Los Ingobernables de Japón

Los Ingobernables de Japón (ロス・インゴベルナブレス・デ・ハポン) (L.I.J.) (Spanish for "The Ungovernables of Japan") is a stable, based in the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. An offshoot of the Los Ingobernables stable, based in the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion, the group was formed in 2015 by Tetsuya Naito, upon his return to NJPW from CMLL. Under the leadership of Naito, the stable has also come to include BUSHI, EVIL, Hiromu Takahashi and SANADA. Through NJPW's working relationship with the American promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), the stable has also appeared in the United States with ROH wrestler Jay Lethal and his manager Truth Martini being former members of the group.

As part of the stable, Naito has held the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships, Takahashi the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, EVIL the NEVER Openweight Championship and BUSHI both the CMLL World Welterweight and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championships, EVIL and SANADA the IWGP Tag Team Championship and BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Naito also won the 2016 New Japan Cup and 2017 G1 Climax and EVIL and SANADA the 2017 World Tag League and Takahashi the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors while representing the stable. Tokyo Sports cited L.I.J.'s impact on NJPW as one of the main factors in the magazine naming Naito the 2016 Wrestler of the Year, a feat he repeated the following year.

History
In June 2013, Tetsuya Naito returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from a legitimate anterior cruciate ligament injury. Two months later, Naito defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi in the finals to win NJPW's premier singles tournament, the G1 Climax. Despite being a clean-cut babyface, Naito was soundly rejected by NJPW fans and his win over Tanahashi was booed. NJPW had pegged Naito as their next top babyface star, but seeing how the fans were reacting to him, the company changed their course of action and announced a fan vote to decide whether the planned IWGP Heavyweight Championship match between Naito and Kazuchika Okada or an IWGP Intercontinental Championship match between Shinsuke Nakamura and Hiroshi Tanahashi would main event the promotion's biggest event of the year, Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome. The fans voted Nakamura and Tanahashi to main event the show with Naito and Okada relegated to semi-main event. After failing to capture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Okada, Naito would remain a step below the top spot in NJPW.

During the summer of 2015, Naito, through a working relationship between NJPW and the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion, worked a tour of CMLL, during which he joined the Los Ingobernables stable. Upon his June return to NJPW, Naito continued representing Los Ingobernables, adopting the villainous attitude associated with the stable, using the fans' rejection of him as a catalyst for the change. In the weeks leading to October's King of Pro-Wrestling event, Naito began teasing bringing in a pareja ("partner") to witness his match against Hiroshi Tanahashi, contested for Tanahashi's contract for a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome. At the October 11 event, Takaaki Watanabe, making his NJPW return after a two-year overseas learning excursion, was revealed as Naito's pareja as he attacked Hiroshi Tanahashi during his match with Naito. Watanabe's outside interference was stopped by Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata, which led to Tanahashi defeating Naito to retain his contract. In a post-match interview, Naito gave Watanabe his new ring name, "King of Darkness" EVIL. On November 21, Naito and EVIL entered the 2015 World Tag League. During the opening night, BUSHI, making his return following an injury, debuted as the new third member of the group, which was subsequently dubbed Los Ingobernables de Japón.

Naito and EVIL ended up making it to the finals of the World Tag League, before losing to G.B.H. (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma). On the day of the finals, December 9, BUSHI offered Máscara Dorada a spot in Los Ingobernables de Japón. After being turned down, BUSHI attacked Dorada, unmasked him and stole his CMLL World Welterweight Championship belt. This led to a title match on December 19, where BUSHI defeated Dorada with help from his stablemates to bring Los Ingobernables de Japón its first championship. BUSHI lost the title back to Dorada during the CMLL and NJPW co-produced Fantastica Mania 2016 tour on January 22, 2016. On February 20, at the NJPW and Ring of Honor (ROH) co-produced Honor Rising: Japan 2016 event, Los Ingobernables de Japón helped Jay Lethal retain the ROH World Championship in a match against Tomoaki Honma. Following the match, both Lethal and his manager Truth Martini joined the unit. While this marked Martini's only appearance as a member of Los Ingobernables de Japón, Lethal continued making sporadic appearances as part of the group over the following months.

