[0.0] "House Of Torture was zu den schlechtesten Stables aller Zeiten gehört. Die haben SHO, Yujiro Takahashi, Ren Narita und SANADA, ja SANADA der bei Just 5 Guys noch Leader war Laubursche für EVIL. Hast du ein House Of Torture hast du alle gesehen, dauerinterference vom feinsten löst dieses Stable endlich auf keiner profitiert davon. Ich lese immer wieder Kommentare das ein Heel-Stable so funktionieren soll. Ach so ein Blödsinn, das sind natürlich nur die Leute die das Stable verteidigen und glauben es hätte ein Wert für andere worker."
[2.0] "There is a time and place for interference in wrestling and historically having factions built around that isn't always a bad idea. But HOT has stuck around far past their expiration date at this point and the gimmick has ran dry. The egregious cheating in every match is excoriating to watch at this point and it was no more apparent than the G1 this year. Also not to mention the way they have seemed to stall the careers of guys that have joined them. They took Sho who was one of the best junior heavyweights and turned him into a goofy dumb heel and is now a shell of his former self. Narita has also been reduced to being a cheating heel and while the few time he does actually purely wrestle and show glimpses of his old self it's great but it's so few and far between that it just makes you think how dumb it is he's apart of this group. The newest victim of this is Douki who basically lost and ruined all his momentum he had built up last year as soon as he joined. HOT has ultimately become a black eye on New Japan and I wish that Gedo would just end them at this point."
[1.0] "They're awful. Up until the G1 35 semifinal I wasn't as hard on them as a lot of fans were. The interference didn't bother me all that much. That was before Evil was put in the G1 35 finals. New Japan isn't in the dark aged like they were in the early 2000's but if they get that bad again putting Evil in the finals will be something looked at."
[0.0] "They get a one just because they're kind of funny sometimes. When they do comedy shit like EVIL getting locked up in a cage while Yano giggles at him, they're fine. Otherwise, these guys are absolute ass. Edit: On second thought, the funny isn't worth the point."
[0.0] "It's not because they're heels that's the problem. It's that they're heels with no originality and seemingly no end to the bullshit. After all, look at the Bloodline and Death Riders as two recent examples where it worked out in the end. But even though Roman or Mox were given the opportunity to win under their own steam once in a while, with the House, it's just unrelenting interference spots even on a zero-stakes undercard match. It just makes you want to skip all their matches. Look at the match ratings for this year's G1 Climax, and you can pick out the three House members without much effort. 12 points in the G1, and Evil had one decent match in the entire tournament, and that was a bullshit-fest against a fellow House member that was so over-the-top you couldn't help but like that. Not only that, but heel factions are a means to an end to get faces over. We're on year 4 of the House, and who are they putting over? Absolutely nobody. If anything, it's wasting the prime years of talent like Narita, and turning people away from others like Douki and Sanada. It's just boring tripe that makes you wonder if Gedo's creative juices are declining almost as fast as Vince McMahon's did five years ago. Just end this, please, we can't take much more of this."
[0.0] "There are very few things in wrestling that I find no redeeming qualities in. Even wrestlers, matches, stables, etc, I strongly dislike I can find at least 1 good quality in them. However, HoT has nothing redeemable about them, besides maybe living up to their name because they are torturous to watch. Everything about them sucks. EVIL being an arguable top 3 wrestler in a stable says a lot about the in-ring quality of the stable, because my god is he a bore to watch. On paper, their gimmick is fine. Just a stereotypical, classic heel group with a dark edge to it. In practice, it's like if 2025 Judgement Day was somehow 10000x worse. Matches filled with interference, constant boring matches, no interesting stories, and while it's Gedo being Gedo it is incredibly annoying to see them win everything so often. While I do think Bullet Club has overstayed it's welcome (even though I absolutely adore BC), WarDogs & more specifically Finlay were very interesting and Finlay had good momentum. The HoT feud has completely killed that momentum as of now, primarily for a guy I could not care for. I do like Douki even though I really disagree with him being apart of HoT, & SHO isn't bad but his antics tick me off. Overall just a god awful stable, it's like if Judgement Day was 10x more boring, with 1000x more interference, & without the in-ring talent that JD at least had with Balor & Ripley. Inshallah we will be free from their reign of terror soon."
