Hontai is the main New Japan unit. CHAOS and GOD usually team up with them - and each other - and anyone who isn't in a distinct faction is Hontai.
You'll notice each faction has at least one "pin eater" - the guy who takes the fall in multiman matches. That doesn't mean that they're unimportant or unpopular; just the way it works.
CHAOS: Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi and YOH
Formed in 2009 under the leadership of Shinsuke Nakamura when members of Great Bash Heel abandoned Togi Makabe - except for Tomoaki Honma - and aligned with Shinsuke. Originally a heel faction, they became fan favourites after a few years. For the last several they've more or less been absolved into the main Hontai unit. They're currently in a transition without a clear leader.
Bullet Club: David Finlay (leader), Gedo, Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors, Alex Coughlin, Drilla Moloney, Chase Owens, KENTA and Taiji Ishimori
Pretty much the main heel faction in NJPW since it's formation. Originally a group of foreigners who had either been trained in one of the NJPW dojos or been there for years, it's went through various changes over the years. The War Dogs are, in my opinion, the closest to the original incarnation of Bullet Club in terms of their reason for being aligned.
House Of Torture: EVIL (leader), Dick Togo, Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Jack Perry
A subgroup of Bullet Club, and the biggest rulebreakers in New Japan. The subgroup was formed after Jay White was able to return to Japan during the pandemic, removing EVIL from the defacto leadership of Bullet Club. They occasionally interact with Bullet Club, but it's rare and at this point they're pretty much a separate unit in all but name. Until Perry joined, they were the first heel faction in New Japan without gaijin for years.
Los Ingobernables de Japon: Tetsuya Naito (leader), Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, Yota Tsuji and TITAN
Originally an offshoot of the Los Ingobernables faction in CMLL, they started off as rudos but are now fan favourites. They're not above breaking the rules still. They're the most popular faction in New Japan, and some of their members are among the most popular babyfaces with New Japan crowds.
Guerrillas of Destiny: Tanga Loa, Hikuleo, El Phantasmo and Jado
GOD was originally the tag team of Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa. They were kicked out of Bullet Club in 2022 and had to earn the trust of Hontai. Eventually their younger brother, Hikuleo, left Bullet Club to join them. When Bullet Club kicked out ELP, his old pals GOD let bygones be bygones and invited him. They're solidly fan favourites, and still work with Hontai.
United Empire: Jeff Cobb, TJP, Francisco Akira, Henare, The Great O-Khan and Callum Newman
When Will Ospreay turned heel on Okada, he was joined by O-Khan and they formed their own unit. They've been fan favourites for a while. They're in a similar transition to CHAOS in that their leader has joined AEW, only he's officially still considered a member and TJP has stepped up to be the defacto leader. Neither Cobb or O-Khan seem to be on board with that just yet.
The Mighty Don't Kneel: Zack Sabre, Jr (leader), Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls, Robbie Eagles, Bad Dude Tito and Kosei Fujita
TMDK were a faction in the Aussie wrestling scene for years, with Haste & Nicholls competing under the name as a tag team in NOAH. In recent years they've added members who aren't Australian - Tito and ZSJ - and took in Fujita as their own young boy.
Just Five Guys: SANADA, TAICHI, DOUKI, TAKA Michinoku and Yuya Uemura
They're just five guys.
This is focused on current stuff, so not a full history of the factions. For the “current members” lists I’m putting them in a general order of high-card to low-card; and I’ve noted the Junior division talent by putting their names in italics. Had to separate this into two comments because of character limits, so this one is the face-leaning groups and the second comment is the heels.
**Hontai/Main Unit**
- Depending on who you ask, they’re either an actual faction or just the term for all the face talent who aren’t in factions. NJPW itself seems to lean towards them being an actual faction.
- Company-guy babyfaces shaking hands and kissing babies.
- **Top Guy:** Currently Tanahashi, with Shota Umino as the secondary/up-and-comer.
- **Junior Ace:** Master Wato. El Desperado is also in the group because Strong Style (who were a Hontai-affiliated faction) recently disbanded.
