SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
This is part two in a series of articles.
Professional wrestling is, to a large extent, cyclical. At various times all of the major factions have gone through Faction Warfare periods. They haven’t all been good (I’m looking at you, Los Boricuas and the Disciples of Apocalypse), but they do make mid-card storylines easy to create.
New Japan has taken the Faction Warfare model to a whole new level, maintaining it for several years even while changing alignments and personnel. It has worked well for them, but it can get confusing for the new viewer. It is so important to how the promotion works and how the matches are booked that the concept warrants its own article.
Before we start listing the factions, a few things to keep in mind. Generally, matches within a faction are rare. If your faction-mate is the world champion, you are probably not getting a title shot. This rarely leads to friction within a faction, mainly because the pecking order in NJPW (and within the factions, for that matter) is well-defined and adhered to rigidly. There is also very little cooperation or friendship between factions, although it’s not a given that there will be open hostility between them.
I also want to point out that at the time of writing (late April 2025), there is some thought that the current faction model will be completely scrapped or remade. A lot of the recent personnel losses have left some factions with very few members, so some sort of change is inevitable. I’m writing this on the assumption that the existing factions will remain in some way, bolstering their ranks with new talent or defections. If there is a foundational change to the promotion… well, I suppose I will write another article to explain the new reality.
The NJPW website used to have separate pages for each faction. Sadly, they are no longer linkable, but you can sort by faction (or “unit”, as New Japan calls them) on their Profiles page.
(*: Junior heavyweight)
Hontai
Leader: Hirooki Goto (currently disputed)
Key members: Shota Umino, El Desperado*, El Phantasmo, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Boltin Oleg
Also known as the New Japan main unit, this is kind of the catch-all default faction. It had been hugely de-emphasised in recent years, with all the big names being part of other factions. As there are currently 28 members (following their merger with the Chaos faction), I won’t list them all here.
Technically all the Young Lions belong in Hontai. This is a concept unique to New Japan, and refers to the wrestlers currently going through the NJPW Dojo training. They are only allowed to wear black trunks, have short hair, and use a limited moveset. They will never win a match against anyone except another Young Lion. As they progress through the Dojo and master new basic moves, they are allowed to use them in matches. When they do win matches, it is with a Boston Crab. Once a Young Lion has completed his training, he goes on “excursion” to another promotion (almost always), often in another company, to continue their learning. When they come back they will have a character, a full moveset, and no restrictions. It’s a system that has earned some criticism for being incredibly tough and at times demeaning, but one that has yielded excellent results.
Hontai is also home to a lot of veterans who aren’t quite ready to retire but also aren’t in contention for any championships. The likes of Yuji Nagata, Tiger Mask, and Satoshi Kojima can be found here.
The current IWGP World Champion, Hirooki Goto, is the leader of Hontai. He is a long-time fan-favorite who until this year held the unenviable distinction of being the only G1 winner to never hold the world title. A groundswell of fan support over the past 12 months, following the death of his father and his mention of his children watching his matches, were the impetus behind him finally shaking that “never the bride” label.
For most of the last ten years the leadership mantle of Hontai belonged to Hiroshi Tanahashi, known as the Ace of New Japan. His impending retirement, paired with Goto’s title win and the aforementioned Chaos merger, led to the change. As an aside, the fact that the faction was not renamed “Chaontai” continues to stick in my craw to this day. Tanahashi is scheduled to retire at Wrestle Kingdom 2026, and is currently on a farewell tour of matches.
Shota Umino wants to be the leader of the faction, and has had quite the story arc recently. He came back from his excursion in 2022 and was quickly anointed as the next big thing, despite growing fan resistance. Parallels have been drawn between NJPW’s insistence on Umino as a top name and WWE’s tone-deaf forcing of a face Roman Reigns on the audience. While similar, the big issue with Umino was a complete lack of a distinct character. He borrowed his look, moveset, and attitude from other top names in New Japan while attempting to supplant them, and fans rebelled. That is incredibly rare in Japan, and forced multiple reboots of his character.
El Desperado is one of the top junior heavyweights in the promotion, and at time of writing is the Junior Heavyweight champion. He’s one of those guys who never seems to have a bad match with anyone despite not seeming to do anything spectacular. El Phantasmo is a Canadian wrestler who has a tremendous mind for the business and until recently was the NJPW World TV champion. Boltin Oleg is a monster of a man who has a legitimate amateur wrestling background and a strong connection with the fans. He’s still green, but once he develops a little more he could be a name to watch.
