Major NJPW Faction To Split At The End Of 2022

This long-standing fan favourite NJPW stable is coming to an end.

by Andrew Pollard
Suzuki gun
NJPW

By the time 2023 rolls around, Suzuki-gun will be no more.

Today's NJPW World Tag League 2022 & Super Junior Tag League 2022 event saw the legendary Minoru Suzuki announce that the hugely popular faction will disband at the end of the year.

After Suzuki-gun's DOUKI, Lance Archer, Yoshinobo Kanemaru and Murder Grandpa bested House of Torture's Dick Togo, EVIL, SHO and Yujiro Takahashi, Suzuki took the microphone. Praising the group's members, Minoru declared how Suzuki-gun will be ending in order for the stable's members to embark on their own journeys.

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Having formed in 2011 - originally as Kojima-fun - the current Suzuki-gun line-up consists of the aforementioned four and Zack Sabre Jr., Taichi, El Desperado and Taka Michinoku. Previous members include Davey Boy Smith Jr., Kengo Mashimo, Shelton Benjamin, Takashi Iizuka, Takashi Sugiura, Yoshihiro Takayama and, as Kojima-gun, names such as Satoshi Kojima, MVP and Nosawa Rongai.

With Zack Sabre Jr. and Taichi tagging together under the Dangerous Tekkers moniker, plus El Desperado and Kanemaru having been a tag team since 2016, it remains to be seen if these pairings will remain together once Suzuki-gun formally ceases to be.

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Senior Writer
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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.