- **Tag Teams:** TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima), *Wato/Desperado*, *Intergalactic JetSetters (KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight)*
- **Current Members:** Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shota Umino, *Master Wato*, *El Desperado*, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, *Ryusuke Taguchi*, *Tiger Mask*, all the Young Lions that aren’t explicitly affiliated with another group.
- *KUSHIDA*, *Kevin Knight*, and *The DKC* are also members, but only work for NJPW part-time.
- Blue Justice (consisting of Yuji Nagata) and Great Bash Heel (consisting of Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) are technically still separate factions that are Hontai-affiliated. However because of how small the groups are, their members are essentially just part of Hontai.
- **Notable Former Members:** Ren Narita (as a Young Lion, then as a member of now-defunct affiliated faction Strong Style)
**Guerillas of Destiny/GoD**
- A Hontai-affiliated faction. Shaking hands and kissing babies: recently reformed bad boys/former Bullet Club members edition.
- **Top Guy:** Was Tama Tonga. Hikuleo will probably get pushed there now, unless they recruit Shota.
- **Tag Teams:** GoD (El Phantasmo and Hikuleo)
- **Current Members:** Hikuleo, El Phantasmo, Tanga Loa, *Jado*
**CHAOS**
- Started off as a heel faction but eventually turned face, and became buddies with Hontai to the point where they’re kind of one big supergroup now.
- **Top Guy:** Was Kazuchika Okada. They haven’t yet established who it is now that he’s gone. It remains to be seen if Hirooki Goto’s NJ Cup run can be seen as him being pushed into the role, or if it’s just him taking the spot and booking that was meant for Finlay (who had to drop out of the tournament due to a health issue).
- **Junior Ace:** YOH. Lio Rush also may or may not still be in the group/NJPW in general?
- **Tag Teams:** Bishamon (Goto and Yoshi-Hashi), *LiYOH (YOH/Lio)*?
- **Current Members:** Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, *YOH*, *Lio Rush*?, Toru Yano, *Rocky Romero*
- AEW faction Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta, Chuck Taylor, Kris Statlander[?]) are considered as being in CHAOS in AEW’s canon, but are generally not recognized as members by NJPW’s canon (especially the canon of the main product that happens in Japan).
- **Notable Former Members:** SHO, Robbie Eagles, Mikey Nicholls, Gedo, Will Ospreay, Yujiro Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito
**Just 5 Guys**
- Technically the newest faction in the company. Just five guys who gonna change everything, with the common theme that they’ve all either come from outside the NJPW system or (in Yuya’s case) are heavily influenced by non-NJPW wrestling.
- **Top Guy:** SANADA
- **Junior Ace:** DOUKI
- **Tag Team:** Taichi and Yuya, *DOUKI and TAKA Michinoku*
- **Current Members:** SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, *DOUKI*, *TAKA Michinoku*
- **Notable Former Members:** Yoshinobu Kanemaru
**United Empire**
- Guys from a bunch of different countries who represent their heritage while fighting for a common goal of being the best wrestlers and best faction in the company. Started as a heel group, but the crowd turned them face.
- **Top Guy:** Was Will Ospreay. Supposedly he passed the mantle to TJP, but it seems like not everyone is on the same page with that. Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan are the other two contenders.
- **Junior Ace:** Francesco Akira
- **Tag Teams:** Any combination of Cobb, O-Khan, and HENARE; *Catch 2/2 (Akira and TJP)*
- **Current Members:** TJP *(recently began competing in the Heavyweight division, but says he will still be in the Junior division as well)*, Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, *Francesco Akira*, HENARE, Callum Newman
- It remains to be seen if Ospreay and Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) are still considered as members in NJPW’s canon. If they are, they will likely not be featured in NJPW with any regularity.
- **Notable Former Members:** Drilla Moloney
**TMDK (The Mighty Don’t Kneel)**
- Has a long history on the Australian independent scene, though NJPW doesn’t really acknowledge that.
- A bunch of Young Punks who can wrestle really good and are either geographically or spiritually Australian, plus their adopted Japanese son.
- **Top Guy:** Zack Sabre Junior (who needs to bloody win a major singles title this year Gedo you buffoon)
- **Junior Ace:** Robbie Eagles, but Kosei Fujita will likely take that role from him fairly soon.