[0.0] "genuinely one of the worst factions in all of pro wrestling. they keep growing and keeping picking up the bottom of the barrel, most mid wrestlers from new japan. yujiro, dick togo, chase owens, fale, are all horrible wrestlers. sanada, ren narita and evil are half decent; but they ruin their matches with nonstop, uncreative cheating. it ruins the match because no matter what you do in the ring, we know the match will end with interference. its never creative, they just grab or kick the ref without trying to hide it. house of torture are a horrible stain on njpw"
[4.0] "You guys can say "they are a heel stable this is how they are supposed to act" That isn't an excuse for putting on boring and repetitive matches multiple times a show. Just because they are acting how a heel group is meant to act does not make it good. Bullet club put on great matches and did heel stuff all the time, Early days LIJ still put on good matches while playing to the crowd. HOT has some good wrestlers who are forced to be just over the top silly heel wrestlers. I'm sure it's great fun to be a wrestler in H.O.T but as a fan i get 10 minutes into one of their matches then fast forward."
[8.0] "House of Torture are one of the, if not the single, best heel factions in all of wrestling. Too many heels want to come across as tough or cool; too many care about "star ratings" rather than getting heat and getting fans behind their babyface opponents. House of Torture are just old school heels, and they get the desired reaction in Japan. While the outside interference is a bit much at times, they at least still try to cheat behind the referee's back - whereas plenty of heels these days just blatantly cheat in front of the ref. EVIL is great as the delusional leader who will proclaim himself the rightful IWGP champion, rightful President of New Japan or the true leader of Bullet Club. He's able to straddle that line between being absurd and silly without crossing over it, and still maintains the almost cult leader-esque role. House of Torture has also allowed both SHO and Ren Narita to break out from their previous roles and show more personality. In Narita's case I think it's been especially good as he was previously seen as something of a Shibata clone and came across as bland, whereas now his charisma is on display. He may well one day return to Hontai and become the heir to strong style he was expected to be, but I think his time with House of Torture will be invaluable. I'd go as far as to say they're the most important faction in New Japan as they're the only outright heels. And they fully embrace that role."
[7.0] "I must've taken way to many shots of pepper-spray or something, because after everything, I just can't bring myself to hate the 'House Of Torture'. Admittedly, I do get why people hate them, and I'll go more into that later, but personally, the best way I can describe the faction is that they're somewhat-complicated, or at least in terms of how beneficial they are to the NJPW product (as otherwise, there's really not that much to misunderstand about them). They are literally just shit-eating, cheating, malevolent shit-bags and that's about it, no long description about their backstories or wider-impact needed, like I said, it's simple. Subsequently, the reason why I think these guys rule is also very simple, and it's simply due to the fact that they are entertaining/ engrossing as hell, and that they always have their unique place on the roster, which is especially true when it comes to the trademark boring NJPW undercard tags. Additionally, if someone where to tell me that they felt nothing watching a 'House Of Torture' match, I simply wouldn't believe them, as the heel-work is undeniably really impactful when done well, and it can make it to the point where your left wanting nothing more than the interfering douchebags to get their comeuppance, which can be amplified even further when considering NJPW's exceptional babyface-roster. Some of the workers in the faction are very good in ring workers too, as Yoshinobu Kanemaru especially remains a superb junior heavyweight, Dick Togo is able to remain a surprising mobile 50+ year old when given the opportunity, Ren Narita is still an consistent worker even though his move-set has undeniably been butchered to shit since his heel-turn and even EVIL can shine when he's able to too. But, like previously mentioned, I do get that some of their main criticisms are justified, as their gimmick can easily become overkill when not protected properly, and when they are bad, they absolutely suck to the point where a avid 'House Of Torture' enjoyer such as myself cannot find any redeeming-features. Nonetheless, whilst I think that this is something that isn't as ever-present as some people would have you believe, I still do believe in the sentiment that the 'House Of Torture' is something best enjoyed in a vacuum, as it's definately not something you can safely base a company around, but I do think that they are another example of just how fucking annoying some members of the wrestling community can be. This is because I think that so much of their hate is undeserved, or at least misdirected, I do think that hating these guys is kind of the point, and saying that they get 'go-away' heat is an incredibly far-fetched statement when considering everything. I think people just like to take these things too seriously, it's extremely weird to me that people think that these guys have harmed NJPW that much, especially to the point where many fans have flat-out turned off the product, and not the abundance of other problems that NJPW have faced in 2020. I think it's a simple overreaction if anything, because like seriously, there is nothing that problematic about these guys. I know the most common gripe with these guys is how badly they contrast