Ranking NJPW’s Factions: Worst To Best

Credit: NJPW1972 Instagram

3. Taguchi Japan

5* Talent: Hiroshi Tanahashi; Kushida; Ricochet; Michael Elgin

Underrated Talent: Ryusuke Taguchi

Taguchi Japan was never supposed to be a legitimate stable.

Veteran Junior, Ryusuke Taguchi, was watching Okada, Omega and Suzuki making strides as leaders of their own factions. In a spark of inspiration he thought ‘hey, I can do that.’

And so he went about enlisting all of the unaligned babyfaces on the roster. It looked at first as though most of them were just humouring Taguchi, as they all retained their own personal identities while letting Taguchi think he was running the show.

Gradually however, the concept started to pick up steam. Taguchi started printing off baseball-style shirts with each of his buddies’ names on them. More importantly, the group started to accrue titles. Their headliner, Hiroshi Tanahashi, is the current IWGP Intercontinental Champion. Kushida has solidified himself as the Junior ACE, and Ricochet has become one the elite workers on the planet. In his recent NEVER Openweight Title shot, Michael Elgin had each of these guys in his corner to help fend of Suzuki-gun. It’s acts like these that make the squad seem like a legitimate unit.

The irony of Taguchi’s leadership is the greatest part of the whole thing. He has managed to persuade some of the world’s top wrestlers to join him in a team he named after himself. That said, Taguchi can often surprise us as a more-than-competent competitor, so perhaps he has earned the role he created for himself.