List of IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions

(Left to right) Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson, The Young Bucks, the current champions, who also hold the record for most reigns as a team with five

The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix. The title was introduced on August 8, 1998 at a NJPW live event.[1] The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is not the only tag team title contested for in NJPW; the IWGP Tag Team Championship is also sanctioned by NJPW.[2] According to NJPW's official website, the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is listed as an "IWGP Jr. Tag Class", while the IWGP Tag Team Championship is considered an "IWGP Heavy Weight Class".[2] The title is contested for by junior heavyweight wrestlers; the weight-limit for the title is 100 kg (220 lb) per partner.[3] Being a professional wrestling championship, the title is won as a result of a predetermined outcome.

Title changes happen mostly at NJPW-promoted events. The inaugural champions were Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa, who defeated Dr. Wagner Jr. and Koji Kanemoto on August 8, 1998, in the finals of a tournament. Jushin Thunder Liger, Prince Devitt and Rocky Romero share the record for most reigns by an individual wrestler, with six. At five reigns, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) hold the record for the most by a team. Gedo and Jado’s combined four reign lengths add up to 960 days—the most of any team. Separately, Gedo and Jado are tied for most days as champion. NJPW keep track of all championship title defenses per reign, which is unlike most mainstream wrestling organizations. They also hold the most total defenses as champions, with 15. Gedo and Jado separately are tied for the record of total defenses by a single wrestler. Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) hold the record for most defenses during a single reign, with 7. The Great Sasuke and Jushin Thunder Liger's only reign, Minoru and Prince Devitt's first reign, El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto's only reign, Apollo 55's fourth reign, Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask's only reign, The Young Bucks' second and fourth reigns, Roppongi Vice's (Beretta and Rocky Romero) first and second reigns and Matt Sydal and Ricochet's first and second reigns share the record for the fewest successful defenses, with zero. At 348 days, Otani and Takaiwa's second reign is the longest in the title's history. Minoru and Prince Devitt's first reign is the shortest, at 21 days. Overall, there have been 48 reigns shared among 41 wrestlers, who made up 30 different teams. The current champions are The Young Bucks, who are in their fifth reign both individually and as a team.