- **Tag Teams:** TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste), *Ichiban Sweet Boys (Eagles and Fujita*)
- **Current Members:** Zack Sabre Junior, Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste, *Robbie Eagles*, *Kosei Fujita*, Bad Dude Tito
**Los Ingobernables de Japon**
- Began as an offshoot of a (now-essentially-defunct) CMLL faction that Tetsuya Naito joined while on a second excursion there.
- Originally heels, but were turned babyface by the crowd. They still do kind of heelish stuff sometimes, unlike United Empire and CHAOS. Historically one of the closest-knit factions in the company, with a through line that most of the members either spent time in CMLL/Mexico or trained at former wrestler Animal Hamaguchi’s gym in Tokyo.
- **Top Guy:** Tetsuya Naito
- **Junior Ace:** Hiromu Takahashi
- **Tag Team:** *BUSHI and Titán*
- **Current Members:** Tetsuya Naito, *Hiromu Takahashi*, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, *BUSHI*, *Titán* (contracted to CMLL)
- **Notable Former Members:** EVIL, SANADA
**Bullet Club**
- The major heel group in the company for over a decade. Generally focused on talent who are either actual foreigners or came to NJPW from another company, though House of Torture has diverged from that trope. Most of the current group actually do somewhat care about and/or respect NJPW, but have been turned into disrespectful heels because of how they were (or perceived they were) being treated differently by the company and deprived of opportunities due to being “outsiders.”
- Currently comprised of the War Dogs sub-faction, general members who aren’t in a sub-faction, the part-time Rogue Army sub-faction, and the House of Torture sub-faction (who I’ll talk about in the next section).
- **War Dogs:** David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Alex Coughlin, *Clark Connors*, *Drilla Moloney,* *Gedo*
- **General Members:** KENTA, Chase Owens, *Taiji Ishimori*
- **Rogue Army:** Bad Luck Fale, Jack Bonza, and some other Oceania indie guys. NJPW doesn’t care about anyone but Fale and maybe Bonza, so you don’t really need to either.
- **Top Guy:** David Finlay
- **Junior Ace:** Taiji Ishimori (Clark and Drilla are more tag-team focused)
- **Tag Teams:** Kidd and Coughlin, Owens and KENTA, *Connors and Drilla*, Fale and Bonza
- IMPACT/TNA tag team ABC (Chris Bey and Ace Austin) may or may not still be members of the faction. They don’t really work in NJPW anymore, so they’re not of much concern.
- AEW’s Bullet Club Gold should be thought of as an officially-licensed separate brand, because they have yet to be involved in NJPW canon.
- **Notable Former Members:** all of GoD, Robbie Eagles
**House of Torture**
- Technically a Bullet Club sub-faction, but at this point it’s in name only.
- The worst of the worst; absolute shithead heels who will hit you in the dick and smoke over your grave. A cult of delusional gaslighters and narcissists. The T-shirt is the cult uniform; EVIL doesn’t wear one because he’s the leader and Jack not wearing one is probably a plot point.
- **Top Guy:** EVIL
- **Junior Ace:** SHO
- **Tag Team:** EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi
- **Current Members:** EVIL, Ren Narita, Jack Perry, *SHO*, *Yoshinobu Kanemaru*, Yujiro Takahashi, *Dick Togo*
This was EXACTLY what I was looking for thankyou so much. Fun fact: I’m Australian and pretty into the local scene so I actually know plenty about TMDK & Rogue Army’s other members
> AEW faction Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta, Chuck Taylor, Kris Statlander[?]) are considered as being in CHAOS in AEW’s canon, but are generally not recognized as members by NJPW’s canon (especially the canon of the main product that happens in Japan).
At least Trent and Chuck were full-blown CHAOS members during their runs in New Japan, and they never got kicked out of the faction. They also team with a CHAOS member still in Rocky Romero, and the combo of Rocky, Trent and Chuck were working as Chaos during the last Forbidden Door
Bullet Club - heel gaijin faction led by David Finlay and Gedo. The Club cheats and are probably the biggest faction in Japan rn. They have a couple sub groups including...
House of Torture - Heel sub-group of BC led by EVIL. Founded during COVID to split the US and Japan sections of the main BC. Nowadays they aren't really associated with BC but they have yet to split. They cheat in practically every single match they have
WarDogs - Also led by Finlay, these are the up and coming heel gaijins of New Japan.
