American wrestling promotions have always loved factions, from The Four Horsemen and nWo, to Degeneration X, The Shield, and The Inner Circle. This is not just an American obsession, though, as Japan has always relied heavily on factions, both in New Japan Professional Wrestling and other Japanese wrestling promotions.

RELATED: NJPW: The 10 Best Matches In Wrestle Kingdom History

The NJPW factions are so important that it has even carried over to the United States, from worldwide favorites like Bullet Club and CHAOS to ones that originally formed in Mexico, like Los Ingobernables De Japon. These factions featured major names, from Americans like AJ Styles and Kenny Omega to top Japanese stars like Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito.

10 Bullet Club

AJ Styles in Bullet Club Japan.

Bullet Club is the most famous Japanese faction for American fans, as the group formed in New Japan, and also operated in Ring of Honor, with an offshoot in AEW as The Elite. Finn Balor formed Bullet Club when he worked in Japan as Prince Devitt, and he brought in Karl Anderson, Tama Tonga, and Bad Luck Fale.

The latter two are still still associated with Bullet Club today, although members like AJ Styles, Kenny Omega, and the Young Bucks have all moved on.

9 Chaos

Kaz Okada from Chaos.

Chaos formed in New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2009 with most members of Great Bash Heel (G.B.H.) turning on leader, Togi Makabe. They formed under the new leadership of Shinsuke Nakamura, and he named the new group, Chaos.

When Nakamura left for WWE, Kazuchika Okada took over as the new leader of Chaos. Another popular member of Chaos was Rocky Romero, who was a record-setting eight-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion. Chaos doesn't have the name recognition of Bullet Club, but is still a huge deal.

8 Suzuki-gun

Lance Archer posing for the crowd.

Suzuki-gun formed in 2011, first as Kojima-gun with IWGP Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima as the leader. The members of the faction all turned on Kojima and they named Minoru Suzuki as the new leader, renaming the faction Suzuki-gun.

This group then had two major American members in Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer, who won the IWGP Tag Team Championship three times as Killer Elite Squad. In 2019, Zack Sabre Jr. joined Suzuki-gun as well, to give the faction some serious momentum.

7 Los Ingobernables de Japon

Los Ingobernables de Japon posing in the ring.

Los Ingobernables formed in 2014 as a top Mexican faction. The three founding members were La Sombra (Andrade), Rush, and La Mascara. In 2015, NJPW star Tetsuya Naito went to Mexico to work in CMLL as part of a talent exchange. Before he left, he struggled with his identity.

RELATED: NJPW: The 10 Worst Matches In Wrestle Kingdom History

In Mexico, Naito joined Los Ingobernables, and when he returned to NJPW, he formed Los Ingobernables de Japon and became a massive star. He brought in BUSHI, Hiromu Takahashi, SANADA, and Shingo Takagi as members.

6 Nextream

Nextream pose for a photo.

Moving out of New Japan, Nextream is a faction in All Japan Pro Wrestling. Kento Miyahara formed Nextream after he decided not to join another faction in Evolution. By forming this group, he could create a powerful faction, and also elevate those he brought in to help him.

The other members included Jake Lee, Naoya Nomura and Yuma Aoyagi. They broke up in 2020, but reformed a short time later with Miyahara bringing in Yuma and Atsuki Aoyagi, and Rising HAYATO for the recent version.

5 R.E.D

RED in Dragon Gate.

R.E.D is a team from Dragon Gate. This promotion formed in 2004 and American fans might know the American version in Dragon Gate USA, which operated from 2009 to 2015. In the Japanese promotion, R.E.D was a faction that had some very popular names.

This group first started out as VerserK in 2015, changing the name to Antlas in 2018, and then R.E.D. after that. The heel faction includes BxB Hulk, KAI and super rookies SB KENTo and HipHop Kikuta.

4 Great Bash Heel

Great Bash Heel with a trophy in the ring.

Chaos formed out of Great Bash Heel. That group initially had Togi Makabe form a stable that became the top heels in New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2006. However, everyone turned on Makabe and joined Shinsuke Nakamura to form Chaos. That didn’t end G.B.H.

RELATED: Why AJ Styles Was Better In TNA (& Why He Was Better In NJPW)

In 2013, they reformed when Tomoaki Honma returned to New Japan to save Makabe and the two have remained the core members ever since. In the past, names like Karl Anderson, Low Ki, Giant Bernard, and Val Venis have served as members.

3 Taguchi Japan

Taguchi Japan posing in the ring.

Taguchi Japan formed in Japan in 2017, with Ryusuke Taguchi as its leader. They formed originally as a trio with Hiroshi Tanahashi and Manabu Nakanishi as the other two members. They formed to feud with Los Ingobernables De Japon.

Over time, some big names joined the Japanese faction, including Ricochet, David Finlay, and Juice Robinson. As a group, the faction won five titles, and Kushida even went to Ring of Honor and even managed to win the TV title as a member.

2 Kongo

Kongo in Pro Wrestling Noah.

Kongo is a Japanese faction from Pro Wrestling NOAH. Kenoh — the former GHC National Heavyweight champion helped form this new faction in 2019, making it one of the youngest factions in Japan.

When they added former GHC Heavyweight Champion Katsuhiko Nakajima, the faction became even stronger and adding Masa Kitamiya gave the group the GCH Tag Team titles. Manabu Soya is another member that is likely to win a title soon. The faction is quickly picking up a lot of momentum.

1 Strong Hearts

Strong Hearts posing for a photo in Japan.

Gleat is a new Japanese wrestling promotion, forming in 2020 by Pro Wrestling NOAH’s parent company and Kiyoshi Tamura. This promotion excels in combat-style, which is pretty much an MMA wrestling promotion.

AEW fans know who Strong Hearts are, as the faction competed in AEW when the promotion began. Veteran star CIMA is the leader, and the rest of the faction features El Lindaman, Issel Onizuka, and T-Hawk. Signing with Gleat means that the Strong Hearts are not freelancers anymore.

NEXT: 10 Dangerous Japanese Wrestling Moves WWE Fans Have Never Seen