walked me to my room, and I’ve walked him to his room. We look out for each other, and we have a ridiculous chemistry together as humans that people want to see. We’re a package deal.

SI: You never say never in wrestling. As a free agent, is there potential of teaming with AJ Styles again in WWE? Or Finn Bálor?

KA: Just like you said, never say never. We’ve got verbally agreed upon dates with New Japan Pro-Wrestling for an extended period of time. But there’s such a built-in story with Bullet Club, and we never got to finish the story [in WWE] with AJ Styles or even Finn. There’s been a lot of things that have happened in the business, so you can never say never. Any time we can work with brothers like AJ and Finn, we’re always going to listen to that.

SI: Do you anticipate that you’ll be on the upcoming New York City show next month for New Japan?

KA: I anticipated being on the New York show, but our schedule has gotten crazy. We are spending more time than we anticipated next month in Japan. I don’t know if the schedule or timing will work out this time because our schedule insanely picked up, but we plan on being in the U.S. for all the big shows.

SI: It is possible that this match against Tanahashi becomes a seminal moment in your career. Fortunately for you, unlike your last run in New Japan, it is now significantly easier to watch these matches live thanks to the New Japan World streaming service. Why should people make sure they carve out time to watch you wrestle Tanahashi?

KA: I had a couple of really good matches in 2011, 2012, and 2013. That was just the beginning of streaming matches online, but it wasn’t easy to watch back then. This is an opportunity for people to watch me do what I do in a place that made me and helped me grow into who I am. This is where I feel the absolute most comfortable. My goal now is to shock them. This is Tanahashi and Machine Gun, the lights are going to be bright, and we’re going to give the people all we’ve got.

Justin Barrasso can be reached at JBarrasso@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter @JustinBarrasso.