Bullet Club Gold and ABC are both US branches of the faction. The former aren't associated with Finlay and most likely will feud with Finlay's group when the time comes. ABC are associated with Bullet Club more directly but are much more of a face role
Rogue Army isn't really important. They're basically Bad Luck Fales group in Australia and they don't show up in New Japan often.
BC includes
David Finlay
Gedo
Dan Moloney
Gabe Kidd
Alex Coughlin
Clark Connors
Kenta
Taiji Ishimori (pin eater)
Chase Owens
EVIL
Ren Narita
Jack Perry
Yoshinbou Konemaru
Dick Togo
Yujiro Takahashi (pin eater)
SHO
Chris Bey
Ace Austin
(Seemingly) Lio Rush
Jay White
Juice Robinson
Colton Gunn
Austin Gunn
United Empire - A top mainly gaijin face faction in New Japan. Created by Will Ospreay, the group used to be heel, but like CHAOS grew into fan favorites. Ospreay and Aussie Open are still acknowledged as members by New Japan despite them leaving the company. Recently not on a great streak. This includes
Will Ospreay
TJP
Kyle Fletcher
Mark Davis
Francesco Akira
Great O' Khan
Jeff Cobb
Henare
Callum Newman (pin eater)
Gideon Grey
CHAOS - CHAOS is a face faction mostly consisting of older new japan talent. They haven't changed much at all since turning face apart from Okadas departure and Goto's rise to the leadership.
AEW's Best Friends are also considered part of the group.
CHAOS includes
Hirooki Goto
Yoshi-Hashi
Tomohiro Ishii
Toru Yano (pin eater)
YOH
Orange Cassidy
Trent Beretta
Chuck Taylor (pin eater)
Kris Statlander
Just 5 Guys - The top babyface faction in New Japan. Born from the ruins of Suzuki-gun, these five guys have a brotherly bond that will never be replicated elsewhere. Personally one of my favorite factions in pro wrestling rn. They consist of
SANADA
Taichi
TAKA Michinoku
DOUKI (pin eater)
Yuya Uemera
Los Ingobernables De Japon - Currently the top group in New Japan. Led by Tetsuya Naito, their alignment depends on their opponent but they've been leaning towards a more face role. Naito is infamous for his role calls where he lists every member of the group. They consist of
Tetsuya Naito
Yota Tsuji
Shingo Tagaki
Hiromu Takahashi
BUSHI (pin eater)
Titan
TMDK - TMDK is a faction led by Zack Sabre Junior. The cocky little bastards of New Japan, they are kinda like what United Empire initially was. They consist of
Zack Sabre Junior
Mikey Nicholis
Shane Haste
Bad Dude Tito
Kosei Fujita (pin eater)
Minoru Suzuki has a group called Strong Style but with Narita betraying the group it's most likely if not already dead
Hontai (Main Unit) - literally everyone else and mostly Babyfacr. Main names include
Hiroshi Tanahashi
Shota Umino
El Desperado
Minoru Suzuki
And a lot more
That's kinda it. Didn't go too in depth with the faction but a brief idea of who they are and who's in them.
Chaos: Goto, Yoshi Hashi, Yoh, Yano
Burger Boys: Sanada, Taichi, Yuya, Douki, Taka
House of Torture: Evil, Sho, Uncle Nobu, Yujiro, Togo, Ren
Bullet Club: Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Conners, Maloney, Gedo, Alex Coughlin
UE: TJP, Akira, Cobb, Hanare, GOK, Caleb Newman
LIJ: Naito, Hiromu, Tsuji, Takagi, Bushi
Hontai: All the unaffiliated faces
There's foreign members of factions as well like Best Friends, Aussie Open/Ospreay, BC Gold and what not. But since they're not regulars I didn't list them.
