NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 For Beginners Part One
An Introduction to NJPW’s Stables
Los Ingobernables de Japon
Laura: Probably the most popular stable in New Japan today, Los Ingobernables de Japon was the brainchild of one Tetsuya Naito. Returning from an excursion in Mexico’s CMLL promotion, former ‘Stardust Genius’ Naito modelled his ‘Ingobernables’ after the CMLL stable of the same name. Adopting a villainous attitude, Naito channeled his frustrations at the NJPW’s crowd rejection into his new ‘tranquilo’ persona. His first recruit to the cause was fellow returning Young Lion Takaaki Watanabe, who would come to be known as moody goth king EVIL. Bushi swiftly followed, as did Jay Lethal, whose association with the faction would be short-lived: Naito and EVIL left him stranded during a Ring of Honor six-man tag match. In the meantime, former Impact prodigy Sanada made his debut, joining NJPW as the newest member of LIJ in grand style, assisting Naito in his defeat of Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.
Hiromu Takahashi was recruited upon his return from excursion, rounding out the stable and complementing Bushi as a second Junior Heavyweight. This incarnation of Los Ingobernables quickly became one of the most popular and successful groups in all of New Japan. Their anti-authority ethos positions them ostensibly as heels within the NJPW hierarchy, but that hasn’t stopped them gaining the adoration of fans both at home and abroad. Their unique and dissonant styles and distinct personalities make them stand out, and their success both as individuals and in various tag team configurations speaks for itself: between them, they have held the IWGP Heavyweight, Intercontinental, Junior Heavyweight and Tag Team Championships, as well as the NEVER Openweight and 6-Man Tag Team Championships. They can boast a G1 winner, a Best of the Super Juniors winner, and two-time World Tag League winners in EVIL and Sanada.
With the unfortunate and untimely injury of Hiromu Takahashi, LIJ’s ranks were further expanded in 2018 with the arrival of Shingo Takagi. Dubiously assigned to the Junior Heavyweights, Shingo has teamed with Bushi in Hiromu’s absence and has proven a highly effective teammate. Singles success surely calls for Shingo, but for now he faces his first NJPW title challenge as he and Bushi take on Roppongi 3K and Suzuki-Gun for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships.
Suzuki-gun
Suzuki-Gun means ‘Suzuki Army’, and that ought to make clear exactly what sort of stable we’re dealing with here. World’s toughest grandpa Minoru Suzuki is actually the faction’s second leader – it was originally known as Kojima-Gun, after everyone’s favourite bread-loving man (baby) Satoshi Kojima, but as is the way of these things, he was violently ousted from the stable just a year after its inception. In 2011, Suzuki-Gun was born, and no Young Lion has been safe ever since.
Founder members Taka Michinoku and Taichi remain Suzuki-Gun stalwarts, joined shortly afterwards by Lance Archer and, of course, Minoru Suzuki. Newer members include Davey Boy Smith Jr, who regularly tags with Archer under the alias Killer Elite Squad. El Desperado and Takashi Iizuka joined in 2014, followed by Despy’s regular partner in crime Yoshinobu Kanemaru in 2016. And following on from the faction’s brief excursion to Japanese promotion NOAH, newest recruit Zack Sabre Jr proves that last is by no means least: he has more than made his mark in Suzuki-Gun, forming an effective alliance with Minoru Suzuki in their appearances for British promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling.
Like LIJ, Suzuki-Gun have held an embarrassment of titles between them, with El Desperado and Kanemaru going in to Wrestle Kingdom as reigning Junior Heavyweight Tag Champions. Suzuki-Gun’s willingness to do whatever it takes to win has served them well – whether it’s Suzuki’s monstrous implacability, ZSJ’s smug arrogance, or Despy and Kanemaru’s gleeful flouting of the rules, Suzuki-Gun are here to win belts and kick ass, and it can’t be argued that they’re pretty damn good at it.
And that’s the end for part one! Part two of our introduction to NJPW will continue here, and Laura shall continue her look at the different stables in NJPW, covering Bullet Club and CHAOS! It might be… chaotic. I’ll see myself out (Josiah takes full blame for this pun).