On March 12, Naito, with help from both BUSHI and EVIL, defeated Hirooki Goto in the finals to win the 2016 New Japan Cup. With the win, Naito earned the right to challenge for a title of his choosing and chose to face IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada. On April 10 at Invasion Attack 2016, SANADA debuted as the newest member of Los Ingobernables de Japón, helping Naito defeat Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2016, Naito made his first successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Okada's CHAOS stablemate Tomohiro Ishii. Following the match, Okada, who had earlier in the event defeated SANADA, intimated that he wanted a title rematch with Naito. Also in May, BUSHI took part in the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors. Although he failed to advance from his block with a record of four wins and three losses, BUSHI scored a major win in his final match of the tournament on June 6 by defeating reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion KUSHIDA, causing him to miss the finals of the tournament. On June 19 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, Naito lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship back to Okada, ending his two-month reign in his second defense. On July 6 it was announced that BUSHI was representing the unit in the 2016 Super J-Cup, but on July 20, he was eliminated in his first round match by Yoshinobu Kanemaru. From July 18 to August 13, Naito, EVIL and SANADA all took part in the 2016 G1 Climax, with SANADA wrestled in block A and Naito and EVIL in block B. All three failed to advance to the finals with Naito finishing second in his block with a record of six wins and three losses, while SANADA and EVIL both finished with records of four wins and five losses. Naito was victorious over EVIL in the head-to-head match between the two stablemates. During the tournament, Naito scored a win over Michael Elgin, which put him in line for a shot at Elgin's IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On August 20, Jay Lethal's association with the unit came to an end, when Naito and EVIL abandoned him during a six-man tag team match at an ROH event in Las Vegas, Nevada.

On September 17 at Destruction in Tokyo, BUSHI received a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, which he had earned with the win over KUSHIDA during the 2016 Best of the Super Juniors. BUSHI was accompanied to the match by a new unidentified member of the Los Ingobernables de Japón, who had debuted earlier in the week. The match featured outside interference from both Naito and Michael Elgin and ended with BUSHI defeating KUSHIDA to bring the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Los Ingobernables de Japón. On September 25 at Destruction in Kobe, the stable won another title, when Naito defeated Elgin for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. BUSHI lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship back to KUSHIDA on November 5 at Power Struggle. Later that same event, EVIL defeated Katsuyori Shibata to become the new NEVER Openweight Champion. EVIL lost the title back to Shibata ten days later in Singapore. The following week, at November 18 three members of the stable entered the 2016 World Tag League with EVIL and SANADA teaming together. On that same night during the opening Naito revealed that his pareja the mystery partner of the group was the CMLL wrestler and original Los Ingobernables member Rush. Naito had planned a teamup between the Los Ingobernables and Los Ingobernables de Japón stables for the previous year's tournament, but the CMLL wrestlers had been busy and unable to participate. On December 10, Hiromu Takahashi joined Los Ingobernables de Japon. Takahashi had recently returned to NJPW from a three-year overseas learning excursion, during which he mainly worked for CMLL. On the same show, Bushi, Evil and Sanada defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata and NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion Satoshi Kojima in a six-man tag team match, after which BUSHI made a title challenge against Kojima and his championship partners David Finlay and Ricochet.

On January 4, 2017 at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA defeated Finlay, Ricochet and Kojima as part of a four-team gauntlet match, which also included the Bullet Club trio of Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi and the Chaos trio of Jado, Will Ospreay and Yoshi-Hashi, to become the new NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Later that same event, Takahashi defeated KUSHIDA to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Tetsuya Naito's successful defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi marked a clean sweep for L.I.J., who left Wrestle Kingdom 11 holding three championships.