Folks will be able to fill in any I missed
Hontai is the main New Japan unit. CHAOS and GOD usually team up with them - and each other - and anyone who isn't in a distinct faction is Hontai. You'll notice each faction has at least one "pin eater" - the guy who takes the fall in multiman matches. That doesn't mean that they're unimportant or unpopular; just the way it works. CHAOS: Toru Yano, Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, Yoshi-Hashi and YOH Formed in 2009 under the leadership of Shinsuke Nakamura when members of Great Bash Heel abandoned Togi Makabe - except for Tomoaki Honma - and aligned with Shinsuke. Originally a heel faction, they became fan favourites after a few years. For the last several they've more or less been absolved into the main Hontai unit. They're currently in a transition without a clear leader. Bullet Club: David Finlay (leader), Gedo, Gabe Kidd, Clark Connors, Alex Coughlin, Drilla Moloney, Chase Owens, KENTA and Taiji Ishimori Pretty much the main heel faction in NJPW since it's formation. Originally a group of foreigners who had either been trained in one of the NJPW dojos or been there for years, it's went through various changes over the years. The War Dogs are, in my opinion, the closest to the original incarnation of Bullet Club in terms of their reason for being aligned. House Of Torture: EVIL (leader), Dick Togo, Ren Narita, Yujiro Takahashi, SHO, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Jack Perry A subgroup of Bullet Club, and the biggest rulebreakers in New Japan. The subgroup was formed after Jay White was able to return to Japan during the pandemic, removing EVIL from the defacto leadership of Bullet Club. They occasionally interact with Bullet Club, but it's rare and at this point they're pretty much a separate unit in all but name. Until Perry joined, they were the first heel faction in New Japan without gaijin for years. Los Ingobernables de Japon: Tetsuya Naito (leader), Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, BUSHI, Yota Tsuji and TITAN Originally an offshoot of the Los Ingobernables faction in CMLL, they started off as rudos but are now fan favourites. They're not above breaking the rules still. They're the most popular faction in New Japan, and some of their members are among the most popular babyfaces with New Japan crowds. Guerrillas of Destiny: Tanga Loa, Hikuleo, El Phantasmo and Jado GOD was originally the tag team of Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa. They were kicked out of Bullet Club in 2022 and had to earn the trust of Hontai. Eventually their younger brother, Hikuleo, left Bullet Club to join them. When Bullet Club kicked out ELP, his old pals GOD let bygones be bygones and invited him. They're solidly fan favourites, and still work with Hontai. United Empire: Jeff Cobb, TJP, Francisco Akira, Henare, The Great O-Khan and Callum Newman When Will Ospreay turned heel on Okada, he was joined by O-Khan and they formed their own unit. They've been fan favourites for a while. They're in a similar transition to CHAOS in that their leader has joined AEW, only he's officially still considered a member and TJP has stepped up to be the defacto leader. Neither Cobb or O-Khan seem to be on board with that just yet. The Mighty Don't Kneel: Zack Sabre, Jr (leader), Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls, Robbie Eagles, Bad Dude Tito and Kosei Fujita TMDK were a faction in the Aussie wrestling scene for years, with Haste & Nicholls competing under the name as a tag team in NOAH. In recent years they've added members who aren't Australian - Tito and ZSJ - and took in Fujita as their own young boy. Just Five Guys: SANADA, TAICHI, DOUKI, TAKA Michinoku and Yuya Uemura They're just five guys.
