The IWGP Tag Team Championship is the top tag team championship in 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. 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. 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". Title changes usually happen at NJPW-promoted events; although the title has only changed hands twice at a non-NJPW event, it has been defended in several other promotions.
Overview
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. 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) in 2009, and in the Mexican lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (Spanish for Worldwide Wrestling Council) in 2005.
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. 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. 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 Omori, 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.
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. 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. 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. 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.
Title History
| # | Tag Team (Individual Reigns) |
Team Reigns | Date | Location | Length | Defenses | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami | 1 | December 12, 1985 | Sendai, Japan | 236
Days |
5 | Kimura and Fujinami defeated Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi in a tournament final to become the first champions. |
| 2 | Akira Maeda and Osamu Kido | 1 | August 5, 1986 | Tokyo, Japan | 49
Days |
1 | |
| 3 | Kengo Kimura (2) and Tatsumi Fujinami (2) | 2 | September 23, 1986 | Tokyo, Japan | 35
Days |
0 | |
| — | Vacated | — | February 5, 1987 | N/A | — | — | The championship was vacated when Kimura and Fujinami split up. |
| 4 | Keiji Mutoh and Shiro Koshinaka | 1 | March 20, 1987 | Tokyo, Japan | 6
Days |
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 | Osaka, Japan | 159
Days |
2 | |
| 6 | Kazuo Yamazaki and Yoshiaki Fujiwara | 1 | March 1, 2009 | Osaka | 65
Days |
2 | |
| 7 | Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami | 3 | January 18, 1988 | Takuyama, Japan | 144
Days |
3 | |
| 8 | Masa Saito and Riki Choshu | 1 | June 10, 1988 | Hiroshima, Japan | 282
Days |
4 | |
| 9 | George Takano and Super Strong Machine | 1 | March 19, 1989 | Yokohama, Japan | 116
Days |
1 | |
| 10 | Riki Choshu (2) and Takayuki Iizuka | 1 | July 13, 1989 | Tokyo, Japan | 69
Days |
1 | |
| 11 | Masa Saito (2) and Shinya Hashimoto | 1 | September 20, 1989 | Osaka, Japan | 219
Days |
3 | |
| 12 | Keiji Mutoh (2) and Masahiro Chono | 1 | April 27, 1990 | Tokyo, Japan | 189
Days |
3 | |
| 13 | Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki | 1 | November 1, 1990 | Tokyo, Japan | 55
Days |
2 | |
| 14 | Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine (2) | 1 | December 26, 1990 | Hamamatsu, Japan | 70
Days |
2 | |
| 15 | Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki | 2 | March 6, 1991 | Nagasaki, Japan | 15
Days |
0 | |
| 16 | The Steiner Brothers Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner |
1 | March 21, 1991 | Tokyo, Japan | 229
Days |
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 | Tokyo, Japan | 117
Days |
2 | Scott Norton substituted for an injured Scott Steiner in this match. |
| 18 | Big, Bad, and Dangerous Big Van Vader and Crusher Bam Bam Bigelow |
1 | March 1, 1992 | Yokohama, Japan | 117
Days |
2 | |
| 19 | The Steiner Brothers Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner |
2 | June 26, 1992 | Tokyo, Japan | 149
Days |
3 | The Steiners WCW World Tag Team Championship was also on the line. |
| 20 | Scott Norton and Tony Halme | 1 | November 22, 1992 | Tokyo, Japan | 22
Days |
0 | |
| 21 | The Hell Raisers Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior (3) |
1 | December 14, 1992 | Tokyo, Japan | 234
Days |
4 | |
| 22 | The Jurassic Powers Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton (2) |
1 | August 5, 1993 | Tokyo, Japan | 152
Days |
3 | |
| 23 | The Hell Raisers Hawk Warrior (2) and Power Warrior (4) |
2 | January 4, 1994 | Tokyo, Japan | 325
Days |
2 | |
| 24 | Hiroshi Hase (4) and Keiji Mutoh (4) | 2 | November 25, 1994 | Iwate, Japan | 162
Days |
2 | |
| — | Vacated | — | May 6, 1995 | N/A | — | — | The title was vacated by Mutoh after he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. |