NJPWs more gritty, realistic brand of wrestling, but even with that, not everything has to stick into that kinda simplistic formula. I think you do need people like this to freshen up the cards a little but, it's why people like Toru Yano and Ryusuke Taguchi have been able to stick around as long as they have whilst still being given pretty decent spots, it's good to have some differentiation sometimes you know? Furthermore, I do also see a lot of complaints about how apparently the 'House Of Torture' has apparently ruined the careers of people like SHO and Ren Narita, and I also think that's a bit of hyperbole too. I know that both where seriously good workers in their day, but there's still time for them after the 'House Of Torture' eventually ends, and I do think that they've actually benefitted under the 'House Of Torture' too, as Ren Narita was far too bland to become a properly established deal by himself and SHO was probably never going to properly establish himself as a proper junior heavyweight pillar with how crowded that scene is. Personally, I think that both guys have worked tremendously under the 'House Of Torture' banner, notwithstanding how many of their current moves do look like shit tho, which is an undeniable shame. Nonetheless, the reason I'm not giving this faction a higher rating is once again simple, and that's because the aforementioned damage that's come with their sometimes over-exposure. Like I mentioned earlier, this sort of thing rarely if ever works in the very top of the card, as it's simply too much for a somewhat wacky group of degenerates such as these guys. I believe that main-event heels should at least be able to justify their status at least a bit with their own in-ring merits, and that isn't a thing with these guys. I also understand the notions that my friends have a very low-chance of selling out a building, which is fine, admittedly they shouldn't have too. This is why EVIL's current IWGP championship contendership has recently rubbed me the wrong way, such a thing is never going to properly work and his challenges do always feel very predictable and underwhelming. I'm also not that much of a fan of their whole 'disillusion' edge, with multiple members being seemingly unaware of their shittiness, and it's something that has been going on for years. It's simply too goofy for me, and EVIL going around pretending he's the president of NJPW is something that can only be entertaining for so long, but I do get why a small goofy edge is needed. Ultimately, I do think this faction is very over-hated, and I also believe that their ability to gander heat is very overlooked. It's something that isn't worth getting actually mad over. Trust me, you'll be fine. I very much promise."
[6.0] "You lot aren't real freaks. That's what this faction is for. The realest of the real, the biggest freaks the world has at its disposal, are always House of Torture's biggest shooters. I won't sit here and say it's amazing. The wrestling acumen isn't perfect, what with Togo, Kanemaru and Yujiro being members, but Ren Narita, EVIL and SHO have proved many a time that they're very good at what they do. EVIL is entertaining as a delusional leader, SHO is hilarious as the 'Murder Machine' that couldn't hurt a fly, and the presence of mini-Shibata is always nice. Technically Perry hasn't left yet, I guess, and he's also great. But that's a major problem here, they have these wrestlers who can totally go, but who don't seem to get the opportunity to because of how HoT works. It's mind numbing, but when they grip you, they get you good. SHO vs DOUKI from this year's BOSJ is a prime example. It's dumb, but it's fun."
[7.0] "I've grown to love these goobers. Absolutely despised them and thought they were utter garbage for most of their existence but slowly I've really gotten into what they do. The Sumie Sakai retirement match really was the peak of this. In modern wrestling where everyone is "shades of grey" and all the "heel is in the right" storylines sometimes its nice to just have a guy and be able to say "this guy's name is EVIL and here's his EVIL faction where they do EVIL things, boo them! " Few things more satisfying than watching a face overcome their shenanigans"
[0.0] "As someone who's not the most hardcore NJPW fan or know-it-all about NJPW, I admit that NJPW had been quite less than stellar in the 2020s mostly because of the rise of AEW, losing some of their top stars and getting hurt real hard by the Covid-19 Pandemic and then House of Torture came in and things got worse for them. This is one of the all time worst heel stables, everyone associated in the group had so many weak to awful matches, their connection to Bullet club has become confusing at this stage and it represents everything that's currently wrong with modern NJPW."
[8.0] "I was surprised to see so much hate and not a lot of love for this group. Does House of Torture put on the biggest in ring classics? No. But that's the entire point. This is a faction that could really only work in New Japan or a similar place. It's about a promotion that is literally all about chaos and disruption and sports entertainment nonsense while the entire rest of the promotion is REAL SPORT and that stuff. House of Torture is different and unique and does everything differently than every other group. Now there was some issues with the War Dogs being created and sort of doing the same thing, but War Dogs are much more violent and sadistic while House of Torture is a lot more comedy and goofiness in their distractions and cheating. And I may be hated for this, but I think EVIL is criminally overhated. I thought his run in the New Japan Cup and IWGP Double Title win was incredible and he should've had a longer run. He is great in the ring and his character work now as the "President" of New Japan is great!"
