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The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (IWGPジュニアタッグ王座, IWGP Junia Taggu Ōza) is the secundary tag team championship in the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. that is contested in the junior heavyweight division. "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 100 kg (220 lb).

Overview[]

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. 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 Naito 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 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).

Title history[]

# Tag Team
(Individual Reigns)
Team Reigns Date Location Length Defenses Notes
1 Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa 1 August 8, 1998 Osaka 149 Days 2 Otani and Takaiwa defeated Dr. Wagner Jr. and Koji Kanemoto in a tournament final to become the first champions.
2 Dr. Wagner Jr. and Kendo Kashin 1 January 4, 1999 Tokyo 96 Days 2
3 The Great Sasuke and Jushin Thunder Liger 1 April 10, 1999 Tokyo 94 Days 0
4 Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa 2 July 13, 1999 Morioka 348 Days 4
5 Junior Stars
(Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka)
1 June 25, 2000 Tokyo 254 Days 3
6 El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger (2) 1 March 6, 2001 Tokyo 136 Days 1
7 Gedo and Jado 1 July 20, 2001 Sapporo 286 Days 6
8 Jushin Thunder Liger (3) and Minoru Tanaka (2) 1 May 2, 2002 Tokyo 119 Days 1
9 Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru 1 August 29, 2002 Tokyo 150 Days 4
10 Jushin Thunder Liger (4) and Koji Kanemoto (2) 1 January 26, 2003 Kobe 282 Days 6
Vacated November 4, 2003 N/A The championship was vacated due to Kanemoto fracturing his left cheekbone.
11 Gedo and Jado 2 November 29, 2003 Miyagi 104 Days 2 Gedo and Jado defeated Hirooki Goto and Ryusuke Taguchi to win the vacant championship.
12 American Dragon and Curry Man 1 March 12, 2004 Tokyo 85 Days 1
13 Gedo and Jado 3 June 5, 2004 Osaka 272 Days 5
14 Koji Kanemoto (3) and Wataru Inoue 1 March 4, 2005 Tokyo 71 Days 2
15 Hirooki Goto and Minoru (3) 1 May 14, 2005 Tokyo 281 Days 2
16 El Samurai (2) and Ryusuke Taguchi 1 February 19, 2006 Tokyo 139 Days 2
17 Gedo and Jado 4 July 8, 2006 Shizuoka 298 Days 2
18 Dick Togo and Taka Michinoku 1 May 2, 2007 Tokyo 270 Days 3
19 RISE(Minoru (4) and Prince Devitt) 1 January 27, 2008 Tokyo 21 Days 0
20 Legend
(AKIRA and Jushin Thunder Liger (5))
1 February 17, 2008 Tokyo 155 Days 1
21 RISE
(Minoru (5) and Prince Devitt (2))
2 July 21, 2008 Sapporo 84 Days 1
22 No Limit
(Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro)
1 October 13, 2008 Tokyo 83 Days 1
23 Motor City Machine Guns
(Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin)
1 January 4, 2009 Tokyo 182 Days 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.
24 Apollo 55
(Prince Devitt (3) and Ryusuke Taguchi (2))
1 July 5, 2009 Tokyo 290 Days 5
Vacated April 21, 2010 N/A Title held up after the championship was not defended for 30 days.
25 El Samurai (3) and Koji Kanemoto (4) 1 May 8, 2010 Tokyo 72 Days 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 Sapporo 84 Days 1
27 Golden☆Lovers
(Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi)
1 October 11, 2010 Tokyo 104 Days 2
28 Apollo 55
(Prince Devitt (5) and Ryusuke Taguchi (4))
3 January 23, 2011 Tokyo 260 Days 7
29 No Remorse Corps
(Davey Richards and Rocky Romero)
1 October 10, 2011 Tokyo 86 Days 1
30 Apollo 55
(Prince Devitt (6) and Ryusuke Taguchi (5))
4 January 4, 2012 Tokyo 39 Days 0
31 No Remorse Corps
(Davey Richards and Rocky Romero)
2 February 12, 2012 Osaka 80 Days 0
Vacated May 2, 2012 N/A N/A
32 Jushin Thunder Liger (6) and Tiger Mask IV 1 June 16, 2012 Osaka 36 Days 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 Yamagata 112 Days 2
34 Time Splitters
(Alex Shelley (2) and KUSHIDA)
1 November 11, 2012 Osaka 173 Days 3
35 Forever Hooligans
(Alex Koslov (2) and Rocky Romero( 4))
2 May 3, 2013 Fukuoka 164 Days 3
36 Suzuki-gun
(Taichi and Taka Michinoku (2))
1 October 14, 2013 Tokyo 26 Days 1
37 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
1 November 9, 2013 Osaka 224 Days 5
