Suzuki-gun

Suzuki-gun (鈴木軍, Suzukigun; literally translated to "Suzuki Army") was a villainous professional wrestling stable primarily appearing in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, and making occasional appearances in All Elite Wrestling (AEW). The group was founded in December 2010 by IWGP Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima as Kojima-gun (小島軍, Kojimagun; "Kojima Army"), but the members of the stable turned on Kojima and appointed Minoru Suzuki as their new leader in May 2011. Suzuki-gun added several new members, such as Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer, known collectively as the Killer Elite Squad (K.E.S.), who are three-time IWGP Tag Team Champions and two-time NWA World Tag Team Champions as part of the stable. Other accomplishments attained by the stable include Suzuki and Archer winning the 2011 G1 Tag League and founding members Taichi and Taka Michinoku becoming one-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. As the leader of Suzuki-gun, Suzuki became one of NJPW's top wrestlers and has challenged for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on multiple occasions.

In January 2015, Suzuki-gun, through a partnership between NJPW and Pro Wrestling Noah, took part in a storyline, where the stable invaded Noah, making it their primary promotion. Within two months, Suzuki-gun had captured all four of Noah's championships with Suzuki becoming the GHC Heavyweight Champion, K.E.S. the GHC Tag Team Champions, Taichi the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion and El Desperado and Michinoku the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Suzuki-gun dominated Noah for the rest of 2015 until losing all but the GHC Tag Team Championship at the end of the year. The invasion storyline continued in 2016 with Suzuki-gun adding two new members; Noah originals Takashi Sugiura and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, who quickly brought the GHC Heavyweight and Junior Heavyweight Championships back to the stable. The invasion storyline concluded in December 2016, resulting in the stable's return to NJPW in January 2017.

Since their return to New Japan, the stable saw much success, adding Zack Sabre Jr., who brought the British Heavyweight Championship to the group and won the New Japan Cup tournament twice in 2018 and 2022. Sabre Jr and now heavyweight Taichi teamed as Dangerous Tekkers, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Team Championships on three occasions. Lance Archer captured the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship twice. El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru also saw much success in the junior heavyweight division, winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships four times and Desperado winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship two times, including holding both junior titles simultaneously. In September 2021, Suzuki debuted for NJPW's American partner promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and realigned himself with Lance Archer, bringing him back into the stable after he previously departed both it and NJPW in 2020. In AEW's sister promotion Ring of Honor (ROH), Suzuki won his first American Championship, the ROH Television Championship. In 2022 at the World Tag League finals, Suzuki announced that Suzuki-Gun would disband at the end of 2022. The stable's final match, an eight-man tag-team match, between the members took place on December 23, 2022.

On December 12, 2010, Taichi returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) from his latest excursion to Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), accompanying IWGP Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima to a match, where he successfully defended his title against Shinsuke Nakamura. Kojima continued teaming with Taichi during the following week's events, and on December 23, the two were also joined by freelancer Nosawa Rongai and Kaientai Dojo's Taka Michinoku. On January 28, 2011, Kojima officially named the group "Kojima-gun". On February 20 at The New Beginning, the debuting MVP became the fifth member of Kojima-gun, in storyline being brought to the group by Nosawa using his American connections. However, prior to MVP's debut, Nosawa took a hiatus from professional wrestling altogether, after being arrested under suspicion of stealing a taxi.

After losing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome, Kojima suffered another big loss against longtime rival Togi Makabe on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2011. Following the match, Michinoku and Taichi entered the ring and attacked Kojima, who, however, quickly took care of both of them. This led to the surprise return of freelancer Minoru Suzuki, who appeared behind Kojima and locked him in a sleeper hold, before leaving the ringside area with Michinoku and Taichi, who proclaimed Suzuki as their new leader and renamed the stable "Suzuki-gun". On May 15, during the Invasion Tour 2011, NJPW's first tour of the United States, Lance Archer made his debut for the promotion, attacking Kojima after a match, before being chased away by former Kojima-gun member MVP. The following day, Archer was officially named a member of Suzuki-gun. During the following months, Suzuki continued his feud with Kojima, while Archer went up against Togi Makabe and Michinoku and Taichi became a tag team in NJPW's junior heavyweight tag team division. Suzuki's feud with Kojima culminated on July 18 in a grudge match, where Suzuki was victorious, after which he transitioned to feuding with Togi Makabe.