[0.0] "1 or 2 matches of theirs have somewhat worked with good crowds, but other than that this faction is pure and utter...torture. I just can't get on board with the idea they draw heel heat because their shenanigans are often greeted with complete silence. Low effort, low creativity, bottom of the barrel heel garbage. I originally scored them a 1 but the longer they exist the more unbearable they are to watch. How anyone finds this fun is beyond me."
[0.0] "Every match is the exact same, it's completely unwatchable and uninteresting, and it makes everyone else look like idiots. I know people hype them up, mostly ironically, but this is all the worst aspects of the Bloodline turned up to 11 without any of the good parts."
[0.0] "Natürlich sind die einzelnen Mitglieder keine "0 Punke-Wrestler", das Stable als solches aber schon. EVIL war der schlechteste NJPW Champion der letzten 10 Jahre."
[1.0] "Look, cheating heels are fine. They're the backbone of pro wrestling. But just like literally everything else in the world, too much of it is bad, and we've gone far, far past "too much" and far, far past "bad". Literally bell to bell it's constant interference, or sneaking in weapons, or whatever generic heel tactic, and it doesn't stop until they've all finally, mercifully left the arena. You can say "Oh well that just makes them good heels" lmao no, that makes them repetitive and boring and samey and predictable. It also doesn't help that aside from Ren Narita every member of the stable ranges somewhere from mid (SHO) to "why and how is this person even still a professional wrestler goddamn he sucks" (Yujiro). If they turned down all the cheating and heel tactics by, say, 75%, so that the cheating actually feels compelling and not just old hat, I'd be generous to give this group a 4."
[6.0] "I don't want to say HoT is unreasonable hated because truth be told everything about them ruining title matches and breaking down the most exciting part of the match into a convoluted sequence of shenanigans is true. However, it is still pretty easy to recognize their upside: great reaction from the crowd, great heel group that differentiate from the War Dogs, and very easy to slot in any part of the card. More importantly, HoT really helped up the character work for Evil, Sho, and Narita. If a HoT match would end with a hot streak finish after all the shenanigans, it would be actually awesome. In conclusion, definitely overly hated."
[4.0] "I love a good heel stable as much as the next guy, but the constant interference from House of Torture means that (as many, many others here have already pointed out) almost every one of their matches feels the same, and that obviously gets pretty tiresome after a while..."
[10.0] "Man, how can people actually dislike this group. I swear these people weren't watching when suzuki-gun were exactly like this and it shows, what made suzuki-gun great was the sense of brotherhood and the same things applies to HOT. EVIL is an amazing leader and a great wrestler when motivated, Togo is Togo, unreal guy words cannot describe his value. Yujiro fits in like a glove and he finally has a home where he can finally shine. Kanemaru is the heel master, of course he fits in well here. My MVPs for this group are Narita and SHO though, both guys are such good heels and just massive pricks. Jack Perry does not exist to me, I do not care. But the faction is awesome, great at getting heat, fun interference spots and it's amazing when they get their comeuppance. If you hate HOT you hate fun, they're incredible."
[2.0] "Every single match of theirs is the same. Everyone in the stable wrestles the same. They're all cowardly '90s style American heels minus the cool factor and charisma. If this were isolated to just one or two guys - EVIL, Dick Togo, maybe Kanemaru - it would be tolerable. But there's really no excuse for wasting Ren Narita and SHO in their physical primes with this nonsense. I hope the domestic t-shirt sales are good 'cause these guys actively make shows a chore to watch."