38 Time Splitters
(Alex Shelley (3) and KUSHIDA (2))
2 June 21, 2014 Osaka 140 Days 3
39 reDRagon
(Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly)
1 November 8, 2014 Osaka 95 Days 1
40 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
2 February 11, 2015 Osaka 53 Days 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 Tokyo 28 Days 0
42 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
3 May 3, 2015 Fukuoka 105 Days 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 Tokyo 141 Days 2
44 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
4 January 4, 2016 Tokyo 38 Days 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 Osaka 59 Days 0 This was a three-way match, also involving reDRagon.
46 Roppongi Vice
(Beretta (2) and Rocky Romero (6))
2 April 10, 2016 Tokyo 23 Days 0
47 Matt Sydal and Ricochet 2 May 3, 2016 Fukuoka 47 Days 0
48 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
5 June 19, 2016 Osaka 199 Days 2 This was a four-way elimination match, also involving reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) and Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero).
49 Roppongi Vice
(Beretta (3) and Rocky Romero (7))
3 January 4, 2017 Tokyo 61 Days 1
50 Suzuki-gun
(Taichi (2) and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (2))
1 March 6, 2017 Tokyo 52 Days 1
51 Roppongi Vice
(Beretta (4) and Rocky Romero (8))
4 April 27, 2017 Hiroshima 45 Days 0
52 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
6 June 11, 2017 Osaka 63 Days 1
53 Funky Future
(Ricochet (3) and Ryusuke Taguchi (6))
1 August 13, 2017 Tokyo 57 Days 1
54 Roppongi 3K
(Sho and Yoh)
1 October 9, 2017 Tokyo 87 Days 0
55 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
7 January 4, 2018 Tokyo 24 Days 0
56 Roppongi 3K
(Sho and Yoh)
2 January 28, 2018 Sapporo 37 Days 0
57 Suzuki-gun
(El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (3))
1 March 6, 2018 Tokyo 304 Days 3 This was a three-way match, also involving Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi).
58 Los Ingobernables de Japon
(BUSHI and Shingo Takagi)
1 January 4, 2019 Tokyo 61 Days 1 This was a three-way match, also involving Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh).
59 Roppongi 3K
(Sho and Yoh)
3 March 6, 2019 Tokyo 102 Days 1
60 Bullet Club
(Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo)
1 June 16, 2019 Tokyo 203 Days 1
61 Roppongi 3K
(Sho and Yoh)
4 January 5, 2020 Tokyo 236 Days 3
Vacated August 27, 2020 N/A N/A Vacated after Yoh was sidelined with a knee injury.
62 Suzuki-gun
(El Desperado (2) and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (4))
2 September 11, 2020 Tokyo 134 Days 2 Defeated Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI and Hiromu Takahashi) in a tournament final to become the champions.
63 Bullet Club
(Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo)
2 January 23, 2021 Tokyo 33 Days 0
64 Suzuki-gun
(El Desperado (3) and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (5))
3 February 25, 2021 Tokyo 38 Days 0
65 Roppongi 3K
(Sho and Yoh)
5 April 4, 2021 Tokyo 80 Days 1
66 Bullet Club Cutest Tag Team
(Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo)
3 June 23, 2021 Tokyo 74 Days 1
67 Suzuki-gun
(El Desperado (4) and Yoshinobu Kanemaru (6))
4 September 5, 2021 Saitama 51 Days 0
68 Flying Tiger
(Robbie Eagles and Tiger Mask IV (2))
1 October 26, 2021 Tokyo 116 Days 1
69 Six or Nine
(Ryusuke Taguchi (7) and Master Wato)
1 February 19, 2022 Sapporo 121 Days 2 This was a 4-way match also involving Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) and Bullet Club Cutest Tag Team (Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo).
70 Catch 2/2
(TJP and Francesco Akira)
1 June 20, 2022 Tokyo 311 Days 4
71 Jet Setters
(KUSHIDA (3) and Kevin Knight)
1 April 27, 2023 Hiroshima 37 Days 0
72 Catch 2/2
(TJP and Francesco Akira)
2 June 4, 2023 Osaka 30 Days 0
73 Bullet Club War Dogs
(Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney)
1 July 4, 2023 Tokyo 184 Days 3
74 Catch 2/2
(TJP and Francesco Akira)
3 January 4, 2024 Tokyo 31 Days 0
75 Bullet Club War Dogs
(Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney)
2 February 4, 2023 Tokyo 44+ 0

