IWGP Tag Team Championship
IWGP Tag Team Championship | |||||||||||
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Details | |||||||||||
Promotion | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) | ||||||||||
Date established | December 12, 1985[1] | ||||||||||
Current champion(s) | Chaos (Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano) | ||||||||||
Date won | May 3, 2012 | ||||||||||
Other name(s) | |||||||||||
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The IWGP Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of the NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix. The title was introduced on December 12, 1985 at a NJPW live event.[1] The IWGP Tag Team Championship is not the only tag team title contested for in NJPW; the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is also sanctioned by NJPW.[2] According to NJPW's official website, the IWGP Tag Team Championship is considered an "IWGP Heavy Weight Class", while the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is listed as an "IWGP Jr. Tag Class".[2] Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won via the result of a scripted match. Title changes usually happen at NJPW–promoted events; although the title has only changed hands twice at a non–NJPW event,[3] it has been defended in several other promotions.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan currently holds the record for most reigns by an individual wrestler, with nine. Tenzan's combined nine reign lengths add up to 1,686 days, which is the most of any champion. At five reigns, the team of Tenzan and Masahiro Chono hold the record for most by a team. Tenzan and Chono's combined five reign lengths add up to 1,010 days (the most of any team). At 564 days, Bad Intentions' (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) only reign is the longest in the title's history. Keiji Mutoh and Shiro Koshinaka's only reign is the shortest, at six days. Currently, Bad Intentions' only reign has the most defenses, with ten. There are 12 reigns shared between 11 teams that are tied for the fewest successful defenses, with zero. Overall, there have been 59 reigns shared between 54 wrestlers. The current champions are Chaos (Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano), who are in their first reign as a team. Individually, this is the third reign for Iizuka and the second for Yano.
History
The inaugural champions were Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami, who defeated Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi in the finals of a tournament to win the championship on December 12, 1985 at a NJPW live event.[1] In addition to NJPW, the IWGP Tag Team Championship was also contested in the United States–based promotions World Championship Wrestling (WCW) (now defunct) in the early 1990s and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) since April 2009,[4] and in the Mexican lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (Spanish for Worldwide Wrestling Council) in 2005.[5]
On October 30, 2005 in Kobe, Japan, Tenzan and Chono defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura to begin their fifth overall reign as a team.[6] On July 2, 2006, a provisional tag team title was created (known as the "IWGP Provisional Tag Team Championship") when Tenzan and Chono showed signs of inactivity.[6] Koshinaka and Togi Makabe defeated the teams of Yuji Nagata and Naofumi Yamamoto and Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko in a three–way match to become the first champions. NJPW president Simon Kelly Inoki stripped Tenzan and Chono of the IWGP Tag Team Championship on September 20, 2006 after Tenzan and Chono ceased teaming. Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Ōmori, who defeated Koshinaka and Makabe on July 17, 2006 to become the IWGP Provisional Tag Team Champions, were recognized as the IWGP Tag Team Champions on September 28, 2006 by NJPW.[7]
In 2009, The British Invasion, defeated Team 3D on July 21, 2009 at the taping of the July 30, 2009 episode of TNA's primary television program, TNA Impact!, in a tables match.[8][9] Afterwards, NJPW released a statement announcing that they did not sanction the defense nor the title change, and as such were not going to recognize the reign.[10] They continued to recognize Team 3D as the current champions and proclaimed that the next title defense would be by Team 3D and would be sanctioned by NJPW.[11] On August 10, 2009, NJPW issued another press release stating that they were now recognizing The British Invasion of Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams as the current IWGP Tag Team Champions, making the reign official.[3][12]
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 |
# | Wrestlers (Tag team name) |
Reign | Date | Days held |
Location | Event | Successful defenses | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami | 1 | December 12, 1985 | 236 | Sendai, Japan | Live event | 5 | Kimura and Fujinami defeated Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi in a tournament final to become the first champions.[1][13] |
2 | Akira Maeda and Osamu Kido | 1 | August 5, 1986 | 49 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 1 | |
3 | Kengo Kimura (2) and Tatsumi Fujinami (2) | 2 | September 23, 1986 | 135 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 0 | [14] |
