If you don’t count Great Bash Heel, which has been reduced to a tag team, CHAOS is the longest-running stable in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Initially founded by Shinsuke Nakamura and Toru Yano as part of a mass exodus from GBH, CHAOS established itself as one of the biggest factions in NJPW, initially starting off as upstart heels before eventually becoming a dominant babyface group.
With a goal of re-establishing Strong Style pro wrestling as the chief style of NJPW, CHAOS has enjoyed a number of standout members as well as some lackluster participants. Let’s take a look at the best and worst of CHAOS.
10 Best: Kazuchika Okada
Obviously. When Kazuchika Okada made his re-debut at Wrestle Kingdom VI after his excursion to the US, the budding rookie made a challenge to NJPW ace and IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi in the aftermath of Tana’s main event title defense. This audacity made him a perfect candidate for CHAOS membership, and it paid off, as Okada would go on to become a five-time Heavyweight Champ, the longest reigning Champ, and become the face of the company.
9 Worst: Jado
Gedo’s forever tag team partner and co-booker of NJPW, Jado is more low-key than his better half, making him sort of a nonentity in CHAOS. Sometimes it felt like he wasn’t really part of the group. Jado is actually better used now that he’s in Bullet Club, because he fills the role as “guy who interferes in matches by hitting the good guy with a kendo stick” quite nicely.
8 Best: Will Ospreay
Nicknamed “The Aerial Assassin,” Will Ospreay is extremely CHAOS material, since most of the stable is devoted to maintaining a high level of competition. While he’s more agile and acrobatic than many of his stablemates, Ospreay seems just as devoted to the CHAOS cause.
As a part of CHAOS, he’s certainly brought a lot of accolades to the group via his role in the Junior Heavyweight division, capturing the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship three times and two Best of the Super Juniors victories, not to mention a single stint with the NEVER Openweight Belt.
7 Worst: Mikey Nicholls
Best known to Western fans as NXT’s Nick Miller of The Mighty, this Australian star was no stranger to New Japan Pro Wrestling, having wrestled alongside Shane Haste/Thorne at Wrestle Kingdom 9. But he made his official debut for NJPW in 2019, taking part in the New Japan Cup and in World Tag League, with mixed results. None of this is to dig at Nicholls, as he hasn’t been seen since December of 2019, so he might find more success when he’s able to make his way back to Japan.
6 Best: YOSHI-HASHI
Both men re-debuted from excursion on the same night in a match against one another, but YOSHI-HASHI was a confirmed member of CHAOS before Kazuchika Okada was. The Head Hunter hasn’t had much success in NJPW — he’s yet to win any sort of title ever — but he’s so easy to root for despite all that. His underdog qualities really pay off when he finally achieves something, like scoring a surprise win over Kenny Omega in the first round of the 2016 G1 Climax.
5 Worst: Yujiro Takahashi
Best known these days for being “that one pimp guy in Bullet Club,” Yujiro Takahashi was in the tag team NO LIMIT with Tetsuya Naito when he joined CHAOS in Spring of 2010. About a month later, NO LIMIT lost their IWGP Tag Team titles, and Takahashi was unfortunately unable to attain very many major victories during his time with the group. By 2014, Yujiro was very grumpy about his lack of success onscreen, leading to a shocking defection to Bullet Club.
4 Best: Shinsuke Nakamura
The founder and leader of CHAOS, Shinsuke Nakamura is easily one of the best members of the group ever. While he was already a two-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion when he ford CHAOS, Nakamura’s big claim to fame during this time was increasing the prestige of the Intercontinental Title, giving it a credibility it never had before.
When he reinvented himself as The King of Strong Style and adopted a new look, Nakamura really shone, becoming a must-see star and connecting with fans overseas who took to Nak’s theatrical style.
3 Worst: Hideo Saito
How can Captain New Japan not be the worst dude in every faction he’s in? In the middle of 2011, Hideo Saito returned from a stint wrestling in Puerto Rico and joined CHAOS, where he’d find so little success — including a disastrous showing in the G1 Climax and G1 Tag League — that CHAOS would straight-up kick Saito out of the group. From there he’d work a comedy jobber gimmick as Captain New Japan before joining the Bullet Club as Bone Soldier, also finding no success.
2 Best: Toru Yano
There’s nothing Strong Style or “high level of competition” about Toru Yano, but he is as devoted to cheating his rear end off as Shinsuke Nakamura is to burying his knee in dudes’ brains. CHAOS gradually became more of a babyface establishment group than the upstarts they initially were, but Yano has thus far stayed true to himself and still attempts to win matches by uppercutting his opponents in the balls and schoolboy-ing them for a three-count.
1 Worst: Tetsuya Naito
Tetsuya Naito’s stint with CHAOS was much shorter than that of his tag partner Yujiro Takahashi, lasting nearly 14 months. Like his partner, Naito was also unable to find success, and Takahashi grew increasingly frustrated as they were unable to recapture the Tag Titles. That coupled with a couple major singles losses led CHAOS to kick Naito out of the group in 2011. It all worked out, however, as every Naito has done since — founding Los Ingobernables de Japon and winning the Double Gold Dash — has overshadowed his time in CHAOS, reducing it to mere footnote.