Following Wrestle Kingdom 11, L.I.J. entered a rivalry with the Taguchi Japan stable over all three of their championships. Naito went on to successfully defend the Intercontinental Championship against Taguchi Japan members Michael Elgin and Juice Robinson, while Takahashi defended the Junior Heavyweight Championship against their stablemates Dragon Lee, Kushida, and Ricochet. Meanwhile, Bushi, Evil and Sanada exchanged the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship with members of Taguchi Japan multiple times. They first lost the title to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi on January 5, then regained it on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, then lost it to Tanahashi, Taguchi and Ricochet on April 4, before regaining it again on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2017. On June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall, Takahashi lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to the winner of the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors, KUSHIDA. Later that same event, Naito lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi. The following month, three members of L.I.J. took part in the 2017 G1 Climax; Naito in block A and Evil and Sanada in block B. Naito won his block with a record of seven wins and two losses and advanced to the finals of the tournament. Meanwhile, Evil finished third in his block with a record of three losses and six wins, one of which came over the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada. Sanada, who won the head-to-head match against Evil, finished in the middle of the block with a record of four wins and five losses. On August 13, Naito defeated Kenny Omega in the finals to win the 2017 G1 Climax. With Naito now fully embraced by the over 12,000 people in attendance, the win was seen as a conclusion of a four-year arch, which started with Naito's rejection by NJPW fans following his 2013 G1 Climax win and led directly to the creation of Los Ingobernables de Japon. In late 2017, Bushi and Takahashi started teaming regularly in NJPW's junior tag team division. On November 12, Los Ingobernables de Japon made their first appearance in Mexico, when Naito and Takahashi returned to CMLL to team with Rush. The three were defeated in a six-man tag team match, when Rush allowed Volador Jr. to pin himself, reaffirming his previous invitation for Volador to join Los Ingobernables. In December, EVIL and SANADA won their block in the 2017 World Tag League with a record of five wins and two losses, advancing to the finals of the tournament. On December 11, they defeated Guerrillas of Destiny in the finals to win the tournament. Six days later, BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Guerrillas of Destiny and Bad Luck Fale.

On January 4, 2018, at Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome, EVIL and SANADA defeated the Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship for the first time. In the main event of the show, Naito unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Following Wrestle Kingdom 12, L.I.J. entered in a feud with Suzuki-gun, which led on April 27 Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball player, Jay Jackson making an appearance as a member of the stable. On April 29 at Wrestling Hinokuni, BUSHI defeated El Desperado. Later that same event, Takahashi defeated Yoshinobu Kanemaru. In the semi main event, EVIL and SANADA defeated Killer Elite Squad to retain the IWGP Tag Team Championship and Naito's win over Minoru Suzuki for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship marked a clean sweep for L.I.J., who left Wrestling Hinokuni holding two championships. From May 18 to June 4, both BUSHI and Takahashi took part in the Best of the Super Juniors, wrestling in separate round-robin blocks. During the tournament, BUSHI picked up big win, over reigning IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay. BUSHI finished his tournament with a record of three wins and four losses. Meanwhile, Takahashi won his block with a record of five wins and two losses, advancing to the finals of the tournament. On June 4, Takahashi defeated Taiji Ishimori in the finals to win the 2018 Best of the Super Juniors. Five days later, at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, EVIL and SANADA lost the IWGP Tag Team Championship to The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson). That same event, Takahashi defeated Will Ospreay to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the second time. Later that night, Naito lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Chris Jericho. On July 7, at G1 Special in San Francisco, Takahashi defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Dragon Lee. During the match, Takahashi suffered a broken neck, after receiving a Dragon Driver from Lee. Following the match, Takahashi collapsed backstage and was taken to a nearby hospital. It was later revealed that he was conscious, and was able to sit and talk. On July 11, NJPW reported that Takahashi was able to return to Japan and would proceed with medical treatment to his neck. From July 14 until August 11, three members of L.I.J. took part in the 2018 G1 Climax; EVIL in block A and Naito and Sanada in block B. All three failed to advance from their blocks with EVIL finishing in fift in his block, while SANADA finished in sixth and Naito in fourth in their block. Naito entered the final day with a chance to reach the finals, but a loss against Zack Sabre Jr. eliminated him from the tournament. During the tournament, after Naito defeated SANADA in their head-to-head match, he wished Takahashi a good recuperation. On August 20, Takahashi was forced to vacate the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship due to the injury. NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi reported that Takahashi would be out of action for at least six months. He also announced a four-man single elimination tournament to crown a new champion which BUSHI was announced as one of the participants. BUSHI would loose to KUSHIDA in the semifinals of the tournament on September 23 at Destruction in Kobe. On October 2, Naito announced that he would bring in a new pareja ("partner") at King of Pro-Wrestling on October 8.

Reception
Dave Meltzer wrote on his Wrestling Observer Newsletter that prior to the formation of L.I.J., Naito was known as "something of a genius in the ring for his ability to lay out matches", but noted that "something didn't click", calling his reception "a combination of some fans booing, and some apathy". However, after copying the Los Ingobernables concept he had seen in Mexico, Naito, according to Meltzer, became "more and more popular for being different", with L.I.J. dress clothes, shirts and masks becoming "the cool wrestling merchandise". According to Bullet Club leader Kenny Omega, L.I.J. took over Bullet Club's status as "the hottest thing around". When Naito won the 2016 MVP award for Wrestler of the Year from Tokyo Sports, the magazine called Los Ingobernables de Japon a phenomenon that had ushered in a new era. Naito's win ended a five-year run in which the award had been won by either Hiroshi Tanahashi or Kazuchika Okada.

