diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkItemRequest.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkItemRequest.java
index 079d4efe9bf..8c7786cb2ad 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkItemRequest.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkItemRequest.java
@@ -35,7 +35,7 @@ import java.io.IOException;
 public class BulkItemRequest implements Streamable {
 
     private int id;
-    private DocumentRequest<?> request;
+    private DocumentRequest request;
     private volatile BulkItemResponse primaryResponse;
     private volatile boolean ignoreOnReplica;
 
@@ -43,7 +43,7 @@ public class BulkItemRequest implements Streamable {
 
     }
 
-    public BulkItemRequest(int id, DocumentRequest<?> request) {
+    public BulkItemRequest(int id, DocumentRequest request) {
         this.id = id;
         this.request = request;
     }
@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ public class BulkItemRequest implements Streamable {
         return id;
     }
 
-    public DocumentRequest<?> request() {
+    public DocumentRequest request() {
         return request;
     }
 
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessor.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessor.java
index f32bfaa775c..55347b2da13 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessor.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkProcessor.java
@@ -250,24 +250,24 @@ public class BulkProcessor implements Closeable {
      * (for example, if no id is provided, one will be generated, or usage of the create flag).
      */
     public BulkProcessor add(IndexRequest request) {
-        return add((DocumentRequest<?>) request);
+        return add((DocumentRequest) request);
     }
 
     /**
      * Adds an {@link DeleteRequest} to the list of actions to execute.
      */
     public BulkProcessor add(DeleteRequest request) {
-        return add((DocumentRequest<?>) request);
+        return add((DocumentRequest) request);
     }
 
     /**
      * Adds either a delete or an index request.
      */
-    public BulkProcessor add(DocumentRequest<?> request) {
+    public BulkProcessor add(DocumentRequest request) {
         return add(request, null);
     }
 
-    public BulkProcessor add(DocumentRequest<?> request, @Nullable Object payload) {
+    public BulkProcessor add(DocumentRequest request, @Nullable Object payload) {
         internalAdd(request, payload);
         return this;
     }
@@ -282,7 +282,7 @@ public class BulkProcessor implements Closeable {
         }
     }
 
-    private synchronized void internalAdd(DocumentRequest<?> request, @Nullable Object payload) {
+    private synchronized void internalAdd(DocumentRequest request, @Nullable Object payload) {
         ensureOpen();
         bulkRequest.add(request, payload);
         executeIfNeeded();
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequest.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequest.java
index dc72407cf42..292ecdd33e7 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequest.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequest.java
@@ -72,7 +72,7 @@ public class BulkRequest extends ActionRequest<BulkRequest> implements Composite
      * {@link WriteRequest}s to this but java doesn't support syntax to declare that everything in the array has both types so we declare
      * the one with the least casts.
      */
-    final List<DocumentRequest<?>> requests = new ArrayList<>();
+    final List<DocumentRequest> requests = new ArrayList<>();
     List<Object> payloads = null;
 
     protected TimeValue timeout = BulkShardRequest.DEFAULT_TIMEOUT;
@@ -87,14 +87,14 @@ public class BulkRequest extends ActionRequest<BulkRequest> implements Composite
     /**
      * Adds a list of requests to be executed. Either index or delete requests.
      */
-    public BulkRequest add(DocumentRequest<?>... requests) {
-        for (DocumentRequest<?> request : requests) {
+    public BulkRequest add(DocumentRequest... requests) {
+        for (DocumentRequest request : requests) {
             add(request, null);
         }
         return this;
     }
 
-    public BulkRequest add(DocumentRequest<?> request) {
+    public BulkRequest add(DocumentRequest request) {
         return add(request, null);
     }
 
@@ -104,7 +104,7 @@ public class BulkRequest extends ActionRequest<BulkRequest> implements Composite
      * @param payload Optional payload
      * @return the current bulk request
      */
-    public BulkRequest add(DocumentRequest<?> request, @Nullable Object payload) {
+    public BulkRequest add(DocumentRequest request, @Nullable Object payload) {
         if (request instanceof IndexRequest) {
             add((IndexRequest) request, payload);
         } else if (request instanceof DeleteRequest) {
@@ -120,8 +120,8 @@ public class BulkRequest extends ActionRequest<BulkRequest> implements Composite
     /**
      * Adds a list of requests to be executed. Either index or delete requests.
      */
-    public BulkRequest add(Iterable<DocumentRequest<?>> requests) {
-        for (DocumentRequest<?> request : requests) {
+    public BulkRequest add(Iterable<DocumentRequest> requests) {
+        for (DocumentRequest request : requests) {
             add(request);
         }
         return this;
@@ -207,7 +207,7 @@ public class BulkRequest extends ActionRequest<BulkRequest> implements Composite
     /**
      * The list of requests in this bulk request.
      */
-    public List<DocumentRequest<?>> requests() {
+    public List<DocumentRequest> requests() {
         return this.requests;
     }
 
