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The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) wrestling 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. 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. 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". The title is contested for by junior heavyweight wrestlers; the weight-limit for the title is 220 lb (100 kg). 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 Liger, Minoru Tanaka and Prince Devitt are currently tied for the record of most reigns by an individual wrestler, with five. At four reigns, the team of Gedo and Jado 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. Gedo and Jado are tied with Liger and Kanemoto for most defenses during a single reign, at 6. Liger and The Great Sasuke's only reign and Minoru and Prince Devitt's first reign 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 28 reigns shared among 28 wrestlers, who made up 21 different teams.
The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin), a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) tag team, defeated then-reigning champions No Limit (Tetsuya Naitō and Yujiro) on January 4, 2009 at Wrestle Kingdom III. Their reign lasted until July 5, 2009, when they were defeated by Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) at a live event. During that time, they had three successful defenses; two were held by TNA due to a pre-existing relationship and an agreement with NJPW. Their first defense in TNA, a rematch against No Limit, occurred on March 31, 2009 at the tapings of their weekly television program TNA Impact! On April 19, 2009, they made their second, and last, defense in TNA at the Lockdown (2009) pay-per-view event in a Three Way Tornado Tag Team Six Sides of Steel cage match against No Limit and The Latin American Xchange (Hernandez and Homicide). The current champions are The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson), who are in their third 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 |
| #[1] | Wrestlers
(Tag team name)[2] |
Reign [3] | Date [4] | Days
held [5] |
Location [6] | Event [7] | Successful defenses [8] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 !1 | Otani !Shinjiro Otani and Takaiwa !Tatsuhito Takaiwa | 01 !1 | 01998-08-8 August 8, 1998 | Osaka !Osaka, Japan | Live event !Live event | 02 !2 | Otani and Takaiwa defeated Dr. Wagner, Jr. and Koji Kanemoto in a tournament final to become the first champions.[1] | |
| 02 !2 | Dr. Wagner, Jr. !Dr. Wagner, Jr. and Kashin !Kendo Kashin | 01 !1 | 01999-01-4 January 4, 1999 | Osaka !Tokyo, Japan | Wrestling World !Wrestling World | 02 !2 | ||
| 03 !3 | Liger !Jushin Liger and Sasuke !The Great Sasuke | 01 !1 | 01999-04-10 April 10, 1999 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 00 !0 | ||
| 04 !4 | Otani !Shinjiro Otani and Takaiwa !Tatsuhito Takaiwa | 02 !2 | 01999-07-13 July 13, 1999 | Morioka !Morioka, Japan | Live event !Live event | 04 !4 | ||
| 05 !5 | Kanemoto !Koji Kanemoto and Tanaka !Minoru Tanaka | 01 !1 | 02000-06-25 June 25, 2000 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 03 !3 | ||
| 06 !6 | Samurai !El Samurai and Liger !Jushin Liger (2) | 01 !1 | 02001-03-6 March 6, 2001 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 01 !1 | ||
| 07 !7 | Gedo !Gedo and Jado !Jado | 01 !1 | 02001-07-20 July 20, 2001 | Sapporo !Sapporo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 06 !6 | ||
| 08 !8 | Liger !Jushin Liger (3) and Tanaka !Minoru Tanaka (2) | 01 !1 | 02002-05-2 May 2, 2002 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | New Japan Pro Wrestling's 30th Anniversary !New Japan Pro Wrestling's 30th Anniversary | 01 !1 | ||
| 09 !9 | Kikuchi !Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Kanemaru !Yoshinobu Kanemaru | 01 !1 | 02002-08-29 August 29, 2002 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 04 !4 | ||