From late October to early November, Suzuki and Archer represented Suzuki-gun in the 2011 G1 Tag League, where they finished second in their round-robin block with four wins and one loss, advancing to the semifinals. On November 6, Suzuki and Archer first defeated Chaos representatives Shinsuke Nakamura and Toru Yano in the semifinals and then the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions, Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson), in the final to win the 2011 G1 Tag League. As a result, Suzuki and Archer were granted a match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by Bad Intentions in a rematch on November 12 at Power Struggle. During the same event, fellow Suzuki-gun member Taka Michinoku failed in his attempt to take the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from Prince Devitt. Power Struggle was also the start of a relationship between Suzuki-gun and Suzuki's close friend, Pro Wrestling Noah representative Yoshihiro Takayama, who began making semi-regular NJPW appearances as a member of the stable. On January 4, 2012, at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome, Suzuki received his first shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in seven years, but was defeated by Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event of the evening. During Suzuki's chase for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Takayama momentarily took over his feud with Togi Makabe, but their rivalry also ended at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome in a match, where Makabe was victorious.

On February 12 at The New Beginning, the five members of Suzuki-gun took a dominant 5–1 win over Kushida, Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe, Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata in a ten-man elimination tag team match, after which Archer and Takayama challenged Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) to a match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship. On February 19 at All Together, a charity event co-produced by NJPW, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah, AJPW's Masayuki Kono made a one-time appearance representing Suzuki-gun. Archer and Takayama received their title shot on March 18, but were unable to dethrone the defending champions. On April 15, the recently debuted Black Tiger won the 2012 Road to the Super Jr. 2Days Tournament to earn a spot in the 2012 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. After his win, Michinoku and Taichi welcomed Black Tiger to Suzuki-gun, while also hinting that the man under the mask was a former associate of Minoru Suzuki. On May 23, Kazushige Nosawa, a former member of Kojima-gun and Suzuki's prior stable Suzuki Gundan, was arrested under suspicion of smuggling marijuana from Mexico to Japan. Though all charges against Nosawa were later dropped, NJPW immediately acknowledged that he had been portraying the latest Black Tiger and severed their ties with him. Meanwhile, Michinoku and Taichi had set their sights on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but were, on June 16 at Dominion 6.16, defeated by Jyushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask in a match for the vacant title. On July 22, Suzuki, Archer, Michinoku and Taichi picked up another dominant win over Prince Devitt, Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe and Yuji Nagata in an eight-man elimination tag team match, after which Archer again challenged Tenzan and Kojima to a match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, however, without specifying who his partner would be.

On August 13, Harry Smith was revealed as Archer's partner and the newest member of Suzuki-gun. Also in August, Michinoku and Taichi began blaming each other for their recent losses, which led to the two agreeing to a match, where the loser would be expelled from Suzuki-gun. The match took place on August 22 at Michinoku's Kaientai Dojo promotion, but ended without a winner as Minoru Suzuki interrupted the match and got the two men to make peace with each other. Harry Smith made his debut as a member of Suzuki-gun on September 7 in an eight-man tag team match, where he, Lance Archer, Minoru Suzuki and Taka Michinoku were defeated by Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Satoshi Kojima, Togi Makabe and Yuji Nagata via disqualification, when Michinoku's Kaientai Dojo trainee Kengo Mashimo entered the ring and attacked Makabe, revealing himself as the newest member of Suzuki-gun. On September 23 at Destruction, Makabe ended his rivalry with Suzuki-gun by defeating Mashimo in a singles match. The following day, Harry Smith was renamed Davey Boy Smith Jr., after his father.