NJPW: Could Chuckie T be the mole within CHAOS?

NJPW’s World Tag League has taught us many things these past couple of weeks. Tencozy can still go. Ishimori is probably fibbing a little bit about his bad leg. Zack Sabre Jr and Taichi are the bromance we never knew we needed. And Chuckie T is not okay.

Things took a strange turn in NJPW at Korakuen Hall on Thursday. Apparently incensed by a Toa Henare headbutt, Chuckie T snapped and unleashed the full force of his fury, dragging Henara into the crowd and subjecting him to a chair-based onslaught. Further chairs were lobbed into the ring, ‘Terry Funk-style’, as a mystified Kevin Kelly put it, before Chuck pulled a table out from under the ring.

If the punishment seemed a little disproportionate, things got far worse when Chuck took Henare down mid-ring with a vicious chair shot to the head, costing Best Friends the match and a valuable two points. And then he just kept going. So implacable was his temper that when Beretta stepped in to stop him, Chuck punched him in the face. And worse still, he left without so much as an acknowledgement, let alone an apology.

The following two nights have scarcely been an improvement. Chuck hasn’t punched Beretta again (for which we give thanks), but all is not well with the Kentucky Gentleman.

Between the thousand-yard stares, the dead-eyed grinning, and the apparently random bursts of terrible violence directed at his Tag League opponents, something is terribly amiss. And Beretta is clearly as troubled by it all as we are.

But they’re Best Friends! I hear you cry. What kind of terrible hell world have we found ourselves in? Beretta, at least, is trying to keep things together. He seemed to quickly forgive Chuck his moment of madness, though it’s obvious that we are heading towards something potentially cataclysmic.

And we would be remiss not to consider the increasingly strong possibility that all of this – Chuck’s intermittent breakdowns, Beretta’s unease – is linked to Jay White’s assertion that something is rotten in the CHAOS camp.

The obvious suspect at this point is Chuckie T himself. Could the pressure of being the metaphorical cuckoo in the CHAOS nest be too much for him? Is this his way of sowing further discord? It’s a strong possibility, but it seems too obvious, and I suspect Chuck’s behaviour is not an indicator of his own involvement, but something else: Chuckie T knows who the culprit is.

So if not Chuck, then who? The Hell World scenario paints Beretta as the most likely suspect. Chuck’s strained smiles, forced cheerfulness and repeated refusal to acknowledge Beretta could be indicative of an ill-kept secret.

If Chuck knows his best friend is betraying him – and indeed, all of CHAOS – it’s hardly surprising that he’d struggle to stay composed under that kind of pressure. And while you might explain away Beretta’s response to it all as that of a concerned and bemused friend, it’s equally possible to interpret his resignation and quickness to forgive as the actions of a guilty man.

Or could it be even simpler than that? Could Jay White’s gleeful rumour-mongering be just that: a rumour, with no basis in truth? It would suit him well to tear down CHAOS through infighting and mistrust, and we’ve already seen this in action with Gedo turning on Okada.

Psychology is a powerful thing, and Jay White wields it like a weapon; if paranoia and suspicion is rife within CHAOS, it might even poison the very best of friendships.

With five nights of Tag League action still to come, you can bet we’ve not seen the last of this story. Will we discover the true identity of the mole within CHAOS? Will Best Friendship prevail over the Switchblade’s toxic influence? Only Chuckie T and his cold, dead eyes hold the answer.