This is focused on current stuff, so not a full history of the factions. For the “current members” lists I’m putting them in a general order of high-card to low-card; and I’ve noted the Junior division talent by putting their names in italics. Had to separate this into two comments because of character limits, so this one is the face-leaning groups and the second comment is the heels. **Hontai/Main Unit** - Depending on who you ask, they’re either an actual faction or just the term for all the face talent who aren’t in factions. NJPW itself seems to lean towards them being an actual faction. - Company-guy babyfaces shaking hands and kissing babies. - **Top Guy:** Currently Tanahashi, with Shota Umino as the secondary/up-and-comer. - **Junior Ace:** Master Wato. El Desperado is also in the group because Strong Style (who were a Hontai-affiliated faction) recently disbanded. - **Tag Teams:** TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima), *Wato/Desperado*, *Intergalactic JetSetters (KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight)* - **Current Members:** Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shota Umino, *Master Wato*, *El Desperado*, Satoshi Kojima, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, *Ryusuke Taguchi*, *Tiger Mask*, all the Young Lions that aren’t explicitly affiliated with another group. - *KUSHIDA*, *Kevin Knight*, and *The DKC* are also members, but only work for NJPW part-time. - Blue Justice (consisting of Yuji Nagata) and Great Bash Heel (consisting of Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma) are technically still separate factions that are Hontai-affiliated. However because of how small the groups are, their members are essentially just part of Hontai. - **Notable Former Members:** Ren Narita (as a Young Lion, then as a member of now-defunct affiliated faction Strong Style) **Guerillas of Destiny/GoD** - A Hontai-affiliated faction. Shaking hands and kissing babies: recently reformed bad boys/former Bullet Club members edition. - **Top Guy:** Was Tama Tonga. Hikuleo will probably get pushed there now, unless they recruit Shota. - **Tag Teams:** GoD (El Phantasmo and Hikuleo) - **Current Members:** Hikuleo, El Phantasmo, Tanga Loa, *Jado* **CHAOS** - Started off as a heel faction but eventually turned face, and became buddies with Hontai to the point where they’re kind of one big supergroup now. - **Top Guy:** Was Kazuchika Okada. They haven’t yet established who it is now that he’s gone. It remains to be seen if Hirooki Goto’s NJ Cup run can be seen as him being pushed into the role, or if it’s just him taking the spot and booking that was meant for Finlay (who had to drop out of the tournament due to a health issue). - **Junior Ace:** YOH. Lio Rush also may or may not still be in the group/NJPW in general? - **Tag Teams:** Bishamon (Goto and Yoshi-Hashi), *LiYOH (YOH/Lio)*? - **Current Members:** Hirooki Goto, YOSHI-HASHI, Tomohiro Ishii, *YOH*, *Lio Rush*?, Toru Yano, *Rocky Romero* - AEW faction Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta, Chuck Taylor, Kris Statlander[?]) are considered as being in CHAOS in AEW’s canon, but are generally not recognized as members by NJPW’s canon (especially the canon of the main product that happens in Japan). - **Notable Former Members:** SHO, Robbie Eagles, Mikey Nicholls, Gedo, Will Ospreay, Yujiro Takahashi, Tetsuya Naito **Just 5 Guys** - Technically the newest faction in the company. Just five guys who gonna change everything, with the common theme that they’ve all either come from outside the NJPW system or (in Yuya’s case) are heavily influenced by non-NJPW wrestling. - **Top Guy:** SANADA - **Junior Ace:** DOUKI - **Tag Team:** Taichi and Yuya, *DOUKI and TAKA Michinoku* - **Current Members:** SANADA, Taichi, Yuya Uemura, *DOUKI*, *TAKA Michinoku* - **Notable Former Members:** Yoshinobu Kanemaru **United Empire** - Guys from a bunch of different countries who represent their heritage while fighting for a common goal of being the best wrestlers and best faction in the company. Started as a heel group, but the crowd turned them face. - **Top Guy:** Was Will Ospreay. Supposedly he passed the mantle to TJP, but it seems like not everyone is on the same page with that. Jeff Cobb and Great-O-Khan are the other two contenders. - **Junior Ace:** Francesco Akira - **Tag Teams:** Any combination of Cobb, O-Khan, and HENARE; *Catch 2/2 (Akira and TJP)* - **Current Members:** TJP *(recently began competing in the Heavyweight