Just Four Guys
Leader: Yuya Uemura (unofficially)
Members: Taichi, Douki*, Taka Michinoku*
The status of this group is somewhat in limbo, as it looked for all intents and purposes like it had been absorbed into Hontai during the New Japan Cup. They are still listed as their own unit though, so I am including them here. They’ll also win no prizes for creative faction names, having been formed as Just Four Guys, changing to Just Five Guys when it expanded to include Sanada, and then reverting to Just Four Guys when Sanada turned on them.
Uemura is another member of the vaunted 2022 returning Young Lions group, and arguably the one least damaged by his booking so far. His style is reminiscent of Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat with a modern twist, and he’s almost universally loved. He’s not the total package yet, and essentially fell into the leadership of the group (which again, might not actually be a group any more) when Sanada joined Bullet Club.
Taichi is a huge fan favourite who has never been given the chance to challenge the big names. In terms of standing (and definitely not style) he reminds me of a Kofi Kingston or Darby Allin. He’s another proponent of strong style, with much of his offence being stiff strikes and dropping people on their heads. Douki started off in the company as a lower-card junior heavyweight, but developed something of a cult following and performed well enough to have a run as Junior Heavyweight champion. And yes, that is the Taka Michinoku of Kaientai and Michinoku Driver fame.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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Bullet Club War Dogs
Leader: David Finlay
Members: Gabe Kidd, Drilla Moloney, Jake Lee, Chase Owens, Taiji Ishimori*, Clark Conners*, Gedo*
The latest incarnation of the storied Bullet Club faction in some ways returns to the heel roots of the group, while remaining popular with some fans. They tend to display a very physical, brawling style. They are not above interfering in matches but they do so sparingly. More frequently they will show their heel tendencies with group beatdowns and aggressive promos.
David Finlay is, as you might guess from his name, the son of the legendary Fit Finlay. He wrestles as a power wrestler despite not being particularly big, with a slow and deliberate style that is reminiscent of Randy Orton. He really developed most after taking over the leadership of Bullet Club from Jay White, and in my mind he is now one of the best characters in the promotion. His contract has been rumoured to be up, but if he sticks around it would be safe to assume he will be a world champion in the near future.
Gabe Kidd is bubbling just below the surface as a breakout star waiting to happen. His wrestling style is perfectly suited to NJPW audiences, and he has clearly demonstrated a love for the promotion on multiple occasions. He is almost always cheered despite being nominally part of a heel group. He has his shortcomings, notably an inability or unwillingness to wrestle any other style and a fondness for unprotected headbutts, but he has all the tools to succeed. One quirk of NJPW is that the foreign wrestlers are permitted to curse profusely in English, and none take advantage of that more than Kidd.
Jake Lee could be described as the poor man’s Konosuke Takeshita, which is very far from a bad thing. Drilla Moloney recently made the switch to heavyweight, but aside from an impressive finisher has not really developed much beyond that. Chase Owens is a veteran who only appears sparingly, but even that is too often for some people. Ishimori is a lot older than he looks and wrestles (which is not hard as he looks about 16) but is still a contender in the division and has a unique style. Conners is still finding his spot as a singles competitor but has shown great promise. Gedo is mostly a manager at this point, only stepping in the ring to make up the numbers in multi-man tag matches.
House of Torture
Leader: Evil
Members: Ren Narita, Sanada, Yujiro Takahashi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru*, Sho*, Dick Togo
It will be very hard for me to stay impartial with this entry. House of Torture is the undisputed heel faction in NJPW, and is often cited as one of the most annoying things about the promotion. Their matches are characterised by ref bumps and blatant interference, which almost never result in disqualification. There is little to no regard for logic in those scenarios, with HoT members often holding the referee in place with his back to the cheating going on behind him.
With that said, Evil as the leader of the faction would be extremely entertaining if it weren’t for the repetitive and frustrating matches. He calls himself the real president of New Japan (a role legitimately held by Tanahashi), attempts to make declarations and rulings, and acts like he runs the place. His mannerisms and facial expressions are on point. He’s a decent-enough wrestler in the ring, which only heightens the annoyance when his matches degenerate into shenanigans.