| 10 !10 | Liger !Jushin Liger (4) and Kanemoto !Koji Kanemoto (2) | 01 !1 | 02003-01-26 January 26, 2003 | Kobe !Kobe, Japan | Live event !Live event | 06 !6 | [7][8] | |
| 00 !— | Vacated !Vacated | 00 !— | 02003-11–4 November 4, 2003 | 00 !N/A | 00 !N/A | 00 !— | The championship was vacated due to Kanemoto fracturing his left cheekbone.[7] | |
| 11 !11 | Gedo !Gedo and Jado !Jado | 02 !2 | 02003-11–29 November 29, 2003 | Miyagi !Miyagi, Japan | Live event !Live event | 02 !2 | Gedo and Jado defeated Hirooki Goto and Ryusuke Taguchi to win the vacant championship.[9] | |
| 12 !12 | American Dragon !American Dragon and Curry Man !Curry Man | 01 !1 | 02004-03-12 March 12, 2004 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 01 !1 | [10] | |
| 13 !13 | Gedo !Gedo and Jado !Jado | 03 !3 | 02004-06-5 June 5, 2004 | Osaka !Osaka, Japan | Live event !Live event | 05 !5 | ||
| 14 !14 | Kanemoto !Koji Kanemoto (3) and Inoue !Wataru Inoue | 01 !1 | 02005-03-4 March 4, 2005 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 02 !2 | ||
| 15 !15 | Goto !Hirooki Goto and Minoru !Minoru (3) | 01 !1 | 02005-05-14 May 14, 2005 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 02 !2 | ||
| 16 !16 | Samurai !El Samurai (2) and Taguchi !Ryusuke Taguchi | 01 !1 | 02006-02-19 February 19, 2006 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 02 !2 | ||
| 17 !17 | Gedo !Gedo and Jado !Jado | 04 !4 | 02006-07-8 July 8, 2006 | Shizuoka !Shizuoka, Japan | Live event !Live event | 02 !2 | ||
| 18 !18 | Togo !Dick Togo and Michinoku !Taka Michinoku | 01 !1 | 02007-05-2 May 2, 2007 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 03 !3 | ||
| 19 !19 | Minoru !Minoru (4) and Devitt !Prince Devitt | 01 !1 | 02008-01-27 January 27, 2008 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 00 !0 | ||
| 20 !20 | Akira !Akira and Liger !Jushin Liger (5) | 01 !1 | 02008-02-17 February 17, 2008 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 01 !1 | ||
| 21 !21 | Minoru !Minoru (5) and Devitt !Prince Devitt (2) | 02 !2 | 02008-07-21 July 21, 2008 | Sapporo !Sapporo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 01 !1 | ||
| 22 !22 | Naito !Tetsuya Naitō and Yujiro !Yujiro(No Limit) | 01 !1 | 02008-10–13 October 13, 2008 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 01 !1 | ||
| 23 !23 | Shelley !Alex Shelley and Sabin !Chris Sabin(The Motor City Machine Guns) | 01 !1 | 02009-01-4 January 4, 2009 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Wrestle Kingdom III !Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome | 03 !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.[11] | |
| 24 !24 | Devitt !Prince Devitt (3) and Taguchi !Ryusuke Taguchi (2)(Apollo 55) | 01 !1 | 02009-07-5 July 5, 2009 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 05 !5 | [12] | |
| 24.5 !— | Vacated !Vacated | 00 !— | 02010-04-21 April 21, 2010 | 00 !N/A | 00 !N/A | 00 !— | Title held up after the championship was not defended for 30 days.[13] | |
| 25 !25 | El Samurai !El Samurai (3) and Kanemoto !Koji Kanemoto (4) | 01 !1 | 02010-05-8 May 8, 2010 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Super J Tag Tournament 1st !Super J Tag Tournament 1st | 00 !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 !26 | Devitt !Prince Devitt (4) and Taguchi !Ryusuke Taguchi (3)(Apollo 55) | 02 !2 | 02010-07-19 July 19, 2010 | Sapporo !Sapporo, Japan | Live event !Live event | 01 !1 | ||
| 27 !27 | Omega !Kenny Omega and Ibushi !Kota Ibushi(Golden Lovers) | 01 !1 | 02010-10–11 October 11, 2010 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Destruction '10 !Destruction '10 | 02 !2 | ||
| 28 !28 | Devitt !Prince Devitt (5) and Taguchi !Ryusuke Taguchi (4)(Apollo 55) | 03 !3 | 02011-01-23 January 23, 2011 | Tokyo !Tokyo, Japan | Fantastica Mania 2011 !Fantastica Mania 2011 | 00 !0 |
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