New Faction Forms And Wins NJPW NEVER 6-Man Tag Championships

Despite the plethora of news coming out of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's New Beginning in Osaka event on February 11, there was only one title change on the card. That honor goes to the team of Ren Narita, El Desperado, and Minoru Suzuki, who defeated Bullet Club's House of Torture to win the NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship in the fifth match of the show.

The new champions were first seen as a somewhat random pairing when the former Suzuki-Gun members were Narita's unlikely saviors from an onslaught by House of Torture at this year's New Years Dash! Event. At first, Narita had an uneasy alliance with Desperado and Suzuki, remembering Suzuki's less-than-friendly treatment of him as a Young Lion. As the New Beginning tour wore on, the bond of the unlikely trio became not just strong, but successful, leading them to a NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Championship challenge at The New Beginning in Osaka. Despite EVIL, SHO and Yujiro Takahashi using every trick in the book to try and dispose of their adversaries, the newly formed trio triumphed over House of Torture and walked away with the NEVER titles and a new name for their fledgling faction.

After the match, which was won when Narita submitted Yujiro Takahashi, Suzuki and Desperado hugged their younger protege as he was awarded his first championship title. With the fans cheering them on, Suzuki announced that the trio would officially be known as "Strong Style" moving forward.

The name was a gift from Suzuki to Narita, who has made his association with Strong Style clear since returning from his traditional learning excursion last fall. "When Narita came back from the US with Strong Style written on his chest, I had to tell him that I already possessed everything he was looking for," Suzuki said in the team's post-match comments. Suzuki then reassured that, unlike his role as the boss of Suzuki-Gun, this group would have no leader. "This isn't about teacher and student or master and pupil," Suzuki continued, "No one is above and no one is below... This is about the group: Desperado, Ren Narita, and Minoru Suzuki. These are the latest treasures I've uncovered."

Strong Style is not the only new life that sprung from the death of Suzuki-Gun, with Yoshinobu Kanemaru, DOUKI, Taka Michinoku, and Taichi now comprising the group known as JUST 4 GUYS, and Zack Sabre Jr. joining up with fellow Pro Wrestling NOAH alumni TMDK.