There is no bigger victim of that phenomenon than Ren Narita. One of several young talents who made their return from excursion in 2022, Narita drew multiple favourable comparisons to Shibata and was initially the protégé of Minoru Suzuki. He joined HoT after turning on Shota Umino, and his stock has fallen off a cliff ever since. He’s not bad as a heel per se but physically he’s hard to distinguish from Sho (who is a junior heavyweight and far less talented) and he’s been stuck in the midcard behind Evil ever since.
Sanada only joined the faction recently, having been part of three other factions in the past three years. He’s a former world champion whose reign was not well received, and this latest defection seems destined to push him even further down the card. He’s gifted in the ring but just could not find a niche as the face of the company and leader of his own faction. He does seem to have a definitive character now, but it’s categorically better suited to a sidekick role.
Yujiro is the designated pin-taker in multi-man matches that don’t involve Dick Togo. If the latter name is familiar to you, he is indeed the same Dick Togo who was part of Kaientai in WWE in the 90s. Sho is a very talented junior heavyweight who is often entrusted with mic work, but who has yet to be given the chance to run with the ball. Kanemaru is on the downside of his career now but still has his admirers in the company. He’s a solid hand who can make anyone look like a million bucks.
Los Ingobernables De Japón
Leader: Tetsuya Naito (for now)
Members: Yota Tsuji, Shingo Takagi, Hiromu Takahashi*, Bushi*, Titan*
LIJ is about to change dramatically, with both Naito and Bushi on their way out of the company. Tsuji, Shingo, and Hiromu are all potential successors to the leadership of the faction, and as the news of Naito’s departure is still fresh there has been no real signal as to which way the bookers are leaning. As you might gather from the name, it is an offshoot of Los Ingobernables, a CMLL faction that was led by La Sombra (now known as Andrade).
Naito is a legendary figure in the company. He’s been world champion, he’s won almost every accolade there is to win in the promotion, and he has been one of, if not the most popular people in the company for over a decade. His popularity and recognition likely suffered as a result of his prime coinciding with the primes of Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada, but it would be wrong to say he never got his due. His departure from the company is at least partially due to his health issues, including a degenerative eye condition that is not going to improve. He’s the last major name still in the company who is cemented at the top of the card, and his loss will be acutely felt.
Having said that, Tsuji is the perfect person to eventually take up that mantle. He has great charisma, moves extremely well, but also has good size. The drawback with him is that he came back from excursion (another 2022 graduate) at a high level and has pretty much stayed at the same level – no development, no improvement. He’s popular though, and for a while it seemed like he might try to challenge Naito for the leadership of the group. Tsuji is the current Global Heavyweight champion, which is the second-tier belt in New Japan.
Shingo Takagi joined NJPW from Dragon Gate in 2018 as a junior heavyweight, despite being comfortably over the weight limit. That was not used as part of a story, however. He soon made the transition to heavyweight and is a former world champion, but since losing that title he has largely been used in the midcard to help elevate younger talent. He is a big hitter who can wrestle a power style but also has a mat wrestling side to him that lets him adapt to his opponent. Bad Shingo matches are few and far between.
Hiromu Takahashi is the ace of the junior heavyweight division. He has won Best of the Super Juniors four times, including three years in a row from 2020 to 2022, and is a five-time Junior Heavyweight champion. He’s flirted with the heavyweight division a few times, including a recent IWGP Tag Team championship win, but has said publicly that he wants to remain a junior heavyweight to show that someone from that division can be the face of the company. He’s a truly flexible wrestler who is comfortable in the air, using quickness, on the mat, or exchanging strikes.
Bushi is also about to leave the company, but he’s a junior heavyweight workhorse who fills a similar role to Kanemaru in House of Torture. Titan is a very popular luchador who is contracted to CMLL and as such is not seen often in New Japan. He represents the lucha roots of the faction though, and has been very successful in Best of the Super Juniors.
TMDK
Leader: Zack Sabre Jr
Members: Ryohei Oiwa, Shane Haste, Mikey Nicholls, Hartley Jackson, Bad Dude Tito, Robbie Eagles*, Kosei Fujita*
The way TMDK came into being was a little strange. For a long time it was the name of the tag team of Haste and Nicholls, who competed in WWE as TM61. They recruited ZSJ to turn the team into a faction, and it has grown outwards from there.