[5.0] "Were insufferable during the pandemic due to their American-style heel interference and silent arenas, but with the crowd cheering back and the addition of 2 good members have become a lot better. A good execution of the realistic cult premise while still having that BC demeanor to them, they've become probably the most hated heel group in all of current pro wrestling and they're damn good at keeping that heat. Hopefully the addition of Ren Narita, and SHO & Kanemaru's breakout work in the jr. division is a sign of bigger and better things than whole team interferences in almost every match. Edit: That was my review 2 months ago from this addendum and I gave them a 7. They had them beat ZSJ and took over 3/4 quarterfinals in the NJ cup. May god have mercy on our souls Dick Togo has ruined New Japan"
[9.0] "I understand the HoT as an entertaining unit and think that they know their role well, bringing the mix of very good heel work and middle class comedy. Last year was definitely the year when House of Torture recreated themselves, began to add to the group perfect heel Kanemaru and newest rising star Narita, who must join them (I don't click in the Shibata-like gimmick). Jack Perry's addition to the group is also very curious decision, in my opinion: his character in AEW had the HoT tricks and he fits them well. Maybe, they don't need the titles, but that booking decisions allow to put HoT's opponents in the best light, recent matches (SHO vs. Naito or EVIL vs. Shota, for example) only proves that point. I'm sure that HoT will continue their recruitments in near future and maybe sooner or later we'll see the new members - one or two - in their corner."
[0.0] "House of Torture is essentially the result of regurgitating the worst parts of NWO 2000, but the worst offender of this stable is that it has permanently damaged all the potential SHO and EVIL had as performers. All their matches are riddled with the laziest and shittiest American-style heel interferenes, which perplexes me that a guy like Gedo who was so ahead of everyone during his booking work in the 2010's, now has started to take influence from (arguably) one of the worst aspects of American wrestling. I hope this stable is disassociated in the most unceremonious way possible, as that would be the only fitting end for this atrocious stable and anything more glorifying would be a disappointment and undeserved."
[5.0] "I don't enjoy House Of Torture matches usually, but I know that I'm not supposed to. Their style definitely can lead to some absolute bangers, like the 2023 G1 match between EVIL and Shingo, but usually, HoT matches are really cold. They are at their best when they boil absolute piss and they seem like the only force in all of New Japan capable of doing so, so I gotta hand that to them."
[8.0] "So as you can see with the ratings and comments here, a lot of nerds are getting worked. They cry and cope about House Of Torture having "go away heat" or making everyone look bad yet this faction gets heat during their matches and overall they're true heel who know how to work as actual heels, not ironic heels, not "let's have a yummy 10 stars banger" heels. Wrestlers have different roles to play in their promotions, NJPW already has a lot of "great wrestlers with fighting spirit", a lot of faces, so House Of Torture is there to bring a balance and a different dynamic to some of the matches on the card. EVIL is a great leader, charismatic on the mic and being in House Of Torture allowed him to become IWGP Heavyweight Champion, IWGP Intercontinental Champion and NEVER Openweight Champion so it has been a good move for him. Dick Togo is a good pin eater and manager. Yujiro has been a low card guy for years but he actually has a little more purpose by being in House Of Torture. SHO was cool when he was a babyface powerhouse but he was very bland character wise, since he turned heel and joined House Of Torture he gained a lot of confidence and charisma. He won the 6 man belts and the KOPW belt in a rare case of a junior beating a heavyweight, he's a good character and the crowd reacts well to him. Kanemaru is a natural heel and his turn played a great part in building the story of J5G vs HOT leading to EVIL's title match against SANADA. Ren Narita already showed more personality by being in HOT for less than a month than during his whole Shibata clone run since coming back from excursion, he's in a hot storyline of betrayal and now as a heel he has actually more chances of becoming a top guy someday. So for now every member has a purpose, they have 2 competitive heavyweights while Yujiro is the pin eater, and 2 competitive juniors while Dick Togo is the pin eater. There's a good balance to that faction, they're useful as actual heels that get heat (if you actually watch the shows, a lot of people crying about HOT probably don't) and when they're finally getting beat up it usually gets great reactions and put the babyfaces over. So all of you nerds can piss and moan all you want, the fact is they're not there to wrestle for yummy Meltzer star ratings, they're there to play a role as characters and they play it really well. They're trying everything to take shortcuts and create distractions, and it clearly works with the crowd if you're not deaf or delusional. So I give them an 8, it's a useful faction, I actually want to see them get beat up and I think it will get better with time, with Narita being built as a top guy who'll get more used to his new role."
[0.0] "Absolute garbage of a faction. For one, nobody knows if they are officially seperated from Bullet Club. It looks like it, but it isn't. An even without that confusing sector, the matches so bad. It has done nothing to elevate the members of the faction and the faction itself. If anything, it makes everyone look bad, a shell of their former selves, and a hinder of their progress."
