Matt Peet's men brutally exploited a series of handling errors by the visitors to muscle into a 20-point half-time lead, then repelled a fine fightback with Jai Field's length-of-field interception just past the hour mark to seal their win.
The manner and timing of their move into pole position looks ominous for their top-flight rivals, not least long-time leaders Leeds who are now under pressure when they head to York on Sunday.
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It marked a fourth straight loss for Wakefield, who started well and were aggrieved to be denied the opening try when Oliver Pratt sent Max Jowitt sliding over, but he was ruled to have knocked on in the process of grounding.
Moments earlier, Wakefield rode their luck to stay level after a rare error from Bevan French, who sent Zach Eckersley over in the corner from a forward pass.
Luke Thompson came close for Wigan while Wakefield continued to benefit on the short side as a high-quality contest moved past the quarter-hour without a point on the board.
But Wigan proceeded to capitalise on a pair of Wakefield errors to run in three tries in the next 10 minutes and give themselves an almost insurmountable advantage.
French ruthlessly punished a careless pass by Jowitt by powering over the halfway line to open the scoring, and six minutes later Wigan built on a penalty pass with Kian McDermott's superb ball gifting Liam Marshall the second in the corner.
Marshall was in for his second almost immediately after another handling error gifted Wigan the advantage. Three kicks from Adam Keighran - coupled with a penalty on the hooter - sent Peet's men in at the interval four scores to the good.
Wakefield might have been all but resigned to another defeat but they will take great heart from the way they refused to accept the seemingly inevitable at the start of the second half.
They seized on a sustained spell of pressure to narrow the deficit on 52 minutes when Jake Trueman's clever kick eluded French and gave Corey Hall the chance to touch down.
Trinity pushed again on the back of a penalty and a repeat set, and could have further reduced the deficit but for Hall's foot straying into touch as he flicked the ball back for Jowitt to go over.
The visitors' hopes were finally dashed when a spill from Mike McMeeken sent Jai Field scurrying the length of the field to score Wigan's fourth. A late effort from Wakefield's Ky Rodwell made the final scoreline more respectable.
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