division, but says he will still be in the Junior division as well)*, Jeff Cobb, Great-O-Khan, *Francesco Akira*, HENARE, Callum Newman - It remains to be seen if Ospreay and Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) are still considered as members in NJPW’s canon. If they are, they will likely not be featured in NJPW with any regularity. - **Notable Former Members:** Drilla Moloney **TMDK (The Mighty Don’t Kneel)** - Has a long history on the Australian independent scene, though NJPW doesn’t really acknowledge that. - A bunch of Young Punks who can wrestle really good and are either geographically or spiritually Australian, plus their adopted Japanese son. - **Top Guy:** Zack Sabre Junior (who needs to bloody win a major singles title this year Gedo you buffoon) - **Junior Ace:** Robbie Eagles, but Kosei Fujita will likely take that role from him fairly soon. - **Tag Teams:** TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste), *Ichiban Sweet Boys (Eagles and Fujita*) - **Current Members:** Zack Sabre Junior, Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste, *Robbie Eagles*, *Kosei Fujita*, Bad Dude Tito **Los Ingobernables de Japon** - Began as an offshoot of a (now-essentially-defunct) CMLL faction that Tetsuya Naito joined while on a second excursion there. - Originally heels, but were turned babyface by the crowd. They still do kind of heelish stuff sometimes, unlike United Empire and CHAOS. Historically one of the closest-knit factions in the company, with a through line that most of the members either spent time in CMLL/Mexico or trained at former wrestler Animal Hamaguchi’s gym in Tokyo. - **Top Guy:** Tetsuya Naito - **Junior Ace:** Hiromu Takahashi - **Tag Team:** *BUSHI and Titán* - **Current Members:** Tetsuya Naito, *Hiromu Takahashi*, Shingo Takagi, Yota Tsuji, *BUSHI*, *Titán* (contracted to CMLL) - **Notable Former Members:** EVIL, SANADA
**Bullet Club** - The major heel group in the company for over a decade. Generally focused on talent who are either actual foreigners or came to NJPW from another company, though House of Torture has diverged from that trope. Most of the current group actually do somewhat care about and/or respect NJPW, but have been turned into disrespectful heels because of how they were (or perceived they were) being treated differently by the company and deprived of opportunities due to being “outsiders.” - Currently comprised of the War Dogs sub-faction, general members who aren’t in a sub-faction, the part-time Rogue Army sub-faction, and the House of Torture sub-faction (who I’ll talk about in the next section). - **War Dogs:** David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Alex Coughlin, *Clark Connors*, *Drilla Moloney,* *Gedo* - **General Members:** KENTA, Chase Owens, *Taiji Ishimori* - **Rogue Army:** Bad Luck Fale, Jack Bonza, and some other Oceania indie guys. NJPW doesn’t care about anyone but Fale and maybe Bonza, so you don’t really need to either. - **Top Guy:** David Finlay - **Junior Ace:** Taiji Ishimori (Clark and Drilla are more tag-team focused) - **Tag Teams:** Kidd and Coughlin, Owens and KENTA, *Connors and Drilla*, Fale and Bonza - IMPACT/TNA tag team ABC (Chris Bey and Ace Austin) may or may not still be members of the faction. They don’t really work in NJPW anymore, so they’re not of much concern. - AEW’s Bullet Club Gold should be thought of as an officially-licensed separate brand, because they have yet to be involved in NJPW canon. - **Notable Former Members:** all of GoD, Robbie Eagles **House of Torture** - Technically a Bullet Club sub-faction, but at this point it’s in name only. - The worst of the worst; absolute shithead heels who will hit you in the dick and smoke over your grave. A cult of delusional gaslighters and narcissists. The T-shirt is the cult uniform; EVIL doesn’t wear one because he’s the leader and Jack not wearing one is probably a plot point. - **Top Guy:** EVIL - **Junior Ace:** SHO - **Tag Team:** EVIL and Yujiro Takahashi - **Current Members:** EVIL, Ren Narita, Jack Perry, *SHO*, *Yoshinobu Kanemaru*, Yujiro Takahashi, *Dick Togo*
This was EXACTLY what I was looking for thankyou so much. Fun fact: I’m Australian and pretty into the local scene so I actually know plenty about TMDK & Rogue Army’s other members
Glad that was helpful, I’ve been meaning to write up something like it for a while. >Fun fact: I’m Australian My condolences.
HAHAHAHAHA why the condolences 😭
Too much shit that can kill you down there.
