A new faction is definitely brewing, considering the former LIJ members are now unaffiliated. However, I think they're splitting. Hiromu and Tsuji are staying together, but not Takagi. tl;dr at bottom
Firstly, not Umino because I think he's to stay in Hontai. Kids and women love him. Even if he can't fit the role of new babyface ace right this instant, Yuya Uemura can. They can cook slowly with Umino.
Takagi has been leaning more heel as of late, while Hiromu and Tsuji have been mostly the same. I actually think he's beating Goto and kickstarting a new faction, heel leaning.
And there are two members that come to mind. Ryohei Oiwa and Master Wato.
Oiwa in TMDK, honestly, feels a bit weird to me. Sure, ZSJ took him in. But let's not forget he was essentially ditched for Fujita, who made it to the BOSJ finals, and let's not forget his betrayed smile after that happened. Oiwa went to excursion while remaining a regular Hontai YL, and since returning, he hasn't accomplished anything.
As for Master Wato, his tag partner also made it to the finals, while he lost his huge lead in the tourney. With Hontai and CHAOS combining, both YOH and Despy seem to be ahead of Wato in terms of the face of the Juniors in Hontai. He was the pin eater for Despy, and now, he lost another race with YOH.
As for why they'd work as heels, Oiwa was already a heel for awhile in NOAH. I don't think much came out of it, but he's big enough and has a brutal enough moveset that it could work. As for Wato, unlike most other Juniors who target a limb, he targets the fucking neck. As Robbie said two years ago, "he's trying to paralyze me" (I'm paraphrasing). And unlike Hiromu, he has a neck crank as a submission finisher.
There, we'd have a leading champion (Takagi), new blood (Oiwa), and Junior ace (Wato). All of them previously always having to live in the shadow of another (Naito, Fujita, Despy/YOH), a second thought even when they attain success (they shouldn't mention this, though, just the vibe).
I am admittedly drawing blanks on other members and pin eaters. Youngblood seem reasonable to fill out the numbers, but I think they'd be more a fit to join Hiromu/Tsuji. They could do what they did with Fujita and have Daiki Nagai join as pin eater – he'd definitely fit the vibe. Maybe Jake Lee? I mean fuck it, have SANADA join.
But what do you think?
tl;dr Shingo Takagi-led faction with Ryohei Oiwa and Master Wato on the premise of always having to play second fiddle to another.
EDIT: Ninja Mack! Ninja Mack is a good BUSHI-style pin eater. He can team with Wato during SJTL and stare at the ceiling outside of tournaments.
by insrto