Ranking NJPW’s Factions Post-WK12: Worst To Best

Credit: NJPW Twitter

1. CHAOS

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Kazuchika Okada is every bit the Heavyweight Champion that he’s presented as. His dominance has been the premier storyline in New Japan the past few years, and the train isn’t stopping for Kenny, Naito or anyone else. The product is so Okada-centric, you might think his stablemates wouldn’t get a look-in. But on top of Okada’s victory, CHAOS walked out of Wrestle Kingdom with three new titles.

Sure enough, Baretta, Yano and Ishii dropped the trios belts straight back, but it’s the message that counts: CHAOS rules the Tokyo Dome. Okada, Ospreay and Goto all earned their titles in vastly different, but equally thrilling styles of match. Though they lost, Roppongi 3K even managed to have a story-driven match with the ‘spot monkey’ Young Bucks. They are a sprawling group, but CHAOS made use of every spot they had on Wrestle Kingdom to elevate themselves and their team.

Does the group now cool off in the post-Kingdom landscape? Or do they recruit an unaligned Heavyweight who just took on Tanahashi at the Tokyo Dome in his return match? In truth, the Jay White pick-up isn’t clear-cut, but the hallmark of CHAOS is dominance. Clearly the company view Jay White’s potential as boundless, and have given him another main event against Omega next month. How he’ll fit in remains to be seen, but after snagging the returning Sho and Yo, CHAOS made another shrewd move in signing Switchblade.

Next: Ranking The Top 20 WWE Matches Of 2017

It’s time for the other factions in New Japan to realise: this is the CHAOS show. Now what are they going to do about that?