— | Vacated | — | February 5, 1987 | — | N/A | N/A | — | The championship was vacated when Kimura and Fujinami split up.[14] |
4 | Keiji Mutoh and Shiro Koshinaka | 1 | March 20, 1987 | 6 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 0 | Koshinaka and Mutoh defeated Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada in a tournament final to win the vacant championship. |
5 | Akira Maeda (2) and Nobuhiko Takada | 1 | March 26, 1987 | 159 | Osaka, Japan | Live event | 2 | |
6 | Kazuo Yamazaki and Yoshiaki Fujiwara | 1 | September 1, 1987 | 139 | Fukuoka, Japan | Live event | 2 | |
7 | Kengo Kimura (3) and Tatsumi Fujinami (3) | 3 | January 18, 1988 | 144 | Takuyama, Japan | Live event | 3 | |
8 | Masa Saito and Riki Chōshū | 1 | June 10, 1988 | 282 | Hiroshima, Japan | Live event | 4 | |
9 | George Takano and Super Strong Machine[N 1] | 1 | March 19, 1989 | 116 | Yokohama, Japan | Live event | 1 | |
10 | Riki Chōshū (2) and Takayuki Iizuka[N 2] | 1 | July 13, 1989 | 69 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 1 | |
11 | Masa Saito (2) and Shinya Hashimoto | 1 | September 20, 1989 | 219 | Osaka, Japan | Live event | 3 | |
12 | Keiji Mutoh (2) and Masahiro Chono | 1 | April 27, 1990 | 189 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 3 | |
13 | Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki | 1 | November 1, 1990 | 55 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 2 | |
14 | Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine (2)[N 1] | 1 | December 26, 1990 | 70 | Hamamatsu, Japan | Live event | 2 | |
15 | Hiroshi Hase (2) and Kensuke Sasaki (2) | 2 | March 6, 1991 | 15 | Nagasaki, Japan | Live event | 0 | |
16 | Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner (The Steiner Brothers) |
1 | March 21, 1991 | 229 | Tokyo, Japan | Starrcade 1991 in Tokyo Dome | 2 | The Steiners' WCW World Tag Team Championship was also on the line. |
17 | Hiroshi Hase (3) and Keiji Mutoh (3) | 1 | November 5, 1991 | 117 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 2 | Scott Norton substituted for an injured Scott Steiner in this match. |
18 | Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader (Big, Bad, and Dangerous) |
1 | March 1, 1992 | 117 | Yokohama, Japan | Live event | 2 | |
19 | Rick Steiner (2) and Scott Steiner (2) (The Steiner Brothers) |
2 | June 26, 1992 | 149 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 3 | The Steiners' WCW World Tag Team Championship was also on the line. |
20 | Scott Norton and Tony Halme | 1 | November 22, 1992 | 22 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 0 | |
21 | Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior (3)[N 3] (The Hell Raisers) |
1 | December 14, 1992 | 234 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 4 | [13] |
22 | Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton (2) (The Jurassic Powers) |
1 | August 5, 1993 | 152 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 3 | [15] |
23 | Hawk Warrior (2) and Power Warrior (4)[N 3] (The Hell Raisers) |
2 | January 4, 1994 | 325 | Tokyo, Japan | Battlefield | 2 | |
24 | Hiroshi Hase (4) and Keiji Mutoh (4) | 2 | November 25, 1994 | 162 | Iwate, Japan | Live event | 1 | [16] |
— | Vacated | — | May 6, 1995 | — | N/A | N/A | — | The title was vacated by Mutoh after he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.[16] |
25 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono (2) (Cho-Ten) |
1 | June 10, 1995 | 27 | Osaka, Japan | Live event | 0 | Tenzan and Chono defeated Junji Hirata and Shinya Hashimoto to win the vacant championship.[17] |
— | Vacated | — | July 7, 1995 | — | N/A | N/A | — | The title was vacated when Chono missed a title defense due to his father's death.[17] |
26 | Junji Hirata (3)[N 1] and Shinya Hashimoto (2) | 1 | July 13, 1995 | 335 | Sapporo, Japan | Live event | 6 | Hashimoto and Hirata defeated Mike Enos and Scott Norton to win the vacant championship. |
27 | Kazuo Yamazaki (2) and Takashi Iizuka (2)[N 2] | 1 | June 12, 1996 | 34 | Osaka, Japan | Live event | 0 | |
28 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan (2) and Masahiro Chono (3) (Cho-Ten) |
2 | July 16, 1996 | 172 | Sapporo, Japan | Live event | 2 | |
29 | Kengo Kimura (4) and Tatsumi Fujinami (4) | 4 | January 4, 1997 | 98 | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestling World (1997) | 3 | |
30 | Kensuke Sasaki (5) and Riki Chōshū (3) | 1 | April 12, 1997 | 21 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 0 | |
31 | Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima (The Bull Powers) |
1 | May 3, 1997 | 99 | Osaka, Japan | Live event | 1 | |
32 | Kazuo Yamazaki (3) and Kensuke Sasaki (6) | 1 | August 10, 1997 | 70 | Nagoya, Japan | The Four Heaven in Nagoya Dome | 0 | |
33 | Keiji Mutoh (5) and Masahiro Chono (4) | 2 | October 19, 1997 | 184 | Kobe, Japan | Live event | 2 | [18] |
— | Vacated | — | April 21, 1998 | — | N/A | N/A | — | The title was vacated due to Mutoh having surgery on his knee.[18] |
34 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan (3) and Masahiro Chono (5) (Cho-Ten) |
3 | June 5, 1998 | 40 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 0 | Tenzan and Chono defeated Genichiro Tenryu and Shiro Koshinaka in a tournament final to win the vacant championship. |