Title history

# Order in reign history
Reign The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed
Event The event in which the title was won
Successful defenses The number of successful defenses the champions had during their reign
Wrestler name (#) The number represents the individual reigns of a wrestler when this is distinct from the tag team's reign.
Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign
N/A The information is not available or is unknown
+ Indicates the current reign is changing daily
# Team Reign Date Days
held
Location Event Successful defenses Notes
1 Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa 1 August 8, 1998 149 Osaka, Japan Rising the Next Generations in Osaka Dome 2 Otani and Takaiwa defeated Dr. Wagner Jr. and Koji Kanemoto in a tournament final to become the first champions.[1]
2 Dr. Wagner Jr. and Kendo Kashin 1 January 4, 1999 96 Tokyo, Japan Wrestling World 2
3 The Great Sasuke and Jushin Thunder Liger 1 April 10, 1999 94 Tokyo, Japan Strong Style Symphony 0
4 Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa 2 July 13, 1999 348 Morioka, Japan Summer Struggle 1999 4
5 Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka 1 June 25, 2000 254 Tokyo, Japan Summer Struggle 2000 3
6 El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger (2) 1 March 6, 2001 136 Tokyo, Japan Hyper Battle 2001 1
7 Gedo and Jado 1 July 20, 2001 286 Sapporo, Japan Dome Quake 6
8 Jushin Thunder Liger (3) and Minoru Tanaka (2) 1 May 2, 2002 119 Tokyo, Japan Toukon Memorial Day 1
9 Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru 1 August 29, 2002 150 Tokyo, Japan Cross Road 4
10 Jushin Thunder Liger (4) and Koji Kanemoto (2) 1 January 26, 2003 282 Kobe, Japan The First Navigation 2003 6 [4][5]
Vacated November 4, 2003 N/A N/A The championship was vacated due to Kanemoto fracturing his left cheekbone.[4]
11 Gedo and Jado 2 November 29, 2003 104 Miyagi, Japan Battle Final 2003 2 Gedo and Jado defeated Hirooki Goto and Ryusuke Taguchi to win the vacant championship.[6]
12 American Dragon and Curry Man 1 March 12, 2004 85 Tokyo, Japan Hyper Battle 2004 1 [7]
13 Gedo and Jado 3 June 5, 2004 272 Osaka, Japan Best of the Super Jr. XI 5
14 Koji Kanemoto (3) and Wataru Inoue 1 March 4, 2005 71 Tokyo, Japan Big Fight Series 2005 2
15 Hirooki Goto and Minoru (3) 1 May 14, 2005 281 Tokyo, Japan Nexess VI 2
16 El Samurai (2) and Ryusuke Taguchi 1 February 19, 2006 139 Tokyo, Japan Circuit2006 Acceleration 2
17 Gedo and Jado 4 July 8, 2006 298 Shizuoka, Japan Circuit2006 Turbulence 2
18 Dick Togo and Taka Michinoku 1 May 2, 2007 270 Tokyo, Japan New Japan Pro Wrestling 35th Anniversary Tour Brave New World: Hall2Days 3
19 Prince Prince
(Minoru (4) and Prince Devitt)
1 January 27, 2008 21 Tokyo, Japan Circuit2008 New Japan Ism 0
20 Legend
(Akira and Jushin Thunder Liger (5))
1 February 17, 2008 155 Tokyo, Japan Circuit2008 New Japan Ism 1
21 Prince Prince
(Minoru (5) and Prince Devitt (2))
2 July 21, 2008 84 Sapporo, Japan Circuit2008 New Japan Soul: Novello Sparks 1
22 No Limit
(Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro)
1 October 13, 2008 83 Tokyo, Japan Destruction '08 1
23 The Motor City Machine Guns
(Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin)
1 January 4, 2009 182 Tokyo, Japan Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome 3 The Motor City Machine Guns defended the championship twice in the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion during their reign, as part of an agreement between TNA and NJPW.[8]
24 Apollo 55
(Prince Devitt (3) and Ryusuke Taguchi (2))
1 July 5, 2009 290 Tokyo, Japan Circuit2009 New Japan Soul 5 [9]
Vacated April 21, 2010 N/A N/A Title held up after the championship was not defended for 30 days.[10]
25 El Samurai (3) and Koji Kanemoto (4) 1 May 8, 2010 72 Tokyo, Japan Super J Tag Tournament 1st 0 El Samurai and Kanemoto defeated Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) in the finals of an eight-team tournament to win the vacant title.
26 Apollo 55
(Prince Devitt (4) and Ryusuke Taguchi (3))
2 July 19, 2010 84 Sapporo, Japan Circuit2010 New Japan Soul 1
27 Golden☆Lovers
(Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi)
1 October 11, 2010 104 Tokyo, Japan Destruction '10 2
28 Apollo 55
(Prince Devitt (5) and Ryusuke Taguchi (4))
3 January 23, 2011 260 Tokyo, Japan Fantastica Mania 2011 7
29 No Remorse Corps
(Davey Richards and Rocky Romero)
1 October 10, 2011 86 Tokyo, Japan Destruction '11 1
30 Apollo 55
(Prince Devitt (6) and Ryusuke Taguchi (5))
4 January 4, 2012 39 Tokyo, Japan Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome 0
31 No Remorse Corps
(Davey Richards and Rocky Romero)
2 February 12, 2012 80 Osaka, Japan The New Beginning 0
Vacated May 2, 2012 N/A N/A Title held up after Davey Richards was unable to attend Wrestling Dontaku 2012 due to travel issues.[11]
32 Jushin Thunder Liger (6) and Tiger Mask 1 June 16, 2012 36 Osaka, Japan Dominion 6.16 0 Liger and Tiger Mask defeated Suzuki-gun (Taichi and Taka Michinoku) to win the vacant title.
33 Forever Hooligans
(Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero (3))
1 July 22, 2012 112 Yamagata, Japan Kizuna Road 2
34 Time Splitters
(Alex Shelley (2) and Kushida)
1 November 11, 2012 173 Osaka, Japan Power Struggle 3
35 Forever Hooligans
(Alex Koslov (2) and Rocky Romero (4))
2 May 3, 2013 164 Fukuoka, Japan Wrestling Dontaku 2013 3
36 Suzuki-gun
(Taichi and Taka Michinoku (2))
1 October 14, 2013 26 Tokyo, Japan King of Pro-Wrestling 1
37 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
1 November 9, 2013 224 Osaka, Japan Power Struggle 5
38 Time Splitters
(Alex Shelley (3) and Kushida (2))
2 June 21, 2014 140 Osaka, Japan Dominion 6.21 3
39 reDRagon
(Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly)
1 November 8, 2014 95 Osaka, Japan Power Struggle 1
40 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
2 February 11, 2015 53 Osaka, Japan The New Beginning in Osaka 0 This was a three-way match, also involving Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida).
41 Roppongi Vice
(Beretta and Rocky Romero (5))
1 April 5, 2015 28 Tokyo, Japan Invasion Attack 2015 0
42 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
3 May 3, 2015 105 Fukuoka, Japan Wrestling Dontaku 2015 1 This was a three-way match, also involving reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly).
43 reDRagon
(Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly)
2 August 16, 2015 141 Tokyo, Japan G1 Climax 25 2
44 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
4 January 4, 2016 38 Tokyo, Japan Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome 0 This was a four-way match, also involving Matt Sydal and Ricochet and Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero).
45 Matt Sydal and Ricochet 1 February 11, 2016 59 Osaka, Japan The New Beginning in Osaka 0 This was a three-way match, also involving reDRagon.
46 Roppongi Vice
(Beretta (2) and Rocky Romero (6))
2 April 10, 2016 23 Tokyo, Japan Invasion Attack 2016 0
47 Matt Sydal and Ricochet 2 May 3, 2016 47 Fukuoka, Japan Wrestling Dontaku 2016 0
48 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
5 June 19, 2016 169+ Osaka, Japan Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall 2 This was a four-way elimination match, also involving reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) and Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero).

