10 Unlikely Wrestling Faction Members That Totally Worked
Nobody saw these WWE and AEW alliances coming, but they were surprise hits.
Wrestling has a nasty habit of diluting popular factions to the point of overkill. The wildly successful original blueprint for WCW's nWo was wrecked by adding too many secondary members, for example. There are concerns that WWE's Bloodline is going down that route too, but the family ties they have does makes introducing new faces easier to forgive.
Sprinkling in some curveball stars can work too.
Nobody could've predicted any of the unlikely members listed here in advance. Let's be honest, fans would've laughed had someone jotted these down on paper and said (with a straight face) they'd get over. The cool byproduct of all this is that careers were extended, and companies like WWE, AEW and WCW stumbled upon some gold they didn't see coming.
How could they? A lot of this was experimentation more than anything. Writers adopted a 'sod it, let's see what happens' approach, and they're surely glad they did. If they hadn't, then some of wrestling's most memorable moments would've fallen by the wayside.
Stables exist to get members over - even the most unlikely ones. Check out these surprise hits!
10. Akira Tozawa (Alpha Academy)
Eyes rolled when Chad Gable added Akira Tozawa in as a "junior member" of his Alpha Academy team with Otis in October 2023. This was a true, 'creative has nothing else for you' moment, or so it seemed. Then, something wonderful happened. Tozawa started to contribute using little more than excellent facials during promos.
His work in-ring also sold the underdog mentality of the Academy whilst Gable and Otis were still a babyface team. Later, adding Maxxine into the fold did the same, but Akira's part in things shouldn't be overlooked. He constantly seemed lost and like he was seeking a family during earlier skits, then disenfranchised by Chad's behaviour near the end.
Check out the pic above for some proof.
Realistically, Tozawa should've been a nuisance to fans already enjoying Alpha Academy. Instead, he worked within the group's happy-to-be-here framework, then expertly put across how awful Gable was being to everyone throughout the leader's heel turn.