Could CHAOS split or be reborn?

[corndog]

Most of this video points out the obvious for the current story of CHAOS, but something sticks out at 17:27. Kelly talks about the six man match with Goto,Ishii and Ospreay vs Jeff Cobb,Nagata and KUSHIDA from New Year's Dash. By this time, Yano, Okada and YOSHI-HASHI are all working with Sekigun. But Goto, Ishii and Ospreay were incredibly aggressive in this match, even more so than normal. I was aware of the aggressiveness at the time, but I didn't really think about it more until this video put it all together with the part of other members working with Sekigun.

Obviously we saw a change in Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom, and Goto/Ishii are most likely frustrated by their recent title losses, but I think there is more to this. Also at New Beginnings we saw Sho/Yoh demand a title shot in a heelish fashion that seems unlike them. My theory is that these members of CHAOS and possibly more, might not be on board with Okada and Yoshi-Hashi "going soft" and teaming with the Sekigun. I think we could possible see CHAOS go back to it's roots as an aggressive strong style unit that is more heelish, although still technically playing by the rules. This would also mean that Okada could be excommunicated from CHAOS and replaced as leader, putting him in Sekigun and taking Tanahashi's place as it's top star.

Just a theory, but I wondered what everyone else thought that follows New Japan?

[HMARK Center]

I'm thrilled the video pointed that out; that was the best match at New Years Dash, and I was hoping like hell it'd lead somewhere. Still remains to be seen how far it goes, but they're at least acknowledging it, so that's probably what the booking wanted. I'll go with a couple of theories:

-Plain, Vanilla Booking Theory: the aggression shown in that match was just to set up the US New Beginning matches (Goto vs. Cobb, Ishii vs. Nagata), which sadly didn't wind up happening thanks to the shutdown. The simple storyline would be that "Nagata doesn't trust Ishii to play well with the Seiki-gun guys so let's have those two awesome tough guys fight, and Goto's going to help Cobb get over with the crowd so they can bring him in for G1 this year". At the moment it doesn't seem to be going further than that, given that the upcoming shows have Goto, for example, teaming with Taguchi, thus making it appear like they're on board with the whole "home team army" thing. Under this theory, Ospreay, Goto, and Ishii remain babyfaces and just go about their current roles (Will building up the Jr Heavy potential of the NEVER belt, Goto and Ishii as gatekeepers and steady hands).

-More Interesting Theory: the aggression shown in that match indicates that some of the CHAOS guys are growing restless, and are ready for a change. Their top guy and money maker, Okada, lost his title and then spent the entire summer and fall in a warped haze of cocaine-fueled balloon fetishism, and even now with his head on straight he still lost at WK; Jay White, their new top prospect, delivered on his promise to be a complete piece of shit and not surprisingly stabbed everybody in the back; Gedo and Jado, two of CHAOS's OGs and current father figures, even ditched for the reborn Bullet Club. Ospreay might feel there were voices telling him not to try for the NEVER belt, Goto was frustrated to be on the WK preshow, Ishii's just an ornery SOB with no neck, and they've had enough of all the chaos in CHAOS and are going to pull a Tama Tonga with BC and pull their faction back to its "return of Strong Style" roots, or even start an entirely new faction.

Obviously, I like the latter idea more; there are openings on the NJPW care for guys to move up, Goto and Ishii could use new wrinkles in their characters (I like the idea of Goto feeling yanked around, convinced to join CHAOS only to see them now teaming with Seiki-gun), Ospreay was already gaining a darker edge of late, SHO and YOH should be frustrated at their inability to adjust to Suzuki-gun's cheating ways in order to get the Jr. Tag belts back after things coming so easy for them at first, and it's clear that Okada and YOSHI are palling around with Tana while Yano is making amends with GBH. Give me "full assassin" Ospreay, "angry shogun" Goto, "even more violent than usual General" Ishii, "entitled but fed up" SHO and YOH, and inject it into my veins, pls. There's so much room to shake up the roster and alignments now, and I hope they go whole hog with the opportunity.

[Convoy]

Very notable and interesting timing for this video.

There could be more to summarize had the US New Beginning shows went ahead as planned, but even so, the fact that they went ahead with this video as presented is telling. Mix the content here with SHO/YOH's new attitude in Osaka, and there is something on the horizon.

