At this point, a good majority of the wrestlers on the NJPW roster are part of a faction. Any unaffiliated members of the roster who aren't in a faction and just wrestle for NJPW itself like Hiroshi Tanahashi are considered part of "Hontai", or essentially the main unit of NJPW. That's my current understanding based on my (admittedly fairly limited) knowledge of NJPW. Someone can correct me if I'm mistaken on anything.
But as far as I know, everyone in NJPW who's considered Hontai right now is a face, and any heels that I've seen show up that are unaffiliated with any of the NJPW factions are primarily representing another promotion and not technically part of the NJPW roster, like the Young Bucks. So hypothetically, if a heel signed with NJPW but refused to align with any of the heel factions because he preferred to work alone, would he be considered part of Hontai despite being a heel? Or is there some other term for unaffiliated heel wrestlers like that? And when is the last time NJPW actually had an unaffiliated heel like this on their roster that wasn't someone representing another promotion?
Yes, I'm asking these questions primarily due to NJPW's reported interest in Baron Corbin. I think if NJPW signed him, it would be more interesting for him to be more like his "lone wolf" character from early in his WWE career and work alone rather than just become the next muscle for the War Dogs. In the context of NJPW, a character like that would feel a lot more unique IMO.
by Calwings