@@ -508,7 +508,7 @@ public class BulkRequest extends ActionRequest<BulkRequest> implements Composite
      * @return Whether this bulk request contains index request with an ingest pipeline enabled.
      */
     public boolean hasIndexRequestsWithPipelines() {
-        for (DocumentRequest<?> actionRequest : requests) {
+        for (DocumentRequest actionRequest : requests) {
             if (actionRequest instanceof IndexRequest) {
                 IndexRequest indexRequest = (IndexRequest) actionRequest;
                 if (Strings.hasText(indexRequest.getPipeline())) {
@@ -526,7 +526,7 @@ public class BulkRequest extends ActionRequest<BulkRequest> implements Composite
         if (requests.isEmpty()) {
             validationException = addValidationError("no requests added", validationException);
         }
-        for (DocumentRequest<?> request : requests) {
+        for (DocumentRequest request : requests) {
             // We first check if refresh has been set
             if (((WriteRequest<?>) request).getRefreshPolicy() != RefreshPolicy.NONE) {
                 validationException = addValidationError(
@@ -561,7 +561,7 @@ public class BulkRequest extends ActionRequest<BulkRequest> implements Composite
         super.writeTo(out);
         waitForActiveShards.writeTo(out);
         out.writeVInt(requests.size());
-        for (DocumentRequest<?> request : requests) {
+        for (DocumentRequest request : requests) {
             DocumentRequest.writeDocumentRequest(out, request);
         }
         refreshPolicy.writeTo(out);
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
index f7861d1e093..48edb528fe1 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportBulkAction.java
@@ -145,7 +145,7 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
                             if (!(ExceptionsHelper.unwrapCause(e) instanceof IndexAlreadyExistsException)) {
                                 // fail all requests involving this index, if create didnt work
                                 for (int i = 0; i < bulkRequest.requests.size(); i++) {
-                                    DocumentRequest<?> request = bulkRequest.requests.get(i);
+                                    DocumentRequest request = bulkRequest.requests.get(i);
                                     if (request != null && setResponseFailureIfIndexMatches(responses, i, request, index, e)) {
                                         bulkRequest.requests.set(i, null);
                                     }
@@ -180,7 +180,7 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
         return autoCreateIndex.shouldAutoCreate(index, state);
     }
 
-    private boolean setResponseFailureIfIndexMatches(AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse> responses, int idx, DocumentRequest<?> request, String index, Exception e) {
+    private boolean setResponseFailureIfIndexMatches(AtomicArray<BulkItemResponse> responses, int idx, DocumentRequest request, String index, Exception e) {
         if (index.equals(request.index())) {
             responses.set(idx, new BulkItemResponse(idx, request.opType(), new BulkItemResponse.Failure(request.index(), request.type(), request.id(), e)));
             return true;
@@ -211,7 +211,7 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
         final ConcreteIndices concreteIndices = new ConcreteIndices(clusterState, indexNameExpressionResolver);
         MetaData metaData = clusterState.metaData();
         for (int i = 0; i < bulkRequest.requests.size(); i++) {
-            DocumentRequest<?> documentRequest = bulkRequest.requests.get(i);
+            DocumentRequest documentRequest = bulkRequest.requests.get(i);
             //the request can only be null because we set it to null in the previous step, so it gets ignored
             if (documentRequest == null) {
                 continue;
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
         // first, go over all the requests and create a ShardId -> Operations mapping
         Map<ShardId, List<BulkItemRequest>> requestsByShard = new HashMap<>();
         for (int i = 0; i < bulkRequest.requests.size(); i++) {
-            DocumentRequest<?> request = bulkRequest.requests.get(i);
+            DocumentRequest request = bulkRequest.requests.get(i);
             if (request == null) {
                 continue;
             }
@@ -300,7 +300,7 @@ public class TransportBulkAction extends HandledTransportAction<BulkRequest, Bul
                     // create failures for all relevant requests
                     for (BulkItemRequest request : requests) {
                         final String indexName = concreteIndices.getConcreteIndex(request.index()).getName();
-                        DocumentRequest<?> documentRequest = request.request();
+                        DocumentRequest documentRequest = request.request();
                         responses.set(request.id(), new BulkItemResponse(request.id(), documentRequest.opType(),
                             new BulkItemResponse.Failure(indexName, documentRequest.type(), documentRequest.id(), e)));
                     }
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportShardBulkAction.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportShardBulkAction.java
index 6b4ffc56b40..338e7db4cb7 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportShardBulkAction.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/TransportShardBulkAction.java
@@ -147,14 +147,14 @@ public class TransportShardBulkAction extends TransportWriteAction<BulkShardRequ
             if (retryPrimaryException(e)) {
                 // restore updated versions...
                 for (int j = 0; j < requestIndex; j++) {
-                    DocumentRequest<?> documentRequest = request.items()[j].request();
+                    DocumentRequest documentRequest = request.items()[j].request();
                     documentRequest.version(preVersions[j]);
                     documentRequest.versionType(preVersionTypes[j]);
                 }
                 throw (ElasticsearchException) e;
             }
             BulkItemRequest item = request.items()[requestIndex];
-            DocumentRequest<?> documentRequest = item.request();
+            DocumentRequest documentRequest = item.request();
             if (isConflictException(e)) {
                 logger.trace((Supplier<?>) () -> new ParameterizedMessage("{} failed to execute bulk item ({}) {}",
                         request.shardId(), documentRequest.opType().getLowercase(), request), e);
@@ -179,7 +179,7 @@ public class TransportShardBulkAction extends TransportWriteAction<BulkShardRequ
 