| 25 | Cho-Ten Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono (2) |
1 | June 10, 1995 | Osaka, Japan | 27
Days |
0 | Tenzan and Chono defeated Junji Hirata and Shinya Hashimoto to win the vacant championship. |
| — | Vacated | — | July 7, 1995 | N/A | — | — | The title was vacated when Chono missed a title defense due to his father's death. |
| 26 | Junji Hirata (3) and Shinya Hashimoto (2) | 1 | July 13, 1995 | Sapporo, Japan | 335
Days |
6 | Hashimoto and Hirata defeated Mike Enos and Scott Norton to win the vacant championship. |
| 27 | Kazuo Yamazaki (2) and Takashi Iizuka (2) | 1 | June 12, 1996 | Osaka, Japan | 34
Days |
0 | |
| 28 | Cho-Ten Hiroyoshi Tenzan (2) and Masahiro Chono (3) |
2 | July 16, 1996 | Sapporo, Japan | 172
Days |
2 | |
| 29 | Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami | 4 | January 4, 1997 | Tokyo, Japan | 98
Days |
3 | |
| 30 | Kensuke Sasaki (5) and Riki Choshu (3) | 1 | April 12, 1997 | Tokyo, Japan | 21
Days |
0 | |
| 31 | The Bull Powers Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima |
1 | May 3, 1997 | Osaka, Japan | 99
Days |
1 | |
| 32 | Kazuo Yamazaki (3) and Kensuke Sasaki (6) | 1 | August 10, 1997 | Nagoya, Japan | 70
Days |
0 | |
| 33 | Keiji Mutoh (5) and Masahiro Chono (4) | 2 | October 19, 1997 | Kobe, Japan | 184
Days |
2 | |
| — | Vacated | — | April 21, 1998 | N/A | — | — | The title was vacated due to Mutoh having surgery on his knee. |
| 34 | Cho-Ten Hiroyoshi Tenzan (3) and Masahiro Chono (5) |
3 | June 5, 1998 | Tokyo, Japan | 40
Days |
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 | Saporo, Japan | 173
Days |
2 | |
| 36 | Tencozy Hiroyoshi Tenzan (4) and Satoshi Kojima (3) |
1 | January 25, 1998 | Tokyo, Japan | 77
Days |
1 | |
| 37 | Kensuke Sasaki (7) and Shiro Koshinaka (3) | 1 | March 22, 1999 | Amagasaki, Japan | 97
Days |
2 | |
| 38 | The Mad Dogs Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto |
1 | June 27, 1999 | Shizuoka, Japan | 62
Days |
1 | |
| 39 | Manabu Nakanishi (2) and Yuji Nagata | 1 | August 28, 1999 | Shizuoka, Japan | 327
Days |
1 | |
| 40 | Tencozy Hiroyoshi Tenzan (5) and Satoshi Kojima (4) |
2 | July 20, 2000 | Tokyo, Japan | 430
Days |
6 | |
| 41 | Osamu Nishimura and Tatsumi Fujinami (5) | 1 | September 23, 2001 | Osaka, Japan | 35
Days |
1 | |
| 42 | BATT
(Keiji Mutoh (6) and Taiyo Kea) |
1 | October 28, 2001 | Fukuoka, Japan | 97
Days |
0 | |
| — | Vacated | — | February 2, 2002 | — | — | — | The title was vacated due to Mutoh leaving NJPW. |
| 43 | Cho-Ten
(Hiroyoshi Tenzan (6) and Masahiro Chono (6)) |
4 | March 24, 2002 | Kobe, Hyogo, Japan | 446
Days |
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 | Tokyo, Japan | 184
Days |
3 | |
| 45 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan (7) and Osamu Nishimura (2) | 1 | December 14, 2003 | Nagoya, Japan | 49
Days |
0 | |
| 46 | Minoru Suzuki and Yoshihiro Takayama | 1 | February 1, 2004 | Sapporo, Japan | 294
Days |
4 | |
| — | Vacated | — | November 21, 2004 | — | — | — | The title was vacated due to Takayama being sidelined with an injury. |
| 47 | Hiroshi Tanahashi (2) and Shinsuke Nakamura | 1 | December 11, 2004 | Osaka, Japan | 323
Days |
4 | Tanahashi and Nakamura defeated Kensuke Sasaki and Minoru Suzuki to win the vacant title. |
| 48 | Cho-Ten
(Hiroyoshi Tenzan (8) and Masahiro Chono (7)) |
5 | October 30, 2005 | Kobe,
Japan |
325
Days |
3 | |
| — | Vacated | — | September 20, 2006 | — | — | — | NJPW president Simon Kelly Inoki stripped Chono and Tenzan of the title after Chono and Tenzan ceased teaming. |
| 49 | Wild Child
(Manabu Nakanishi (3) and Takao Omori) |
1 | September 28, 2006 | Sapporo, Japan | 164
Days |
1 | An interim 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. Nakanishi and Ōmori were recognized as the official champions on September 28, 2006, after they won the interim Tag Team Championship on July 17, 2006. |
| 50 | RISE
(Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko) |
1 | March 11, 2007 | Nagoya, Japan | 343
Days |
5 | |
| 51 | The Most Violent Players Togi Makabe and Toru Yano |
1 | February 17, 2008 | Tokyo, Japan | 322
Days |
4 | |
| 52 | Team 3D Brother Devon and Brother Ray |
1 | January 4, 2009 | Tokyo, Japan | 198
Days |
4 | |
| 53 | The British Invasion Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams |
1 | July 21, 2009 | Orlando, Florida,
USA |
89
Days |
1 | This was a tables match that aired on the July 30, 2009, episode of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Impact!. NJPW did not sanction the match, nor initially recognize nor sanction the title change until August 10. |
| 54 | Team 3D Brother Devon and Brother Ray |
2 | October 18, 2009 | Irvine, California, USA | 78
Days |
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. |
| 55 | No Limit Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi |
2 | October 18, 2009 | Tokyo, Japan | 119
Days |
1 | This was a three-way hardcore match, which also included Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson). |
| 56 | Seigigun Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata (2) |
2 | May 3, 2010 | Fukuoka, Japan | 47
Days |
0 | This was a three-way match, which also included Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson). |
| 57 | Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard (2) and Karl Anderson) |
1 | June 19, 2010 | Osaka, Japan | 564
Days |
0 | This was a three-way elimination match, which also included No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi). |
| 58 | Tencozy Hiroyoshi Tenzan (9) and Satoshi Kojima (4) |
3 | January 4, 2012 | Tokyo, Japan | 120
Days |
2 | |
| 59 | CHAOS Takashi Iizuka (3) and Toru Yano (2) |
1 | May 3, 2012 | Fukuoka, Japan | 48
Days |
0 | |
| — | Vacated | — | June 20, 2012 | N/A | — | — | Iizuka and Yano were stripped of the title, after a title match between them and Tencozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) on June 16 ended in a no contest. |
| 60 | Tencozy Hiroyoshi Tenzan (10) and Satoshi Kojima (5) |
4 | July 22, 2012 | Yamagata, Japan | 78
Days |
0 | Tenzan and Kojima defeated Chaos (Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano) to win the vacant title. |
| 61 | K.E.S. Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer |
1 | October 8, 2012 | Tokyo, Japan | 207 Days | 5 | |
| 62 | Tencozy Hiroyoshi Tenzan (11) and Satoshi Kojima (6) |
5 | May 3, 2013 | Fukuoka, Japan | 190
Days |
2 | This was a four-way match, which also included Chaos (Takashi Iizuka and Toru Yano) and Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man). |
| 63 | K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer |
2 | November 9, 2013 | Osaka, Japan | 56 Days | 0 | This was the second fall of a two-fall three-way tornado tag team match which also included The IronGodz (Jax Dane and Rob Conway). |
| 64 | Bullet Club Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson (2) |
1 | January 4, 2014 | Tokyo, Japan | 365 Days | 6 | |
| 65 | Meiyu Tag Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata |
1 | January 4, 2015 | Tokyo, Japan | 38 Days | 0 | |
| 66 | Bullet Club Doc Gallows (2) and Karl Anderson (3) |
2 | February 11, 2015 | Osaka, Japan | 53 Days | 0 | |
| 67 | The Kingdom Matt Taven and Michael Bennett |
1 | February 11, 2015 | Osaka, Japan | 91 Days | 0 | |
| 68 | Bullet Club Doc Gallows (3) and Karl Anderson (4) |
3 | July 5, 2015 | Osaka, Japan | 183 Days | 1 | |
| 69 | G.B.H. Togi Makabe (2) and Tomoaki Honma |
1 | January 4, 2016 | Tokyo, Japan | 97 Days | 1 | |
| 70 | Guerrillas of Destiny Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa |
1 | April 10, 2016 | Tokyo, Japan | 70 Days | 1 | |
| 71 | The Briscoe Brothers Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe |
1 | June 19, 2016 | Osaka, Japan | 113 Days | 2 | |
| 72 | Guerrillas of Destiny Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa |
2 | October 10, 2016 | Tokyo, Japan | 86 Days | 1 | |
| 73 | CHAOS Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano (3) |
1 | January 4, 2017 | Tokyo, Japan | 61 Days | 2 | |
| 74 | Tencozy Hiroyoshi Tenzan (12) and Satoshi Kojima (7) |
6 | March 6, 2017 | Tokyo, Japan | 34 Days | 0 | |
| 75 | War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe) |
1 | April 9, 2017 | Tokyo, Japan | 63 Days | 1 | |
| 76 | Guerrillas of Destiny Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa |
3 | June 11, 2017 | Osaka, Japan | 20 Days | 0 | |
| 77 | War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe) |
2 | July 1, 2017 | Long Beach, California | 2484+ | 3 | This was a no DQ match. |
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