10 Reasons You Should Be Watching New Japan Pro Wrestling
7. Gang Warfare
New Japan’s roster is split, but not in WWE fashion.
At the moment, there are four dominant factions, and most of the wrestlers on each show belong to one of them. CHAOS feature the IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada, Los Ingobernables de Japon is led by Tetsuya Naito, Bullet Club are well known to Western audiences, and the currently invading Suzuki-gun led by legitimate badass Minoru Suzuki make up the four.
Unlike WWE, these stables aren’t made up of three or four individuals. Instead, they have rosters encompassing everyone from curtain twitchers to main event players. Think NWO rather than The Shield. This gives the matches that kick-off New Japan's shows an added edge. They aren’t just generic tag or singles matches; they are gang warfare between the many competing tribes.
When you first tune into NJPW this system can take a bit of getting used to. Figuring out which group each wrestler belongs with and exactly what that means can be confusing. When you get the hang of it, though, it brings something different to the table.
New Japan is a camp divided, and the war is raging.