| Great Bash Heel | |
|---|---|
| Tag team | |
| Name | Great Bash Heel (G・B・H) |
| Former member(s) | Hiroyoshi Tenzan (original leader) Black Tiger IV Black Tiger V Gedo Giant Bernard Jado Karl Anderson Low Ki Rick Fuller Shinsuke Nakamura Shiro Koshinaka Takashi Iizuka Togi Makabe Tomoaki Honma Tomohiro Ishii Toru Yano Val Venis |
| Debut | October 2, 2006[1] |
| Disbanded | March 6, 2025 |
| Years active | 2006–2025 |
Great Bash Heel (グレート・バッシュ・ヒール,Gurēto Basshu Hīru), often abbreviated toG・B・H, was aprofessional wrestlingstable andtag team inNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
Originally formed byHiroyoshi Tenzan in October 2006, G・B・H was the topvillainous group in NJPW until April 2009, when the rest of the group turned on their leader,Togi Makabe, and formed a new stable namedChaos, under the leadership ofShinsuke Nakamura. Since 2010, G・B・H has operated as a tag team consisting of Makabe andTomoaki Honma.
On March 6, 2025, at the NJPW 53rd Anniversary Show, both Chaos and GBH folded were into Main Unit, officially ending the tenure of the stable.[2]
On October 2, 2006,Hiroyoshi Tenzan, fresh off hisG1 Climax triumph and a big win over former mentorMasahiro Chono and on his way to challenging for theIWGP Heavyweight Championship, announced the formation of his firststable and named former interim IWGP Tag Team Champions,Togi Makabe andShiro Koshinaka, as his first recruits.[1] Tenzan announced that the criteria for joining his group was to "be strong, bad and cool" and that the intention of his new stable was to revive the old "beautiful New Japan".[1][3] Tenzan immediately began sending out invitations to other New Japan wrestlers, such asYuji Nagata,Manabu Nakanishi and even Makabe's and Koshinaka's blood rivals,Tomohiro Ishii andToru Yano, to join the group, which was unofficially named Mougyu Ikka.[1][4][5] On October 9, Tenzan failed in his attempt to regain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship fromHiroshi Tanahashi, but despite the setback, announced that his quest had only just begun.[6][7] Finally on October 15, Tenzan announced that the official name of his stable was Great Bash Heel, G・B・H., and named their goal to become the biggestvillainous group in New Japan history by causing "grievous bodily harm", something the group's name was also a reference to.[8] The following day, Tenzan orchestrated a truce between the teams of Makabe and Koshinaka and Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano, who became the fourth and fifth member of G・B・H.[9]
G・B・H. were then engulfed in a three–way war with the New Japan Seikigun, led by Yuji Nagata, and BLACK, led by Masahiro Chono.[10][11] While Tenzan began touringAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in December, Makabe acted as thede facto leader of G・B・H.[12] The group then attempted to simultaneously capture both theWorld Tag Team Championship andIWGP Tag Team Championship, but failed on both attempts.[13] In February 2007, G・B・H. was joined byTomoaki Honma and he was followed by veteran tag team ofJado andGedo in July, while the following month, Koshinaka turned on G・B・H. and joined Masahiro Chono's new Legend stable.[14][15][16] After being pinned by Koshinaka in a tag team match between G・B・H. and Legend, Tenzan announced that he was going to be taking some time off to heal himself up.[16] With his regular tag team partner gone from G・B・H., Makabe formed a new tag team with Toru Yano and together the two of them entered the2007 G1 Tag League, along with their stablemates, Gedo and Jado.[17] Makabe and Yano would make it to the semifinals of the tournament, before being defeated by the eventual winners of the whole tournament,Giant Bernard andTravis Tomko ofRISE, a spinoff group of BLACK, led byShinsuke Nakamura.[18][19] After the tournament, Makabe and Yano would remain together as a tag team, eventually naming the unit "Most Violent Players" (MVP).[20] On January 4, 2008, atWrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome, MVP facedTotal Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) tag teamTeam 3D (Brother Devon andBrother Ray) in a hardcore tag team match in a losing effort.[21]
