page_title: Los Ingobernables de Japon
section_title: Continued growth and tag team success (2016–2019)
hierarchical_section_title: Los Ingobernables de Japon / History / Continued growth and tag team success (2016–2019)
caption_attribution_description: 日本語: 2017年1月13日 大阪府立体育会館・第二競技場「CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 2017」 高橋ヒロム
context_page_description: Los Ingobernables de Japon, also shortened to L.I.J., is a Japanese professional wrestling stable, based in the New Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion and led by Tetsuya Naito. An offshoot of the Mexican stable Los Ingobernables from the Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre promotion, the group was formed in November 2015 by Naito, Bushi and Evil, but has since come to also include Sanada, Hiromu Takahashi, and Shingo Takagi; Evil is the only member to have left the stable, in July 2020. Through NJPW's working relationship with other companies, they have also appeared in CMLL and in the American Ring of Honor promotion.
  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. As part of the stable, Naito has held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the top championship of the company, on three occasions, and the IWGP Intercontinental Championship a record six times; he was the first wrestler to have held both titles simultaneously.
context_section_description: On December 10, Hiromu Takahashi joined Los Ingobernables de Japon. Takahashi had recently returned to NJPW from a three-year overseas learning excursion, during which he mainly worked for CMLL. On the same show, Bushi, Evil and Sanada defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata and NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion Satoshi Kojima in a six-man tag team match, after which Bushi made a title challenge against Kojima and his championship partners David Finlay and Ricochet. 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. Later that same event, Takahashi defeated Kushida to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion. Tetsuya Naito's successful defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi marked a clean sweep for L.I.J., who left Wrestle Kingdom 11 holding three championships.
  Following Wrestle Kingdom 11, L.I.J. entered a rivalry with the Taguchi Japan stable over all three of their championships. Naito went on to successfully defend the Intercontinental Championship against Taguchi Japan members Michael Elgin and Juice Robinson, while Takahashi defended the Junior Heavyweight Championship against their stablemates Dragon Lee, Kushida, and Ricochet. Meanwhile, Bushi, Evil and Sanada exchanged the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship with members of Taguchi Japan multiple times. They first lost the title to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi on January 5, then regained it on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, then lost it to Tanahashi, Taguchi and Ricochet on April 4, before regaining it again on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2017. On June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall, Takahashi lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to the winner of the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors, Kushida. Later that same event, Naito lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi.
  The following month, three members of L.I.J. took part in the 2017 G1 Climax; Naito in block A and Evil and Sanada in block B. Naito won his block with a record of seven wins and two losses and advanced to the finals of the tournament. Meanwhile, Evil finished third in his block with a record of three losses and six wins, one of which came over the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada. Sanada, who won the head-to-head match against Evil, finished in the middle of the block with a record of four wins and five losses. On August 13, Naito defeated Kenny Omega in the finals to win the 2017 G1 Climax. With Naito now fully embraced by the over 10,000 people in attendance, the win was seen as a conclusion of a four-year arc, which started with Naito's rejection by NJPW fans following his 2013 G1 Climax win and led directly to the creation of Los Ingobernables de Japon. In late 2017, Bushi and Takahashi started teaming regularly in NJPW's junior tag team division. On November 12, Los Ingobernables de Japon made their first appearance in Mexico, when Naito and Takahashi returned to CMLL to team with Rush. The three were defeated in a six-man tag team match, when Rush allowed Volador Jr. to pin himself, reaffirming his previous invitation for Volador to join Los Ingobernables. 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 finals of the tournament. On December 11, they defeated Guerrillas of Destiny in the finals to win the tournament. 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.
  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 
caption: Hiromu Takahashi, who joined the stable in December 2016, as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion
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