[0.0] "One can say House of Torture are good heels, because they reach their goal of being hated. That's where the compliments end. Evil was very entertaining, but ironically, since he turned heel, he has been awful to watch. This has by far been the worst era of his career. Yujiro was always kinda just there, but now he's getting the wrong kind of attention. Sho was one of my favorite juniors, but now I can't stand him or his gimmick. Togo wasn't great but was decently entertaining, until now, where he gets involved in every goddamn match House of Torture is in. Kanemaru had a great thing going in Just 5 Guys, but now is just frustrating to watch. Narita, like Sho, is pretty young and has his whole career ahead of him, which is already being tarnished for just being in this stable. These guys need to be broken up immediately, it's not working."
[0.0] "I am not being "worked." If I was, I would want to keep tuning in to see them lose, but instead they make me want to quit watching altogether. I'm sorry, but this trash is not wrestling."
[1.0] "The most perfectly named stable in wrestling history, they're really torturing to watch. I mean, in 99% of the shows House of Torture is the worst thing in them. The matches are awful and the angles boring. Hardly a single quality in any of the guys, a shame. I'm giving 1 point out of pity for the guys and you know, they're active and can do some cool stuff someday, but until now a complete failure."
[1.0] "They only exist as a threat, a threat as to whether they'll ever actually get a push, A threat as to which wrestler they'll ruin by adding them to their forces. I've never seen a stable in wrestling that had such actual X-Pac Heat since X-Pac's actual stable, X-Factor."
[0.0] "Everyone is worse of having joined this group to the level that I actively knock off the stream anytime they are on. I don't want to see them get beat, I just don't want to see them period. SHO was a machine and that is gone. EVIL was a star in the making and that is gone. Togo and Yujiro were reliable and that is long gone. This group brings out the worst in everyone."
[2.0] "I gotta say it, they are doing what heels are supposed to do, and that's being the lowest form of humanity there is and being booed for that. However, this should not interfere in the workrate, gimmicks and wrestling skills of the wrestlers. See, EVIL was an exceptional wrestler back then, Yujiro was good when motivated, SHO was a fighting machine and Togo still has excellent agility and strength for his age. Now, they all are doing lazy skits, acting all delusional, cutting promos while saying nonsense stuff and forceably tainting matches with repetitive interferences, run ins and stupid segments, not to mention the stupid merchandises they are selling. If the ref's Marty Asami or Kenta Sato, you know they will win, and Makoto Abe will be dropped too."
[4.0] "I can't believe a 4 is upping HoT's rating, but so be it. I think they are effective heels, they're booed for a reason, but jesus, their matches are really a torture. Such a shame considering they could actually be decent in the ring, except you, Yujiro, I have no idea with you're not working on a convenience store."
[2.0] "At best, they are harmless undercard filler, causing shenanigans, at worst they are unbearable, lazily overbooked cretins that ruin good matches and competent wrestlers. Just look at EVIL - remember him putting Omega through the table? Good shit. Now Evil slums around with washed up wastes of space like Yujiro and Dick Togo. I don't mind cheating as long as it's not every time and as long as it's entertaining. HOT is seldom that."
[6.0] "Honestly House of Torture became fine once New Japan realized they are comedy midcarders rather than a vehicle for main event EVIL. Had some fun but silly matches for the NEVER 6 man belts, the worst thing about them these days is the repetitive feuds but that's on the booking. Sho really found a character for himself in the group and Yujiro is being kept away from wrestlers with a much higher ceiling. As long as EVIL remains in the midcard with his silly little group I will find myself enjoying them more and more."
[0.0] "Nah, this stable sucks. There's a huge difference between being a faction people love to hate, and a faction whose antics I don't want to see so I fast forward. There are many ways to be entertaining cheating heels - look at Jay White's BC, or Jeff Jarrett's AEW stable, or even the Elite and the Bloodline - but HoT fails on any level to be entertaining. Dick and Yujiro are washed, and SHO and Evil have been booked into total irrelevancy."
[9.0] "People hating House of Torture so much shows that ironically they are doing an excellent job. Their role is to lie, cheat, and steal, and that's what they do, simple as that. They have to make themselves hate and they have more than succeeded. Neither of them is especially talented in the ring so this gimmick suits them well to hide those flaws."