After spending months sidelined, Hiroyoshi Tenzan finally made his return to New Japan on February 17, but after he, Gedo, Jado and Ishii were defeated by Legend in an eight-man tag team match, the rest of G・B・H. turned on their leader and kicked him out of the group. Later that same night, Makabe and Yano defeated Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship, G・B・H.'s first title in New Japan.[22][23][24] As the former leader of G・B・H., Tenzan had difficulties in finding new allies, however, long time Seikigun memberTakashi Iizuka was the first to accept him and the two went on to form a tag team.[11][22]Karl Anderson joined the unit on March 13 after assisting Makabe, Yano & Ishii beat down Tenzan & Iizuka.[25] On April 27, Tenzan and Iizuka challenged Makabe and Yano for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, however, Iizuka ended up turning on Tenzan and joining G・B・H.[11][22] Tenzan would find new allies in Legend andSatoshi Kojima and would spend the rest of the year feuding with the stable he had created. On September 5, 2008, former RISE member,Low Ki, made his return to New Japan, attackingJyushin Thunder Liger andTiger Mask, before being revealed as the newest member of G・B・H.[26] The same day, Giant Bernard andRick Fuller turned on RISE and joined G・B・H. Fuller would, however, leave the promotion shortly after his first appearance as a member of G・B・H.[27] On September 21, Low Ki defeated Tiger Mask to win theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.[26][28] Both of G・B・H.'s title reigns ended on January 4, 2009, atWrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome, when Low Ki lost the Junior Heavyweight Championship back to Tiger Mask and MVP lost the Tag Team Championship to Team 3D in a hardcore rematch of their encounter from the previous year.[29][30]Val Venis joined the unit briefly and lost a singles match against Hiroshi Tanahashi,Black Tiger (played by Rocky Romero) also joined briefly to feud with Tiger Mask over the Junior Heavyweight Championship after Ki's departure.[31]
On April 5, G・B・H. co–leader Togi Makabe faced RISE leader Shinsuke Nakamura in a singles match, at the end of which Yano turned on both Makabe and Tomoaki Honma and helped Nakamura pick up the win.[32][33] Nakamura would assume leadership of G・B・H, having the support of all members except Makabe (who was taking time off) & Honma.[34] G・B・H would continue to be led by Nakamura as different members defeated Honma in singles matches before Makabe returned and declared that he and Honma were the true members of G・B・H.[35] 2 nights later on the 23rd, Nakamura announced that He, Toru Yano, Takashi Iizuka, Giant Bernard, Karl Anderson, Tomohiro Ishii, Black Tiger (being played byTatsuhito Takaiwa after Romero's unmasking on April 5), Jado and Gedo would form a new unit, Chaos (RISE was also ignored).[36][37] G・B・H would then align with the New Japan Seikigun, turning them babyface. The events would kickstart Makabe's singles career and quest for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which he would win on May 3, 2010, and although he and Tomoaki Honma, the only member of G・B・H. to remain loyal to him, would occasionally wrestle together under the G・B・H. banner, the stable was effectively dissolved. On March 28, 2012, New Japan released Honma from his contract, officially ending G・B・H.[38]
On March 23, 2013, Togi Makabe, who had recently begun feuding with Chaos memberYujiro Takahashi, teamed with Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima in a six-man tag team match, where they faced Takahashi, Takashi Iizuka andYoshi-Hashi. After Kojima had pinned Yoshi-Hashi for the win, Iizuka hit both him and Tenzan with a steel chair, after which Takahashi began choking out his rival Makabe with his own steel chain. This led to Tomoaki Honma making his return to New Japan, one year after his firing from the promotion, chasing Chaos out of the ring and helping Makabe backstage.