Factions in professional wrestling have been around for ages. Notable ones through the years have been the likes of The Four Horsemen, nWo, D-Generation X, and many more. In Japan, groups have been a part of their culture. Fraternities in sports are no different, like clubs so obviously in pro wrestling they exist as well.
The earliest example of faction wars in NJPW would be their rivalry promotion against the original UWF. Antonio Inoki and his men fought against the likes of Akira Maeda and Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Differing in ideologies of what professional wrestling should be. Then as time passes by more and more stables would leave their mark in the history of the company.
Nowadays factions are treated like “sports clubs” where a group of wrestlers would bond together and form up alliances to help each other out and gain higher ranks amongst the roster. These factions are also compromised most of the time of real-life friendships or familial bonds. Some include mentor-student connections too. Factions are an easy tool in shaping up rivalries and intertwining storylines with one another, which is why they’re always prevalent in New Japan.
So for this article let us meet the present factions in New Japan today and meet their members while also sharing some background on how they were formed. If you’re trying to get into the promotion hopefully this could be of help to you as well!
CHAOS
They are pretty much mostly the “good guys” on the roster which is funny because they started as heels. Currently led by Kazuchika Okada, CHAOS was founded by Shinsuke Nakamura. He broke off from Togi Makabe’s Great Bash Heel (GBH) faction and started out his own originally with Toru Yano and later on would add many more members as the years go by. CHAOS was formed because Nakamura felt like the roots of New Japan were dying which is Strong Style, he wanted to lead a group of people who embodied what NJPW was all about and would earn the nickname “King of Strong Style” later on.
Since the Bullet Club’s inception, however, members of CHAOS would slowly become fan favorites as most of them are homegrown or national talents which earned the support from the fans. I don’t like it when fans claim them as “not a real faction” and they’re not really friends which is far from the truth, if you watch clips from Yano’s DVDs you can see the members bonding together and judging by their social media accounts, they’re all a pretty tight-knit group.
Members:
Kazuchika Okada (Leader) – Reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion, became the leader after Nakamura left for the WWE.
Toru Yano – Founding member and the producer of the YTR VTR.
Tomohiro Ishii – A member since 2009, Ishii is the resident serious stone pitbull of the group but during hangouts can be just as silly as everyone else.
YOSHI-HASHI – Was in the same dojo class as Okada. Been a member since 2011 but is yet to win a single championship in his career. Poor Headhunter.
Will Ospreay – Personally recruited by Okada himself in 2016 after having a match with him in the UK. Ever since joining CHAOS, Ospreay became one of the most successful gaijins in modern-day Puroresu.
Hirooki Goto – Alumni of the New Japan Dojo, Goto originally had no allegiance and was a frequent tag partner to his old pal Katsuyori Shibata but in 2016 after losing to Okada, he got offered a spot to CHAOS which he would eventually accept.
Rocky Romero – Rocky has been with New Japan for ages but he initially joined CHAOS in 2010. He had multiple tag partners through the years with the likes of Davey Richards (No Remorse Corps), Alex Koslov (Forever Hooligans), and Trent Baretta (Roppongi Vice.) Nowadays he is the manager and mentor to Roppongi 3K and is also Okada’s best friend, according to him.
Roppongi 3K (SHO & YOH) – During their young lion days they were called the “Tempura Boyz” and when returning from excursion were mentored and managed by Rocky becoming fully-fledged members of the faction.
Mikey Nicholls – Another Rocky Romero recruit since February this year. Nicholls made his debut since leaving the WWE in the New Japan Cup but didn’t reach too far.
Robbie Eagles – Originally with Bullet Club, Eagles got tired of El Phantasmo’s shenanigans and joined up his old pal/rival Ospreay on June during the Australian tour.
Suzuki-Gun
Originally known as “Kojima-Gun” but in 2011 members Taichi and TAKA Michinoku would betray founding member Satoshi Kojima and joined up with the returning Minoru Suzuki to form what is now Suzuki-Gun. Pronounced as “goon” (gun means “army” in Japanese, so it loosely translates to Suzuki’s Army.)
If CHAOS are the good guys, then Suzuki-Gun are the villains. Led by Minoru Suzuki, all they want is to wreak havoc and mess up everyone in their path whether it be young lions or main event stars. Besides their current lineup, there have been many who were under Suzuki’s leadership before such as Davey Boy Smith Jr., Yoshihiro Takayama, Shelton Benjamin, and Takashi Iizuka, who was a former CHAOS member himself.
Members:
Minoru Suzuki – No one dares to mess with The King. Absolutely no one. Also has the greatest theme song in all of pro wrestling.
Taichi – Been on Suzuki’s side for ages. Finally found his stride as a wrestler ever since moving up to the heavyweights in New Japan.
Zack Sabre Jr. – Initially I found ZSJ to be the odd man amongst the dastard men of Suzuki-Gun but he would eventually prove to be a worthy member and create his own snide persona. He really fits with the group now, especially as the spiritual successor to Suzuki.
TAKA Michinoku – Despite his age, TAKA can still go and really helped in the growth of ZSJ as a performer being his hype man.
El Desperado – One of the underrated junior heavyweights in New Japan today. Desperado is a member since 2014 after returning from his excursion in Mexico.
Yoshinobu Kanemaru – During Suzuki-Gun’s infamous invasion of Pro Wrestling NOAH, they have recruited some of the notable talents of the promotion such as Takashi Sugiura and Kanemaru, the latter would eventually join them as they return in New Japan.
Lance Archer – EVERYBODY DIES!