[0.0] "Anything that involves EVIL gets an automatic Fail in my eyes. What a waste of SHO, as I used to be so interested in his future as I knew that he and YOH would not be a tag team forever. Then he gets put in BULLET CLUB. What a shame. The NEVER Trios Titles are now going to get wasted on these bums and is a direct slap in the face to the hard work of Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto, & YOSHI-HASHI. UPDATED: These guys make The Outcasts look like The Fabulous Freebirds. They are the most unfunny joke in pro wrestling. They are BEYOND "Go Away" Heat."
[7.0] "House of Torture is an interesting idea for a faction in New Japan. A faction full of dirty cheaters that will do anything to win and could care less about what anyone says. I will admit that their early work was dreadful, but I genuinely believe that they're starting to find their groove and are starting to get good at this. But I do feel like everyone in this faction can do better without the House of Torture, especially SHO. But for now, if they can manage to stay creative with their antics and cheap heat, they can truly find their peak."
[6.0] "Had House Of Torture down at a 2 because the superbooking was awful, and the stable was awful. But theyve gotten a lot more manageable with crowd noise to actually play off of and with them being more comedy heels than dominant heels as they once were. Its been a good evolution for them."
[6.0] "Now that crowds are able to cheer/boo, HoT have been exposed as.....actually not being that bad, honestly. The Japanese audience react well to their heel shtick and they've been redeemed somewhat by being booked like shticky heels who are easy to boo. These interference-heavy stables are frequent in Japanese wrestling, from Voodoo Murders to Makai Club to even earlier examples from the 80's: HoT aren't even that new when it comes to how they work as a heel stable, we've had them for a very long time. As a stable you can argue that Dick Togo and SHO could be doing better things, but Togo is well past it by this point and SHO is a bad babyface, so this stable makes best use of them as a heater Jr duo who have had decent rates of consistency when it comes to having decent matches. Yujiro is the obvious pin-fodder but he certainly isn't bad either and can have the occasional good outing with the right hand. EVIL has been surprisingly really good bar the Ishii match at the beginning of the year: his New Japan Cup run was real entertaining alongside his G1 stuff. HoT are true heels because they aren't trying to impress the audience or be cool heels, they are purely there to spoil the fun, get shine on the babyfaces and then get knocked down when their cheating inevitably fails. I guess if you think all heel stables need to be insane workrate with the occasional heel moment then you'll not like these guys, but they've really not been "terrible" at any point so far."
[4.0] "It looks like Dick Togo got into Gedos head and this was the result of it, they have been doing better lately be becoming more of a comedy faction but bro for the first few months, holy shit."
[9.0] ""DATS HEAT", as Bully Ray would say. A heel faction that generates what I can only describe as nearly 100% pure heel heat. No underlying coolness, no pipebomb-esque, fourth wall-shattering promos, no nothing that could give fans the slimmest feeling of satisfaction. Only pain, only only hatred, only DARKNESS is what the House of Torture gives to the fans. Reminds me of the Jinder Mahal as WWE Champion days, and the "he's not a real heel because he's boring and bad and he's not working me" kind of reaction from the fans in all levels of "smartness". Tears of joy whenever I see SHO with a wrench on his hands."
[1.0] "The worst heel stable I've seem in many years, their interferences just doesn't make sense and it comes to a point where they're just annoying and have more "go away, I don't want to see you anymore" heat than actual "heel" heat. It's not satisfying to watch them get beaten, the most satisfying part of them is when they directly don't appear in one show, I'm usually very willing to let myself have fun and not care too much about the quality of the matches as long as is entertaining, but this stable is just not entertaining, they don't know when to interfere, they make the refferee's look like complete retards and I still can't explain myself why at this point the other wrestlers don't have their faction outside of the ring backing them upwhen they're against a HOT member if it's very obvious how it's gonna end. Just one point because Evil and Sho are very good wrestlers that sadly are in this awful faction."
[10.0] "This stable even worked me when I initially saw them. They get under your skin. You want to see them get beat up. It's satisfying when they do. The crowds are always hot for the babyfaces fighting against them. They're natural in their roles. They're wildly entertaining. They work even the smartest fans in the IWC into hating them. They're arguably better heels than guys like MJF and other western heels because they get actual heat. They don't need to insult your local sports team or fake shoot to get that heat. There were times when the interference ruined the flow of matches, but they've gotten better at it. HOT is a group that has finally matured into a stable that knows when to have interference and when not to. EVIL, Yujiro, SHO and Togo compliment each other very well in terms of teamwork and hierarchy. Oh no, but what about the workrate. Just because a few guys aren't trying to have 5 star epics and drop each other on their heads a hundred times doesn't mean they're bad. There's nothing wrong with a character focused group. Just because the crowds can't boo doesn't mean they're dead. Japanese crowds are louder for EVIL/HOT matches more than a lot of other matches on the card. The criticisms of HOT come from the same people who think KENTA isn't good anymore just because he doesn't have movez exhibitions or take hard bumps anymore. He's been having the best character work of his career since his turn on Shibata. The same can be said for this group. SHO went from boring babyface to a manic heel. No matter what you personally think of them, HOT is the best heel stable in modern wrestling next to Oedo Tai."