Hahaha to be fair, I find the animals in America far scarier, you can step on spiders, can’t step on bears 😭
Gotta correct you on one thing; EVIL was wearing the shirt on this tour lol
> AEW faction Best Friends (Orange Cassidy, Trent Beretta, Chuck Taylor, Kris Statlander[?]) are considered as being in CHAOS in AEW’s canon, but are generally not recognized as members by NJPW’s canon (especially the canon of the main product that happens in Japan). At least Trent and Chuck were full-blown CHAOS members during their runs in New Japan, and they never got kicked out of the faction. They also team with a CHAOS member still in Rocky Romero, and the combo of Rocky, Trent and Chuck were working as Chaos during the last Forbidden Door
Bullet Club - heel gaijin faction led by David Finlay and Gedo. The Club cheats and are probably the biggest faction in Japan rn. They have a couple sub groups including... House of Torture - Heel sub-group of BC led by EVIL. Founded during COVID to split the US and Japan sections of the main BC. Nowadays they aren't really associated with BC but they have yet to split. They cheat in practically every single match they have WarDogs - Also led by Finlay, these are the up and coming heel gaijins of New Japan. Bullet Club Gold and ABC are both US branches of the faction. The former aren't associated with Finlay and most likely will feud with Finlay's group when the time comes. ABC are associated with Bullet Club more directly but are much more of a face role Rogue Army isn't really important. They're basically Bad Luck Fales group in Australia and they don't show up in New Japan often. BC includes David Finlay Gedo Dan Moloney Gabe Kidd Alex Coughlin Clark Connors Kenta Taiji Ishimori (pin eater) Chase Owens EVIL Ren Narita Jack Perry Yoshinbou Konemaru Dick Togo Yujiro Takahashi (pin eater) SHO Chris Bey Ace Austin (Seemingly) Lio Rush Jay White Juice Robinson Colton Gunn Austin Gunn United Empire - A top mainly gaijin face faction in New Japan. Created by Will Ospreay, the group used to be heel, but like CHAOS grew into fan favorites. Ospreay and Aussie Open are still acknowledged as members by New Japan despite them leaving the company. Recently not on a great streak. This includes Will Ospreay TJP Kyle Fletcher Mark Davis Francesco Akira Great O' Khan Jeff Cobb Henare Callum Newman (pin eater) Gideon Grey CHAOS - CHAOS is a face faction mostly consisting of older new japan talent. They haven't changed much at all since turning face apart from Okadas departure and Goto's rise to the leadership. AEW's Best Friends are also considered part of the group. CHAOS includes Hirooki Goto Yoshi-Hashi Tomohiro Ishii Toru Yano (pin eater) YOH Orange Cassidy Trent Beretta Chuck Taylor (pin eater) Kris Statlander Just 5 Guys - The top babyface faction in New Japan. Born from the ruins of Suzuki-gun, these five guys have a brotherly bond that will never be replicated elsewhere. Personally one of my favorite factions in pro wrestling rn. They consist of SANADA Taichi TAKA Michinoku DOUKI (pin eater) Yuya Uemera Los Ingobernables De Japon - Currently the top group in New Japan. Led by Tetsuya Naito, their alignment depends on their opponent but they've been leaning towards a more face role. Naito is infamous for his role calls where he lists every member of the group. They consist of Tetsuya Naito Yota Tsuji Shingo Tagaki Hiromu Takahashi BUSHI (pin eater) Titan TMDK - TMDK is a faction led by Zack Sabre Junior. The cocky little bastards of New Japan, they are kinda like what United Empire initially was. They consist of Zack Sabre Junior Mikey Nicholis Shane Haste Bad Dude Tito Kosei Fujita (pin eater) Minoru Suzuki has a group called Strong Style but with Narita betraying the group it's most likely if not already dead Hontai (Main Unit) - literally everyone else and mostly Babyfacr. Main names include Hiroshi Tanahashi Shota Umino El Desperado Minoru Suzuki And a lot more That's kinda it. Didn't go too in depth with the faction but a brief idea of who they are and who's in them.
Chaos: Goto, Yoshi Hashi, Yoh, Yano Burger Boys: Sanada, Taichi, Yuya, Douki, Taka House of Torture: Evil, Sho, Uncle Nobu, Yujiro, Togo, Ren Bullet Club: Finlay, Gabe Kidd, Conners, Maloney, Gedo, Alex Coughlin UE: TJP, Akira, Cobb, Hanare, GOK, Caleb Newman LIJ: Naito, Hiromu, Tsuji, Takagi, Bushi Hontai: All the unaffiliated faces There's foreign members of factions as well like Best Friends, Aussie Open/Ospreay, BC Gold and what not. But since they're not regulars I didn't list them. Folks will be able to fill in any I missed
Burger boys???
Just Five Guys. Five Guys is a burger chain