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The first few months of 2016 have seen New Japan Pro Wrestling tossed on its ear. In the blink of an eye, five of the company's top stars were gone. Shinsuke Nakamura, Kota Ibushi, AJ Styles, Karl Anderson & Doc Gallows were gone, taking with them the backbone of Bullet Club, one of the company's top heel factions and drawing cards overseas. Such monumental loss in such a short space of time would have ruined many promotions, but with these loses NJPW have been forced to dig into their deep roster and make a lot of changes. With it we have seen an incredible freshness to the NJPW product and lots of exciting possibilities for the future. Sure, a lot of these new things might not all work out, but let's take a look at some of the shakeups in NJPW and what we might be able to expect.
Kenny Omega & The Elite
The one guy that might have benefited from the NJPW departures the most is Kenny Omega. Omega started the year as the IWGP Jr heavyweight champion and was a bit part player in Bullet Club. Despite always delivering and being a constant highlight of every show he was on, Omega was just the Jr. champion. Then in the blink of an eye, he pins Shinsuke Nakamura, kicks AJ Styles out of Bullet Club, declares himself the new leader and goes on to beat Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the IWGP Intercontinental champion. All of a sudden NJPW had made themselves a legitimate main event heel. Kenny Omega has stepped up big time and looks completely at home in his new role. With this ,Omega has aligned with The Young Bucks and created a separate Bullet Club branch known as The Elite. Omega & The Bucks have since won the NEVER six man tag title and have taken the ball and ran with it. The Elite look like they are in line for bigger things in NJPW over the next few months and have given Bullet Club a fresh coat of paint both in Japan and overseas. Kenny Omega has a multitude of fresh matches awaiting him as a heavyweight, so he has a huge chance to be one of the standouts of 2016.
Los Ingobernables de Japon
Ever since Tetsuya Naito’s dissent into madness last summer he has slowly been building himself as top heel in NJPW and forming his own band of Los Ingobernables. Now Naito and his group have their chance to move up a notch. Naito is easily the best and most interesting heel character anywhere in pro wrestling and after winning the New Japan Cup, he has his chance at Kazuchika Okada’s IWGP heavyweight title. Over the years Naito has had his title opportunities and gotten major pushes, but it just never clicked. Now Naito has put all the pieces together and he wouldn’t look out of place as the IWGP champion. It would be incredibly interesting to see what direction things would go with the outlaw Naito holding all the cards in New Japan. EVIL & BUSHI have also stepped up in their own way. BUSHI has put in incredible performances in his feud with KUSHIDA and EVIL has just started to stand out in the ring during his battles with Tomohiro Ishii. Los Ingobernables look as though they will be a main event heel group going forward so it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them add more members, especially if Naito becomes champion.
Katsuyori Shibata
Ever since Shibata returned to NJPW in 2012 he has been a guy that the fans have just rallied behind, but he was always stuck at a certain level and it looked as if he would never move any further. It looks like things are finally changing as Shibata is no longer a freelancer and has signed a contract with NJPW. Shibata won his first singles gold, the NEVER Openweight championship from Tomohiro Ishii and ever since has been getting a moderate push and it can be argued that he is one of the most popular babyfaces in the company. Shibata has been positioned as a top guy and delivers in the ring time and time again. If this keeps up we could be looking at Shibata as a favourite to win the 2016 G1 Climax. Shibata vs Okada is a feud that has been never done before and would certainly be a big time attraction for Wrestle Kingdom 11.
Michael Elgin
Big Mike became a sensation in New Japan last year when he competed in the G1 Climax. For the first time Elgin had found the place where everything just clicked unlike it ever did in ROH, PWG or anywhere else. All the pieces fell into place for Elgin and he has now signed a two year deal with NJPW to be a full time member of the roster. Elgin has quickly become one of the most popular babyface stars in the promotion and he will likely receive a much bigger push over the course of the year. There are lots of fresh matches for Elgin challenging for titles against the likes of Omega, Okada & Shibata. He and Tanahashi could have a great run at the IWGP tag titles too.
Hirooki Goto
When Hirooki Goto fell to Okada at The New Beginning and lost yet another title opportunity, Goto hit a slump. Okada offered his hand and a spot in CHAOS to Goto, a spot that Goto eventually took once he lost the final of the New Japan Cup and remained in his slump. This is the most interesting the Goto character has been in years and his story has been told beautifully. Now Goto is a member of CHAOS and will be teaming up with the likes of Okada & Ishii. There may be more to be told with this story. Goto still has to get out of his slump and we don’t know that Goto will settle in CHAOS. What if Goto was to jump ship to Los Ingobernables, something that has been hinted at before? Either way, people are interested in seeing what happens with Goto, and that is something that hasn’t happened in a very long time.
The Juniors
With the Best of the Super Juniors not far away and the announcement that NJPW will be reviving the Super J Cup in August, the NJPW juniors division could easily be the most exciting it has been in years, with KUSHIDA as the center piece. Will Ospreay is going to blow people away when they see him. The BOSJ will see the likes of Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Matt Sydal, Ricochet, Beretta, Rocky Romero, along with names like BUSHI and possible outsiders from CMLL like Kamaitachi and Dragon Lee, or ROH in the form of Dalton Castle or ACH. There are a lot of amazing potential match ups for the BOSJ alone, then when we get to the Super J Cup we will see inclusions from groups like Pro Wrestling NOAH, Zero 1 and K-Dojo. Hopefully this is the year that the junior heavyweight division returns to the forefront of New Japan.
G1 Climax 26
For the last few years the G1 Climax tournaments have been raved about as some of the greatest tournaments in pro wrestling history. However, the one complaint, particularly last year was a sameness to the tournament. The same matches, with similar looking blocks. That will not be the case this year. Gone are some of the G1’s top performers and this year we will see the first time ever inclusion of the likes of Kenny Omega and KUSHIDA, who has said he will be involved. After his showings last year, Michael Elgin will be a bigger part this time round. We will likely see new blood in the form of Tama Tonga and maybe YOSHI-HASHI. Katsuyori Shibata and Tetsuya Naito will be favourites to win. Who knows what other junior heavyweight talent will be included and you have to imagine ROH will have a presence in the tournament too.
Tama Tonga
As long as Bullet Club has been a thing, Tama Tonga has always been that other guy in the group that no one ever really talks about, despite showing moments of greatness in the ring. Now, as one of two remaining Bullet Club founding members, Tama Tonga has been propelled to one of the heads of the group. Tonga scored his biggest singles win to date over Togi Makabe in the New Japan Cup and he will challenge for the IWGP tag team championship along with his debuting brother, the former Camacho, now known as Tanga Loa. Tama Tonga has a tremendous opportunity and time will tell if he makes the most out of it and can create a new image for Bullet Club.
I can be found on Twitter @MatthewMacklin and RunningEnzuigiri.com (@TweetEnzuigiri)
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