or Los Ingos, is a Japanese professional wrestling stable, based in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion and led by Tetsuya Naito.
An offshoot of the Mexican stable Los Ingobernables from the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion, the group was formed in November 2015 by Naito, Bushi and Evil, but came to also include Sanada, Hiromu Takahashi, Shingo Takagi, Titán and Yota Tsuji.
Despite being smaller in numbers than full-scale factions such as Bullet Club or Chaos, Los Ingobernables de Japon has established itself as one of the most prominent and most popular stables in NJPW.
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.
[10][11][12] Upon his June return to NJPW, Naito continued representing Los Ingobernables,[13] adopting the villainous attitude associated with the stable,[14] using the fans' rejection of him as a catalyst for the change.
Watanabe's outside interference was stopped by Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata, which led to Tanahashi defeating Naito to retain his contract.
During the opening night, Bushi, making his return following an injury, debuted as the new third member of the group,[18] which was subsequently dubbed Los Ingobernables de Japon.
[20] This led to a title match on December 19, where Bushi defeated Dorada with help from his stablemates to bring Los Ingobernables de Japon its first championship.
[27][28] On April 10 at Invasion Attack 2016, Sanada debuted as the newest member of Los Ingobernables de Japon, helping Naito defeat Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
[29] 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.
[33] On June 19 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, Naito lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship back to Okada,[34] ending his two-month reign in his second defense.
[37] On August 20, Jay Lethal's association with the stable 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.
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 Japon.
[50][53] 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.
[79] On November 12, Los Ingobernables de Japon made their first appearance in Mexico, when Naito and Takahashi returned to CMLL to team with Rush.
[80][81] 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 final of the tournament.
[84][85] Six days later, Bushi, Evil and Sanada lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Guerrillas of Destiny and Bad Luck Fale in their fourth defense.
[86][87] 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.
[91] On October 8, 2018, at King of Pro Wrestling, fourteen years-Dragon Gate veteran Shingo Takagi made his surprise NJPW debut as L.I.J.
[97] All five champions lost their titles during the following two months, with Evil and Sanada losing their titles to Guerrillas of Destiny on February 23 at Honor Rising: Japan 2019, Bushi and Takagi losing theirs to Roppongi 3K on March 6 at NJPW's 47th Anniversary Show, and Naito losing the Intercontinental Championship to Kota Ibushi On April 6 at G1 Supercard; also at G1 Supercard, Evil and Sanada lost a Winner takes all four-way tag team match for both their old title and the ROH World Tag Team Championship, which was won by the Guerrillas of Destiny.
[94][105][106][107] At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, Naito regained the IWGP Intercontinental Championship from Ibushi, Evil and Sanada failed to capture the Tag Team titles from the Guerrillas of Destiny, and Takagi defeated heavyweight Satoshi Kojima; after his win, Takagi announced his decision to move to the Heavyweight division and declared himself an entrant for the G1 Climax.
[114] On the second night on January 5, he defeated Okada, becoming the first person in history to hold both titles and winning the main event of Wrestle Kingdom for the first time in his career, while Bushi, Evil and Takagi defeated four other teams in a Gauntlet match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, making both Bushi and Evil record-tying four time holders of the title.
[122][123][124] At Sengoku Lord on July 25, Takagi successfully defended his NEVER Openweight Championship against El Desperado, while Takahashi was unsuccessful in capturing the Heavyweight and Intercontinental titles from Evil.
Takahashi went on to defeat the Super J-Cup winner El Phantasmo to earn himself a match against Taiji Ishimori the champion the next night for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.
In the finals, Naito was defeated by Sabre Jr.[146] In the aftermath of the tournament, it was announced that Sanada had fractured his Orbital bone and was therefore required to relinquish his US championship, which he did at Hyper Battle, ending his first reign at 49 days.
In the finals, Takahashi once again defeated El Desperado, to win the Best of the Super Juniors tournament for the record fourth time and the first ever 3-time consecutive winner.
[151] In June, Sanada returned at Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall, failing to defeat Will Ospreay for the vacant IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.
[159] 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".
[161] 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.
Teruo Iwamoto, a retired soccer player who had represented the Japanese national team, was a lapsed professional wrestling fan until seeing L.I.J.