The only question I have is who will be taking lead if there is a split? White would've been a great choice with all the prior build-up, but they obviously went in a different direction some time ago. I love Ishii and Goto, but neither of them are true leaders at this stage of their careers. This new faction (or new version of CHAOS after they cast the others into the Home Army) needs an ACE. I would hope they wouldn't lean on Ospreay in this role; maybe adorable Ibushi can switch into asshole Ibushi permanently?

[HMARK Center]

Feb 12, 2019 17:27:40 GMT -5 Convoy said:

Very notable and interesting timing for this video.

There could be more to summarize had the US New Beginning shows went ahead as planned, but even so, the fact that they went ahead with this video as presented is telling. Mix the content here with SHO/YOH's new attitude in Osaka, and there is something on the horizon.

The only question I have is who will be taking lead if there is a split? White would've been a great choice with all the prior build-up, but they obviously went in a different direction some time ago. I love Ishii and Goto, but neither of them are true leaders at this stage of their careers. This new faction (or new version of CHAOS after they cast the others into the Home Army) needs an ACE. I would hope they wouldn't lean on Ospreay in this role; maybe adorable Ibushi can switch into asshole Ibushi permanently?

You're not wrong, but personally I'd love for Goto and Ishii to spearhead a reborn "we're strong style, mother@#$%ers" faction, both because the two are that style to their core and, of course, because they're two of my favorites and I'd love to see what they'd do if they got their gimmicks revamped in the shifting NJPW landscape. I certainly wouldn't say they could pull a Naito, who combined his revamped gimmick post-CMLL trip with his incredible natural charisma to become as huge as he is now, but they could at least use that principle to freshen their images up with the audience and improve their standings to get themselves back into serious heavyweight title conversations, even if they never get to that S-tier level that Okada and Naito are on. A fan's pipe dream, to be sure, but I know I'd enjoy it.

Otherwise, yeah, it's a tough call; you could certainly get by with those two and Ospreay leading a crew for awhile, as they all can more than hold their own against the best in the company, but it's fair to say they'd likely want to add one more really top-flight guy to fill that "group ace" spot.

[Fundertaker]

If we go by the Honor Rising and New Japan Road cards, CHAOS is no longer a thing.

[corndog]

Feb 12, 2019 17:40:06 GMT -5 HMARK Center said:

Feb 12, 2019 17:27:40 GMT -5 Convoy said:

Very notable and interesting timing for this video.

There could be more to summarize had the US New Beginning shows went ahead as planned, but even so, the fact that they went ahead with this video as presented is telling. Mix the content here with SHO/YOH's new attitude in Osaka, and there is something on the horizon.

The only question I have is who will be taking lead if there is a split? White would've been a great choice with all the prior build-up, but they obviously went in a different direction some time ago. I love Ishii and Goto, but neither of them are true leaders at this stage of their careers. This new faction (or new version of CHAOS after they cast the others into the Home Army) needs an ACE. I would hope they wouldn't lean on Ospreay in this role; maybe adorable Ibushi can switch into asshole Ibushi permanently?

You're not wrong, but personally I'd love for Goto and Ishii to spearhead a reborn "we're strong style, mother@#$%ers" faction, both because the two are that style to their core and, of course, because they're two of my favorites and I'd love to see what they'd do if they got their gimmicks revamped in the shifting NJPW landscape. I certainly wouldn't say they could pull a Naito, who combined his revamped gimmick post-CMLL trip with his incredible natural charisma to become as huge as he is now, but they could at least use that principle to freshen their images up with the audience and improve their standings to get themselves back into serious heavyweight title conversations, even if they never get to that S-tier level that Okada and Naito are on. A fan's pipe dream, to be sure, but I know I'd enjoy it.

Otherwise, yeah, it's a tough call; you could certainly get by with those two and Ospreay leading a crew for awhile, as they all can more than hold their own against the best in the company, but it's fair to say they'd likely want to add one more really top-flight guy to fill that "group ace" spot.

I would love to see Goto/Ishii go for the tag belts and just kick ass. The Ace question is a good one, while I love both of them, neither has the personality to lead a stable. Maybe it doesn't even lead to a full reformation, but a civil war that gets Okada back in line. I would love to see Okada have to face Ishii or Goto in the New Japan Cup and they just beat the hell out of him and win.