Shota Umino, Ren Narita and Yota Tsuji will be collectively known as the Reiwa Three Musketeers.

30 comments

1. This is huge for all three of them. I wonder which one out of the three will win the IWGP Title first.

2. This is just going to make it more amazing when Yuya returns to Japan, instantly turns heel, takes over House of Torture, kicks out Togo and Yujiro and replaces them with a heel Kushida, shapes up Evil and Sho, and turns HoT from comedy cheating heels into a Bloodline-esque, belt collecting heel faction that the Reiwa Muskeeters, with their junior companion Grandmaster Wato, must join forces to overthrow.

3. That’s a bold decision considering none of them have done anything yet.

4. Very cool idea but I feel like this is going to put a lot of expectations on them now

5. I was confused on what Reiwa was so I did a quick Google.

   and what I gather from it is that the Reiwa part of the name is to represent the current historic period of japan.

   Wonder what’s planned for yuya?

   Could see him going heel, could also see him beating Okada first like the rainmaker shock

6. This is Uemura erasure and I will not stand for it.

7. Also funny how Okadas group never got a name.

   I guess there wasn’t a long standing third guy to pair with Okada and Naito.

   The 3rd guy of their era fluctuated from Styles/Omega/Ibushi/Shingo/Ospreay/Sanada

8. Yota just got there. He was in LIJ. Narita, prior to this, was a part of Strong Style with Suzuki and El Desperado. Shota is trying to decide who he wants to model, Naito, Tanahashi, or Moxley. He wants to be like Mox but is too pretty and doesn’t suit him.

   THIS IS DUMB! I guess we’ll see what happens next…..

9. Okay. Thank you for explaining.

10. …and Yuya Uemura will become the “Kensuke Sasaki” when he returns…

11. I was already thinking something along these lines when they were all announced for same block in g1. Each gives off the vibe of a former musketeer in aesthetics.

    Narita – Shibata

    Umino – Tanahashi

    Tsuji – Nakamura

12. Tsuji is the first to make a statement about the news, responding with a simple “[Huh?](https://twitter.com/tsuji_njpw/status/1674623192210579456)”

    UPDATE: A longer [statement](https://twitter.com/tsuji_njpw/status/1674654995377995778) from **Tsuji:**

    >President Ohbari, how long will New Japan Pro-Wrestling cling to the past?

    >Why do you want to include me with “Jon’s [*this is either “**mooch of a son**” or “**shin biter** (a specific yokai)”— both work in context so I dunno which it is*]” and “Shibata’s bastard copycat”?
    Aren’t they supposed to be having a coming-of-age story with two of their peers?

    >Owner Kidani, have you been watching New Japan Pro-Wrestling World lately?

    UPDATE: **Narita**, said to [Tokyo Sports](https://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/articles/-/268137):

    >The company did this on its own. I didn’t approve it.

    Still no comments from Shota.

13. I actually saw someone in this subreddit called them new Three Musketeers awhile ago and I was like ‘wait a minute, there’s Uemura still on excursion, didn’t they should wait for him too?’, turn out that person is right since they made it official today lol.

    I guess 4 kings or Shitenoh will more associate with AJPW, they actually trying to build new 4 Kings few years ago with Miyahara, Jake, Nomura and Aoyaki (but we know how it turned out). So New Japan decide to stick with Three Musketeers concept since they already did 2 times before.

    Which means Uemura would be in Sasaki position likely, or Akiyama as hidden top guy to 4 kings. A bit sad for him tbh.

14. I know O-Khan has been around a couple years longer than them but it makes me really fucking mad that he’s getting completely ignored in favour of these dudes and isn’t considered part of the “new generation” except in his own backstage promos.

15. Man the company is pretty aggressively pushing new names up the card huh? Seemed like they booked fairly conservatively for years. Looking at the physical state of some of the top names I can’t say it’s a bad strategy

16. What’s the deal with Yuya? Where does he fit in all this?

17. Yuya punching air rn

18. Yuya Uemura is D’Artagnan

19. They could have named them The Clone Clowns as well then.

20. Shota feels like tanahashi, Narita feels like shibata and Tsuji’s just doing his own thing

21. Okada in shambles

22. Not if Okada kills them first

23. This is weird. Let them earn that name naturally, don’t give to them in a press release.

    And if you are going to label them, don’t give them the same name as a legendary trio, 2/3 of whom are still mainstream celebs in Japan.

24. I get the reason they did it, but I feel it kind of devalues other young lions who are due for a call up (Uemura) or those more-recent call-ups who have been there and have been putting in the reps/time (O’Kahn, Wato). I’m not counting former gaijin young lions (much as I love the work Henare’s been putting in this year) as I realize they’ll never be positioned in that spot as a “musketeer” or “pillar”.

25. I hate that NJ is fedding into this.
    I dont get the obsesion of trying to repeat the past.
    Let the new guys make their on path and stop putting unnecesary presure on them.

    Is something that always bug me about wrestling fans, deciding for themselves who is gonna be a star and who’s not having only seen a couple of theirs matches. For example the AEW four pillars.

26. Which one is Chris O’Donnell?

27. I hate forcing titles like this. It does no favors to guys who have yet to establish themselves..

28. Judging by this thread and the one about Kiyomiya, it’s clear a lot of y’all are not used to getting worked over social media.

29. No love for my boy Yuya 😔

30. Yuya: What about me?