Combined reigns

As of December 5, 2016.

Indicates the current champions

By team

Rank Team No. of
reigns
Combined
defenses
Combined days
1 Gedo and Jado 4 15 960
2 Apollo 55
(Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi)
4 13 673
3 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
5 8 589+
4 Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa 2 6 497
5 Time Splitters
(Alex Shelley and Kushida)
2 6 313
6 Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto 1 6 282
7 Hirooki Goto and Minoru 1 2 281
8 Forever Hooligans
(Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero)
2 4 276
9 Dick Togo and Taka Michinoku 1 3 270
10 Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka 1 3 254
11 reDRagon
(Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly)
2 3 236
12 The Motor City Machine Guns
(Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin)
1 3 182
13 No Remorse Corps
(Davey Richards and Rocky Romero)
2 1 166
14 Legend
(Akira and Jushin Thunder Liger)
1 1 155
15 Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru 1 4 150
16 El Samurai and Ryusuke Taguchi 1 2 139
17 El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger 1 1 136
18 Jushin Thunder Liger and Minoru Tanaka 1 1 119
19 Matt Sydal and Ricochet 2 0 106
20 Prince Prince
(Minoru and Prince Devitt)
2 1 105
21 Golden☆Lovers
(Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi)
1 2 104
22 Dr. Wagner Jr. and Kendo Kashin 1 2 96
23 The Great Sasuke and Jushin Thunder Liger 1 0 94
24 American Dragon and Curry Man 1 1 85
25 No Limit
(Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro)
1 1 83
26 El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto 1 0 72
27 Koji Kanemoto and Wataru Inoue 1 2 71
28 Roppongi Vice
(Beretta and Rocky Romero)
2 0 51
29 Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask 1 0 36
30 Suzuki-gun
(Taichi and Taka Michinoku)
1 1 26