     private WriteResult<? extends DocWriteResponse> innerExecuteBulkItemRequest(IndexMetaData metaData, IndexShard indexShard,
                                                             BulkShardRequest request, int requestIndex) throws Exception {
-        DocumentRequest<?> itemRequest = request.items()[requestIndex].request();
+        DocumentRequest itemRequest = request.items()[requestIndex].request();
         switch (itemRequest.opType()) {
             case CREATE:
             case INDEX:
@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ public class TransportShardBulkAction extends TransportWriteAction<BulkShardRequ
             if (item == null || item.isIgnoreOnReplica()) {
                 continue;
             }
-            DocumentRequest<?> documentRequest = item.request();
+            DocumentRequest documentRequest = item.request();
             final Engine.Operation operation;
             try {
                 switch (documentRequest.opType()) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/ingest/IngestActionFilter.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/ingest/IngestActionFilter.java
index 70a117bf1f7..31801bac85a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/ingest/IngestActionFilter.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/action/ingest/IngestActionFilter.java
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@ public final class IngestActionFilter extends AbstractComponent implements Actio
         return Integer.MAX_VALUE;
     }
 
-    static final class BulkRequestModifier implements Iterator<DocumentRequest<?>> {
+    static final class BulkRequestModifier implements Iterator<DocumentRequest> {
 
         final BulkRequest bulkRequest;
         final Set<Integer> failedSlots;
@@ -151,7 +151,7 @@ public final class IngestActionFilter extends AbstractComponent implements Actio
         }
 
         @Override
-        public DocumentRequest<?> next() {
+        public DocumentRequest next() {
             return bulkRequest.requests().get(++currentSlot);
         }
 
@@ -172,7 +172,7 @@ public final class IngestActionFilter extends AbstractComponent implements Actio
                 int slot = 0;
                 originalSlots = new int[bulkRequest.requests().size() - failedSlots.size()];
                 for (int i = 0; i < bulkRequest.requests().size(); i++) {
-                    DocumentRequest<?> request = bulkRequest.requests().get(i);
+                    DocumentRequest request = bulkRequest.requests().get(i);
                     if (failedSlots.contains(i) == false) {
                         modifiedBulkRequest.add(request);
                         originalSlots[slot++] = i;
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/ingest/PipelineExecutionService.java b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/ingest/PipelineExecutionService.java
index 57eb7afcb5a..1e11dbf78f2 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/ingest/PipelineExecutionService.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/elasticsearch/ingest/PipelineExecutionService.java
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ public class PipelineExecutionService implements ClusterStateListener {
         });
     }
 
-    public void executeBulkRequest(Iterable<DocumentRequest<?>> actionRequests,
+    public void executeBulkRequest(Iterable<DocumentRequest> actionRequests,
                                    BiConsumer<IndexRequest, Exception> itemFailureHandler,
                                    Consumer<Exception> completionHandler) {
         threadPool.executor(ThreadPool.Names.BULK).execute(new AbstractRunnable() {
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@ public class PipelineExecutionService implements ClusterStateListener {
 
             @Override
             protected void doRun() throws Exception {
-                for (DocumentRequest<?> actionRequest : actionRequests) {
+                for (DocumentRequest actionRequest : actionRequests) {
                     if ((actionRequest instanceof IndexRequest)) {
                         IndexRequest indexRequest = (IndexRequest) actionRequest;
                         if (Strings.hasText(indexRequest.getPipeline())) {
diff --git a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestTests.java b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestTests.java
index 230373f7415..5d2145ddc3c 100644
--- a/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestTests.java
+++ b/core/src/test/java/org/elasticsearch/action/bulk/BulkRequestTests.java
@@ -113,7 +113,7 @@ public class BulkRequestTests extends ESTestCase {
 
     public void testBulkAddIterable() {
         BulkRequest bulkRequest = Requests.bulkRequest();
-        List<DocumentRequest<?>> requests = new ArrayList<>();
+        List<DocumentRequest> requests = new ArrayList<>();
         requests.add(new IndexRequest("test", "test", "id").source("field", "value"));
         requests.add(new UpdateRequest("test", "test", "id").doc("field", "value"));
         requests.add(new DeleteRequest("test", "test", "id"));