35 | Genichiro Tenryu and Shiro Koshinaka (2) | 1 | July 15, 1998 | 173 | Sapporo, Japan | Live event | 2 | |
36 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan (4) and Satoshi Kojima (2) (Ten-Koji) |
1 | January 4, 1999 | 77 | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestling World (1999) | 1 | |
37 | Kensuke Sasaki (7) and Shiro Koshinaka | 1 | March 22, 1999 | 97 | Amagasaki, Japan | Live event | 2 | |
38 | Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto (The Mad Dogs) |
1 | June 27, 1999 | 62 | Shizuoka, Japan | Live event | 1 | |
39 | Manabu Nakanishi (2) and Yuji Nagata | 1 | August 28, 1999 | 327 | Shizuoka, Japan | Live event | 4 | |
40 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan (5) and Satoshi Kojima (3) (Ten-Koji) |
2 | July 20, 2000 | 430 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 6 | |
41 | Osamu Nishimura and Tatsumi Fujinami (5) | 1 | September 23, 2001 | 35 | Osaka, Japan | Live event | 1 | |
42 | Keiji Mutoh (6) and Taiyō Kea (BATT) |
1 | October 28, 2001 | 97 | Fukuoka, Japan | Live event | 0 | [19] |
— | Vacated | — | February 2, 2002 | — | N/A | N/A | — | The title was vacated due to Mutoh leaving NJPW.[19] |
43 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan (6) and Masahiro Chono (6) (Cho-Ten) |
4 | March 24, 2002 | 446 | Hyōgo, Japan | Live event | 7 | Tenzan and Chono defeated Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata in a tournament final to win the vacant championship. |
44 | Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yutaka Yoshie | 1 | June 13, 2003 | 184 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 3 | [20] |
45 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan (7) and Osamu Nishimura (2) | 1 | December 14, 2003 | 49 | Nagoya, Japan | Live event | 0 | |
46 | Minoru Suzuki and Yoshihiro Takayama | 1 | February 1, 2004 | 294 | Sapporo, Japan | Live event | 4 | [21] |
47 | Hiroshi Tanahashi (2) and Shinsuke Nakamura | 1 | December 11, 2004 | 323 | Osaka, Japan | Live event | 4 | |
48 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan (8) and Masahiro Chono (7) (Cho-Ten) |
5 | October 30, 2005 | 325 | Kobe, Japan | Live event | 3 | [6] |
— | Vacated | — | September 20, 2006 | — | N/A | N/A | — | NJPW president Simon Kelly Inoki stripped Chono and Tenzan of the title after Chono and Tenzan ceased teaming.[6] |
49 | Manabu Nakanishi (3) and Takao Ōmori (Wild Child) |
1 | September 28, 2006 | 164 | Sapporo, Japan | Live event | 1 | A provisional tag team title was created on July 2, 2006 when Tenzan and Chono showed signs of inactivity; Shiro Koshinaka and Togi Makabe were the first champions.[6] Nakanishi and Ōmori were recognized as the official champions on September 28, 2006 after they won the Provisional Tag Team Championship on July 17, 2006.[7] |
50 | Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko | 1 | March 11, 2007 | 343 | Nagoya, Japan | Live event | 5 | |
51 | Togi Makabe and Toru Yano (The Most Violent Players) |
1 | February 17, 2008 | 322 | Tokyo, Japan | Live event | 4 | |
52 | Brother Devon and Brother Ray (Team 3D) |
1 | January 4, 2009 | 198 | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestle Kingdom III in the Tokyo Dome | 4 | [3][22] |
53 | Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams (The British Invasion) |
1 | July 21, 2009 | 89 | Orlando, Florida | TNA Impact! | 1 | This was a tables match that aired on the July 30, 2009 episode of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Impact!.[9][23] NJPW did not sanction the match, nor initially recognize nor sanction the title change until August 10.[3][10][24] |
54 | Brother Devon and Brother Ray (Team 3D) |
2 | October 18, 2009 | 78 | Irvine, California | Bound for Glory (2009) | 1 | This was a four–way Full Metal Mayhem Tag Team match, which also included Beer Money, Inc. and Booker T and Scott Steiner and was contested also for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, which was won by The British Invasion.[25][26] |
55 | Tetsuya Naitō and Yujiro Takahashi (No Limit) |
1 | January 4, 2010 | 119 | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome | 1 | This was a three–way hardcore match, which also included Bad Intentions (Karl Anderson and Giant Bernard).[27] |
56 | Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata (2) (Blue Justice Army) |
1 | May 3, 2010 | 47 | Fukuoka, Japan | Wrestling Dontaku 2010 | 0 | This was a three–way match, which also included Bad Intentions (Karl Anderson and Giant Bernard). |
57 | Giant Bernard (2) and Karl Anderson (Bad Intentions) |
1 | June 19, 2010 | 564 | Osaka, Japan | Dominion 6.19 | 10 | This was a three–way elimination match, which also included No Limit (Tetsuya Naitō and Yujiro Takahashi). |
58 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan (9) and Satoshi Kojima (4) (Ten-Koji) |
3 | January 4, 2012 | 120 | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome | 2 | |
59 | Takashi Iizuka (3) and Toru Yano (2) (Chaos) |
1 | May 3, 2012 | 4,629+ | Fukuoka, Japan | Wrestling Dontaku 2012 | 0 |
List of combined reigns
† | Indicates the current champions |
By team
By wrestler
Footnotes
- ^ a b c Junji Hirata used the ring name Super Strong Machine during his first two reigns; one reign was with George Takano and the second was with Hiro Saito.