L.I.J. also gained fans outside of professional wrestling. Teruo Iwamoto, a retired soccer player who had represented the Japanese national team, was a lapsed professional wrestling fan until seeing L.I.J. He went on to become close friends with members of the stable, was teased as a possible tag team partner for Naito in the 2016 World Tag League, and was eventually given the honorary role of L.I.J.'s "public relations manager".

During 2017, the Hiroshima Toyo Carp baseball team released Carp de Japon and Tranquilo de Carp shirts, both designed with an L.I.J. theme.

Former members

 * Associates

In wrestling

 * Double-team finishing moves
 * BUSHI and Takahashi
 * Insurgentesundefined(Electric chair (Takahashi) / Diving double knee facebreaker (BUSHI) combination)
 * Evil and Naito
 * Out of Control (Double-team gorilla press slam)
 * EVIL and SANADA
 * Magic Killer (Aided snap swinging neckbreaker)
 * BUSHI's finishing moves
 * MX (Diving double knee facebreaker)
 * EVIL's finishing moves
 * Banshee Muzzle (Arm trap facelock)
 * Evil (STO)
 * Lethal's finishing moves
 * Lethal Injection (Handspring cutter)
 * Naito's finishing moves
 * Destino (Modified standing shiranui)
 * Pluma Blanca (Koji Clutch)
 * SANADA's finishing moves
 * Skull End (Dragon sleeper with bodyscissors)
 * Moonsault
 * Takahashi's finishing moves
 * D (Triangle choke)
 * Time Bomb (Fireman's carry swung into a high-angle sitout side powerslam)
 * Nicknames
 * "Los-gun" (Japanese for "Los Army")
 * Entrance music
 * "Bushi-do" by Yonosuke Kitamura (BUSHI) (2012 – present)
 * "Black Deeds" by Yonosuke Kitamura (EVIL) (December, 2015 – present)
 * "Cold Skeleton" by Yonosuke Kitamura (SANADA) (May 3, 2016 - present)
 * "Stardust" by Kazsin (Naito; Unit) (July 31, 2012 - present) (NJPW/ROH)
 * "Scorched Ops" by Scott Reinward (Lethal) (2014 – 2016)
 * "TIME BOMB" by Yonosuke Kitamura (Takahashi) (2017 - present)
 * "Hybridize (Theme Remix)" by Yonosuke Kitamura (BUSHI and Takahashi)

Championships and accomplishments

 * New Japan Pro Wrestling
 * CMLL World Welterweight Championship (1 time) – BUSHI
 * IWGP Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – Naito
 * IWGP Intercontinental Championship (2 times) – Naito
 * IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship (3 times) - BUSHI (1) and Takahashi (2)
 * IWGP Tag Team Championship (1 time) – EVIL and SANADA
 * NEVER Openweight Championship (1 time) - EVIL
 * NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship (3 times) – BUSHI, EVIL and SANADA
 * New Japan Cup (2016) – Naito
 * G1 Climax (2017) – Naito
 * World Tag League (2017) – EVIL and SANADA
 * Best of the Super Juniors (2018) – Takahashi
 * Ring of Honor
 * ROH World Championship (1 time) – Lethal
 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * Ranked Lethal No. 5 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
 * Ranked Naito No. 12 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016 and 2017
 * Ranked Takahashi No. 48 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017
 * Ranked BUSHI No. 82 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
 * Ranked SANADA No. 144 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2016
 * Ranked EVIL No. 168 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017
 * Ranked BUSHI No. 200 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017
 * Ranked SANADA No. 153 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2017
 * Tokyo Sports
 * MVP Award (2016, 2017) - Naito
 * Wrestling Observer Newsletter
 * 5 Star Match (2016) Naito vs. Kenny Omega on August 13
 * 5 Star Match (2017) Naito vs. Michael Elgin on February 11
 * 5 Star Match (2017) Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi on August 11
 * 5¾ Star Match (2017) Naito vs. Kenny Omega on August 13
 * Most Charismatic (2017) – Naito
 * Best Gimmick (2017)

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