If you have never seen ZSJ, you are missing out. He had a brief run in WWE as part of the Cruiserweight Classic, and has shown up several times in AEW. He is almost inarguably the best technical wrestler on the planet. He combines the traditional British style with some innovation and mat wrestling to create a unique amalgam that makes him a joy to watch. Without his long limbs and lithe, swimmer’s physique I don’t think it would work. He is the most recent former world champion, and has won the New Japan Cup twice and the G1 once. With Naito’s impending departure, he will probably be the biggest name left in the promotion.
Oiwa was a little behind the vaunted 2022 class of returning talent, but he is nonetheless a big hope for the future. He’s a thick guy who somewhat resembles Rusev in that regard, but he is still nailing down a style. His nickname is The Grip, which plays into the faction’s rock band feel, but that is also the name of his (somewhat underwhelming, in my opinion) finisher. A little confusing, but ultimately easily overlooked.
Nicholls and Haste are really the only specialist tag team left in the heavyweight ranks. They have been absent for a while, as they weren’t part of the New Japan Cup and the tag titles were part of a larger feud between LIJ and United Empire. Haste was also recovering from an injury. With the tag titles being vacated, I would imagine they will show up again in the near future. Hartley Jackson is a big guy from Australia who is a part-time NJPW talent and not a contender for titles, and Bad Dude Tito is in the same spot (although not Australian).
Robbie Eagles is a veteran at this point, and the current Junior Heavyweight Tag champion with Kosei Fujita. He’s been around for a while and has held the singles junior title as well. He’s more of a technical wrestler than an aerial one these days, but he still busts out the odd 450 splash for fun. Right now he’s in a mentor role to Fujita, who has all the tools to be a junior heavyweight standout for years to come. He’s great in the ring, he’s got that magnetism that makes you want to watch, and he’s being built slowly enough that there isn’t the weight of expectation on him that the likes of Shota Umino and Yota Tsuji are carrying. If I had to pick a young talent to be a sure-fire success in the next five years, it would be Fujita.
United Empire
Leader: TJP
Members: Great-O-Khan, Henare, Callum Newman, Jakob Austin Young*, Francesco Akira*, Templario*
Formed by Will Ospreay when he left Chaos in order to get out of Okada’s shadow, United Empire has changed a lot since. They were initially a heel faction but became too popular to stay that way. They have started leaning back in that direction recently. Jeff Cobb was a member of the faction until this last week, and was a tag team champion with Callum Newman.
TJP only recently moved to heavyweight, and prior to that was a rarity as a faction leader who was a junior heavyweight. He has been all over professional wrestling, with runs in TNA and WWE before this. His style is largely mat-based, and he has an Finn Balor-esque second persona called the Auswang that he uses for big matches. Trying to describe it and do it justice would be futile. His leadership was heavily disputed to start with, but that seems to have died down now.
Great-O-Khan is an interesting case. His popularity spiked a couple of years ago when he saved a woman from a potential assault, and then told police “My name is The Great-O-Khan of New Japan Pro Wrestling, and you can watch me wrestle if you would like.” He then promised to go back to tormenting wrestlers the next day. However the company did nothing with that attention, and he has yet to get any sort of major sustained push. He fights a big-man style with some judo thrown in, and has something of a mystical gimmick. Fortunately it does not manifest in the same way as Undertaker or Kane, limiting itself to his entrance.
Henare is currently injured, but when he is around he is a midcard wrestler who has one gear: forward. He’s another big fan of unprotected headbutts, and when he gets in the ring with people like Shingo or Gabe Kidd it can be hard to watch if (like me) you cringe at the thought of all the concussions. Callum Newman is one of the fastest wrestlers I have ever seen, on the same level as Lio Rush and Nathan Frazier. He does have the blessing of a bigger physique, and has shown increasing levels of charisma recently. He will need to differentiate himself from Will Ospreay, from whom he has borrowed much of his moveset, if he wants to take that next step.
Francesco Akira is the standout of the juniors in United Empire. He’s had a couple of close calls in championship matches, and is a multi-time junior tag champion. At one point I would have said that a singles title win was an inevitability, but there are a few people ahead of him in the pecking order now. He’s exciting, he plays a great underdog, and he has a genuine passion for the business. Jakob Austin Young is a new addition to the faction and is currently the designated pin-eater, but he does seem to have a modicum of talent. Templario is the United Empire version of Titan, though without the tournament success. To be fair, that is mostly because he has not been in one yet. He is widely expected to be part of BOSJ 2025, and that will tell us a lot about where he is seen by NJPW.
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