- ^ a b Takayuki Iizuka also used the ring name Takashi Iizuka and won the IWGP Tag Team Championship once with Kazuo Yamazaki.
- ^ a b Kensuke Sasaki used the ring name Power Warrior while he was a part of The Hell Raisers.
- ^ a b Each reign is ranked highest to lowest; reigns with the same number mean that they are tied for that certain rank.
References
- General
- Benaka, Matt. "IWGP Tag Team Title History". Wrestling Title Histories by Gary Will and Royal Duncan. Solie.org. Retrieved 2009-08-12.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - Royal Duncan & Gary Will (4th Edition 2006). "Japan & Korea: New Japan IWGP Tag Team Title". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. p. 373. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
{{cite book}}
:|access-date=
requires|url=
(help); Check date values in:|year=
(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - "IWGP Tag Team Championship history". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
- "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: page one". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
- "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: page two". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
- "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: page three". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2010-12-23.
- Specific
- ^ a b c d "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 1". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ a b "IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship history". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ a b c d Martin, Adam (2009-08-12). "More on TNA and New Japan issues". WrestleView. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-04-19). "Lockdown PPV results - 4/19/09". WrestleView. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ SuperLuchas staff (2006-01-03). "2005 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana". SuperLuchas (in Spanish). pp. 20–21. issue 140.
{{cite news}}
:|access-date=
requires|url=
(help) - ^ a b c d e "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 48". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 49". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-07-22). "Spoilers: 7/21 TNA Impact TV tapings". WrestleView. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ a b Sokol, Chris (2009-07-31). "Impact: Two titles changes on 200th episode". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
{{cite web}}
: Unknown parameter|coauthors=
ignored (|author=
suggested) (help) - ^ a b "SLAM! Wrestling News/Rumours". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. 2009-08-06. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
The British Invasion's IWGP World Team Team Title victory over Team 3D on last week's TNA iMPACT! is not being recognized by New Japan Pro Wrestling. Team 3D will continue to defend the titles in Japan.....New Japan Pro Wrestling has officially recognized the British Invasion as the IWGP Tag Team Champions. They duo defeated Team 3D on a recent TNA iMPACT! to win the titles and New Japan Pro Wrestling had originally decided against recognizing the change.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-08-05). "New Japan on title change in TNA". WrestleView. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-08-10). "New Japan changes stance on tag titles". WrestleView. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ a b "PWI: Wrestling History". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. PWI-Online.com. Retrieved 2009-09-03.
- ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 3". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ Powell, John (2004-03-07). "Hercules' Hernandez dies". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
- ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 24". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 25". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 33". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 42". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ 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.
{{cite news}}
:|access-date=
requires|url=
(help) - ^ Power Slam Magazine Staff (March 2005). "We are the champions (as of February 11)". Power Slam Magazine. Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD. p. 15. 116.
{{cite news}}
:|access-date=
requires|url=
(help) - ^ Martin, Adam (2009-01-01). "1/4 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom III Results: Tokyo, Japan". WrestleView. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-07-21). "Spoilers: Note on 7/21 Impact tapings". WrestleView. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 53". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ Tylwalk, Nick (2009-10-20). "Sting loses but doesn't retire, capping off night of ups and downs at Bound for Glory". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. Retrieved 2009-10-21.
- ^ "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 54". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). NJPW.co. Retrieved 2009-08-15.
- ^ "January 4 New Japan Tokyo Dome report - legends, promotional wars". Wrestling Observer. 2010-01-04. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
External links