Hunter Club

The Logo of Hunter Club

**Hunter Club** was a tag team that competed in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and it was formed by Yoshitatsu after he return from his injury. He would be later joined by Captain New Japan but due to the poor performances by Captain, Yoshitatsu announced a twitter poll that would decide whether he would get to stay in Hunter Club. Later Yoshitatsu revealed the result of the poll and agreed to remove Captain New Japan from Hunter Club. This led to Captain attacking Yoshitatsu and aligning himself with Bullet Club. After Yoshitatsu starting a feud with Captain New Japan, later renamed "Bone Soldier", Yoshitatsu announced on November 5, 2016 that he had recruited Billy Gunn as his new Hunter Club partner for the 2016 World Tag League. They would disband after Yoshitatsu left New Japan.

## History

### Formation

On March 22, 2016 NJPW announced that Yoshitatsu would wrestle his NJPW return match on April 10 at Invasion Attack 2016, where he, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin defeated Bullet Club's Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Afterwards, Yoshitatsu announced he was forming a new stable named "Hunter Club" to oppose Bullet Club. However, neither Elgin nor Tanahashi accepted Yoshitatsu's invitation to join the stable, which led to Captain New Japan stepping up as the first member of the new group. Yoshitatsu then debuted a new gimmick, where he began mimicking Triple H, which included him adopting the *Pedigree* as his finishing move.

### Yoshitatsu leadership (2016-2017)

Yoshitatsu, Elgin and Tanahashi made their first successful title defense on April 23 against the Bullet Club trio of Bad Luck Fale, Kenny Omega and Yujiro Takahashi. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016, they lost the title back to Omega and The Young Bucks. On September 12, Yoshitatsu, upset with Captain New Japan's poor performances, announced a twitter poll that would decide whether he would get to stay in Hunter Club. On September 25 at Destruction in Kobe, Yoshitatsu revealed the result of the poll and agreed to remove Captain New Japan from Hunter Club. This led to Captain attacking Yoshitatsu and aligning himself with Bullet Club.

After starting a feud with Captain New Japan, now renamed "Bone Soldier", Yoshitatsu announced on November 5 that he had recruited Billy Gunn as his new Hunter Club partner for the 2016 World Tag League. Yoshitatsu and Gunn finished the tournament on December 8 with a record of three wins and four losses, failing to advance from their block, though Yoshitatsu managed to pin Bone Soldier in their final round-robin match and they disband when Gunn left Japan to return to the United States. On January 4, 2017 at the Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome Yoshitatsu and Gunn took part of the New Japan Rumble but Yoshitatsu was eliminated by Yuji Nagata and Gunn was eliminated at last by the winner of the New Japan Rumble Michael Elgin.

While Gunn did not appear for NJPW for the next six months, Yoshitatsu, told Hiroshi Tanahashi that Gunn had requested a match against him. When Tanahashi captured the IWGP Intercontinental Championship the following month, he immediately nominated Gunn as his first challenger. Gunn was defeated in the title match on July 2 at G1 Special in USA. After that they quickly disband after Yoshitatsu left New Japan.

## In wrestling

* **Yoshitatsu's Finishing moves**
	+ Diving spinning heel kick
	+ *Land of Rising Knee* (Hip toss dropped into a knee lift)
	+ *Pedigree* (Double underhook facebuster)
	+ Roundhouse kick
* **Capitan New Japan's Finishing moves**
	+ *Captain Special* (Modified la magistral)
	+ *Caribbean Death Grip* (Tongan death grip)
* **Billy Gunn's Finishing moves**
	+ *Fame-Ass-er* (Leg drop bulldog, sometimes from the top rope)

## Championships and Accomplishments

* **New Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) - Yoshitatsu with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin

## References

1. ↑ Caldwell, James 2016-03-22. New Japan – Yoshi Tatsu cleared to wrestle again, big return match announced, plus six title matches on April 10 show . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2016-03-22.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Meltzer, Dave 2016-04-09. NJPW Invasion Attack live results: Kazuchika Okada vs. Tetsuya Naito for the IWGP Championship . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2016-04-10.
3. ↑ Invasion Attack 2016  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-04-17.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Road to ????????? 2016  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-04-17.
5. ↑ Rose, Bryan 2016-04-23. New Japan Road to Wrestling Dontaku results: Chaos vs. Los Ingobernables elimination match . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*. Retrieved on 2016-04-28.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Road to ????????? 2016  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-04-20.
7. ↑ Road to ????????? 2016  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-04-23.
8. ↑ *ja:????????? 2016* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-05-03.
9. ↑ Road to Destruction  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-09-13.
10. ↑ Destruction in Kobe  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-09-25.
11. ↑ 戦国炎舞 -Kizna- Presents Power Struggle  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-11-07.
12. ↑ *ja:戦国炎舞 -Kizna- Presents World Tag League 2016* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-12-08.
13. ↑ Johnson, Mike 2017-01-04. Omega vs. Okada classic, Tanahashi vs. Naito, lots of title changes & more: complete New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 11 coverage . *Pro Wrestling Insider*. Retrieved on 2017-01-04.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 ja:【ロス2連戦の主要カード決定！】初日は、“IWGPヘビー戦”オカダvsCody！ タマ＆タンガvウォーマシン！ 2日目は“インターコンチ戦”棚橋vsビリー・ガン！ヤングバックスvsロッポンギ！ (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro-Wrestling* (2017-06-13). Archived from the original on 2017-06-12. Retrieved on 2017-06-12.
15. ↑ NJPW G1 Special live results: The first IWGP US Champion is crowned . *Wrestling Observer Newsletter* (2017-07-02). Retrieved on 2017-07-02.
16. ↑ Trionfo, Richard. WWE.COM NXT REDEMPTION REPORT: REGALDEMPTION; A NEW LOOK FOR YOSHI TATSU BUT THE SAME TYPE OF MATCH WITH TYSON KIDD . PWInsider. Retrieved on 2012-03-02.
17. ↑ Medalis, Kara 2009-07-07. Charismatic fate . World Wrestling Entertainment. Retrieved on 2009-08-10.
18. ↑ *ja:????* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2014-11-11.
19. ↑ James, Justin. JAMES'S WWE SUPERSTARS REPORT 2/9: U.S. champion & Tag champions in action, Gabriel vs. Slater . *Pro Wrestling Torch*. Retrieved on 2012-03-02.
20. ↑ wrestlingdata profile . Retrieved on 2012-12-18.
21. ↑ Road to Power Struggle  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2015-10-29.
22. ↑ (Results) New Japan, 7/23/11 . *Strong Style Spirit* (2011-07-23). Retrieved on 2011-07-24.
23. ↑ Other Arena movelist .
24. ↑ NEVER open weight 6 men tag class  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.

## External links

* Yoshi Tatsu New Japan Pro Wrestling profile (Japanese)
* Official Capitan New Japan New Japan Pro Wrestling profile (Japanese)