By wrestler

Rank Wrestler No. of reigns Combined
defenses
Combined
days
1 Gedo 4 15 960
Jado 4 15 960
3 Jushin Thunder Liger 6 9 822
4 Ryusuke Taguchi 5 14 812
5 Prince Devitt 6 13 778
6 Minoru/Minoru Tanaka 5 7 759
7 Koji Kanemoto 4 11 679
8 Matt Jackson 5 8 589+
Nick Jackson 5 8 589+
10 Shinjiro Otani 2 6 497
Tatsuhito Takaiwa 2 6 497
12 Alex Shelley 3 9 495
13 Rocky Romero 6 5 493
14 El Samurai 3 3 347
15 Kushida 2 6 313
16 Taka Michinoku 2 4 296
17 Hirooki Goto 1 2 281
18 Alex Koslov 2 4 276
19 Dick Togo 1 3 270
20 Bobby Fish 2 3 236
Kyle O'Reilly 2 3 236
22 Chris Sabin 1 3 182
23 Davey Richards 2 1 166
24 Akira 1 1 155
25 Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 1 4 150
Yoshinobu Kanemaru 1 4 150
27 Matt Sydal 2 0 106
Ricochet 2 0 106
29 Kenny Omega 1 2 104
Kota Ibushi 1 2 104
31 Dr. Wagner Jr. 1 2 96
Kendo Kashin 1 2 96
33 The Great Sasuke 1 0 94
34 American Dragon 1 1 85
Curry Man 1 1 85
36 Tetsuya Naito 1 1 83
Yujiro 1 1 83
38 Wataru Inoue 1 2 71
39 Beretta 2 0 51
40 Tiger Mask 1 0 36
41 Taichi 1 1 26

References

General
Specific
  1. 1 2 "IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship history: Reign 1". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co.jp. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
  2. 1 2 "IWGP Tag Team Championship history". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co.jp. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
  3. "No Limit、またしてもIWGP Jr.タッグ奪還ならず!/4月19日TNA「Lock Down」試合結果(1)". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co.jp. 2009-04-20. Archived from the original on 2009-04-21. Retrieved 2009-12-08. Translated version shows that it was questioned if Hernandez weighed more than 100kg, the weight-limit.
  4. 1 2 "IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship history: Reign 10". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co.jp. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  5. Power Slam Staff (August 2003). "We are the Champions (as of July 8)". Power Slam Magazine. Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD. p. 15. 109.
  6. "We are the champions (as of February 11)". Power Slam Magazine. Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD. March 2005. p. 15. 116.
  7. Milner, John M. (2005-09-05). "Christopher Daniels". Slam! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-12-03. Curry Man returned to Japan and won a battle royale on January 31, 2004 and, on March 12th, teamed with American Dragon to win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team titles.
  8. Martin, Adam (2009-01-01). "1/4 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom III Results: Tokyo, Japan". Wrestleview. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
  9. Golden, Hunter (2009-07-08). "Rising Sun Soliloquy Newsletter #32". Wrestleview. Retrieved 2009-12-03. Ryosuke Taguchi & Prince Devitt, hot off solid performances at the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament last month, defeated TNA's Motor City Machine Guns for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at the Korakuen Hall this past Sunday in front of a sell out crowd of 2,000 fans. The 'Guns (Alex Shelley & Chris Sabin) won the titles on January 4th at the Tokyo Dome and made two successful title defenses, one in Japan and the other overseas in the United States.
  10. "IWGP Jr.タッグ王座を返上した田口隆祐選手が現在の心境をコメント!". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co.jp. 2010-04-21. Retrieved 2010-04-24.
  11. デイビー・リチャーズ選手が交通事故により来日中止【5・3福岡大会カード変更のお知らせ】. New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co.jp. 2012-05-02. Retrieved 2012-05-02.

External links

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