[39] The reunited G・B・H. had their first match back together on April 7 atInvasion Attack, where they were defeated by Takahashi andMasato Tanaka in a tag team match.[40] In late 2013, G・B・H. started feuding with theBullet Club stable.[41][42] In December, Makabe and Honma made it to the semifinals of the2013 World Tag League, before being eliminated by the Bullet Club team ofDoc Gallows and Karl Anderson.[43] G・B・H. continued teaming sporadically throughout 2014 and in November took part in the2014 World Tag League,[44] but this time finished last in their block with a record of three wins and four losses.[45] Throughout 2015 both Makabe and Honma were involved in theNEVER Openweight Championship picture with Makabe winning the title twice from Tomohiro Ishii,[46][47] who defeated Honma twice in his attempts to win his first NJPW title.[48][49] In November, Makabe and Honma reunited for the2015 World Tag League, winning their block with a record of four wins and two losses and advancing to the finals of the tournament.[50] On December 9, they defeatedLos Ingobernables de Japón (Evil andTetsuya Naito) in the finals to win the 2015 World Tag League.[51][52]
On January 4, 2016, atWrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome, Makabe and Honma defeated Bullet Club's Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.[53][54] They lost the title toGuerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga andTanga Loa) on April 10 atInvasion Attack 2016.[55] On October 23, Honma and Makabe made an appearance forPro Wrestling Noah, unsuccessfully challengingNaomichi Marufuji and Toru Yano for theGHC Tag Team Championship.[56][57] In December, Makabe and Honma advanced to the finals of the2016 World Tag League by winning their block with a record of five wins and two losses.[58] On December 10, Makabe and Honma defeated the reigning IWGP Tag Team Champions Guerrillas of Destiny to win the 2016 World Tag League,[59] becoming the first ever team to win the tournament in two consecutive years.[60] On January 4, 2017 atWrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, Makabe and Honma took part in a three-way match for the IWGP Tag Team Championship, which was won by Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano.[61] After missing the better part of 2017 and 2018 due to injury caused byJado, Honma returned to the ring although was a shadow of his former self. With Great Bash Heel seemingly out of tag team title contention, the alliance formed between the Main Unit andChaos led to Makabe,Toru Yano andRyusuke Taguchi teaming up. They ended up earning the right to challengeBullet Club for theNEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship at New Year Dash!! 2019, atWrestle Kingdom 13.
On March 6, 2025, at the NJPW 53th Anniversary Show, G・B・H was folded into Main Unit, officially ending the tenure of the stable.[2]
| Member | Time | |
|---|---|---|
| Shiro Koshinaka | * | October 2, 2006 - August 11, 2007 |
| Hiroyoshi Tenzan | *I | October 2, 2006 - February 17, 2008 |
| Togi Makabe | *V | October 2, 2006 – March 6, 2025 |
| Toru Yano | II | October 16, 2006 - April 23, 2009 |
| Tomohiro Ishii | October 16, 2006 - April 23, 2009 | |
| Tomoaki Honma | February 2007 - March 28, 2012; March 23, 2013 – March 6, 2025 | |
| Jado | August 26, 2007 - April 23, 2009 | |
| Gedo | August 26, 2007 - April 23, 2009 | |
| Karl Anderson | March 13, 2008 - April 23, 2009 | |
| Takashi Iizuka | III | April 27, 2008 - April 23, 2009 |
| Rick Fuller | September 5, 2008 - November 5, 2008 | |
| Low Ki | September 5, 2008 - January 4, 2009 | |
| Giant Bernard | September 5, 2008 - April 23, 2009 | |
| Val Venis | March 8, 2009 - March 21, 2009 | |
| Black Tiger IV (Rocky Romero) | March 14, 2009 - April 5, 2009 | |
| Shinsuke Nakamura | IV | April 5, 2009 - April 23, 2009 |
| Black Tiger V (Tatsuhito Takaiwa) | April 5, 2009 - April 23, 2009 |
| Group name | Members | Tenure | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jado & Gedo | Jado Gedo | 2007-2009 | Tag team |
| Bad Intentions | Giant Bernard Karl Anderson | 2008-2009 | Tag team |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