[0.0] "The absolute worst sub group to come out of New Japan. As heels, I respect that they want to generate heat but constantly interfering and cheating just kills the flow of the match."
[2.0] "I will defend every controversial decision New Japan has made, because I love the promotion and its talent to death. That said, this is the one thing I just cannot, no matter how hard I try, find any positives in, excluding Yujiro, and even Yujiro is at his best when he's not wrestling the tradition HoT style. This stable can still become something good if they tone down the interference and let EVIL be the badass bruiser heel. SHO too has incredible character work as a heel, but his style is boring and tone deaf in terms of booking. Luckily, the stable doesn't muck up the entirety of New Japan, but its matches are an instant skip, except for a Yuj singles match, or an interesting SHO one."
[0.0] "I miss a lot of thing since the last time I watch NJPW, SHO and YOH splited to give birth to this absolute garbage level stable known as House Of Torture. NJPW was barely good for me in 2021 and this stable resume everything wrong with the company during this year. And SHO didn't do a good match since he is in the bullet club that really hurt me."
[0.0] "One of the absolute worst stables I've ever seen. The point of a stable is to make wrestlers shine, to hide or help alleviate any flaws with their teammates or managers. This stable does something worse than being bad or mediocre, it has not only actively harms anything they are apart of, but ruins the wrestlers involved. EVIL was never a favorite of mine, but he was always a competent brawler until he joined Bullet Club. Somehow he became even worse when he splintered off and formed House of Torture with Dick Togo, even in the Tokyo Dome all he could manage was some weak brawling and cheating, a far cry from the good brawler he was just a few years ago. Dick Togo, who was a really good wrestler for years and even though he is past his prime is still decent in the ring, is reduced to a lame cheating manager who interferes in matches every two seconds. Yujiro, well I guess Yujiro has been quite awful for awhile now, so while HoT didn't ruin him he sure doesn't help things. The biggest offender of this though, is SHO. SHO was one of my favorites, and I always thought he could have a great singles run. When he first joined HoT, he still seemed to wrestle quite well other than the new addition of cheating and interference in his matches. Now, however, he is becoming like EVIL, seemingly putting in the bare minimum in-ring effort and just focusing mostly on cheating and brawling, and it is getting worse as the months pass on. This makes this the worst stable I've ever seen, at least crap like the nWo B-Team was just people getting underused, HoT is actively ruining good wrestlers in-ring styles."
"I rarely watch New Japan, so I don't really want to give a rating, but my god, they were the worst part of Wrestle Kingdom by a long way this year. Shenanigans central for every match that involves one of them, and even without the shenanigans, it's just uninteresting to watch."
[0.0] "It hurts my soul to see how they messed up EVIL and SHO especially. Interferences, stale movesets, slow matches and awful finishes are the ways to describe this prime example for a bad stable and bad booking of the wrestlers included."
[0.0] "An easy 0 without any necessary explanation. The same bullshit in each and every matches they had, really tired of it. I think the meaning of "House of Torture" is torturing the audiences with their boring heel work."
[4.0] "The judgement is still out on SHO, but this stable looks like a low level effort to get some cheap heat. It's not like nobody in this stable is particularly bad, it's like their matches are extremely repetitive (a common problem in NJPW for the past 2/3 years) and none of the members is particularly intriguing or charismatic. Dick Togo is probably the best guy of the lot but his glory days are now in the past despite his extraordinary in-ring longevity, Yujiro Takahashi is a guy NJPW tries to push once every few years only to realize he's at most a lowcarder, SHO held a lot of promise as Young Lion but years spent rotting in the midcard revealed all his limits and EVIL... unless he does something truly memorable the poor guy is basically marked for the rest of his career by his own inadequacy as a main eventer even more than by repetitive uninspired booking. The fact all four guys are terrible talkers (EVIL possibly being the worst) isn't doing them any favor."