Combined reigns[]

Indicates the current champion

By team[]

Rank Team No. of
reigns
Combined
defenses
Combined days
1 Gedo and Jado 4 15 960
2 The Young Bucks
(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson)
7 9 706
3 Apollo 55
(Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi)
4 13 673
4 Roppongi 3K
(Sho and Yoh)
5 5 545
5 Suzuki-gun
(El Desperado and Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
2 526
6 Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa 6 497
7 Catch 2/2
(TJP and Francesco Akira)
3 4 372
8 Time Splitters
(Alex Shelley and KUSHIDA)
2 6 313
9 Bullet Club Cutest Tag Team
(Taiji Ishimori and El Phantasmo)
3 2 310
10 Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto 1 6 282
11 Hirooki Goto and Minoru 2 281
12 Forever Hooligans
(Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero)
2 5 276
13 Dick Togo and Taka Michinoku 1 3 270
14 Junior Stars
(Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka)
1 3 254
15 reDRagon
(Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly)
2 236
16 The Motor City Machine Guns
(Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin)
1 3 182
17 No Remorse Corps
(Davey Richards and Rocky Romero)
2 1 166
18 Bullet Club War Dogs
(Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney)
2 3 228+
19 Roppongi Vice
(Beretta and Rocky Romero)
4 1 157
20 Legend
(Akira and Jushin Thunder Liger)
1 155
21 Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru 4 150
22 El Samurai and Ryusuke Taguchi 2 139
23 El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger 1 136
24 Six or Nine
(Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato)
2 121
25 Jushin Thunder Liger and Minoru Tanaka 1 119
26 Flying Tiger
(Robbie Eagles and Tiger Mask)
116
27 Matt Sydal and Ricochet 2 0 106
28 Prince Prince
(Minoru and Prince Devitt)
1 105
29 Golden☆Lovers
(Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi)
1 2 104
30 Dr. Wagner Jr. and Kendo Kashin 2 96
31 The Great Sasuke and Jushin Thunder Liger 0 94
32 American Dragon and Curry Man 1 85
33 No Limit
(Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro)
83
34 El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto 0 72
35 Koji Kanemoto and Wataru Inoue 2 71
36 Los Ingobernables de Japón
(BUSHI and Shingo Takagi)
1 61
37 Funky Future
(Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi)
57
38 Suzuki-gun
(Taichi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru)
52
39 Jet Setters
(KUSHIDA and Kevin Knight)
0 37
40 Jushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask 36
41 Suzuki-gun
(Taichi and Taka Michinoku)
1 26

By wrestler[]

Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns
Combined
defenses
Combined
days
1 Ryusuke Taguchi 7 17 987
2 Gedo 4 15 960
Jado
3 Jushin Thunder Liger 6 9 822
4 Prince Devitt 13 778
5 Minoru/Minoru Tanaka 5 7 759
6 Yoshinobu Kanemaru 4 10 728
7 Matt Jackson 7 9 706
Nick Jackson
8 Koji Kanemoto 4 11 679
9 Rocky Romero 8 7 599
10 Sho 5 5 545
Yoh
11 El Desperado 2 4 526
12 Shinjiro Otani 6 497
Tatsuhito Takaiwa
13 Alex Shelley 3 9 495
15 TJP 4 372
Francesco Akira
16 KUSHIDA 6 350
17 El Samurai 3 347
18 Taiji Ishimori 3 2 310
El Phantasmo
19 Taka Michinoku 2 4 296
20 Hirooki Goto 1 2 281
21 Alex Koslov 2 5 276
22 Dick Togo 1 3 270
23 Bobby Fish 2 3 236
Kyle O'Reilly
25 Clark Connors 228+
Drilla Moloney
26 Chris Sabin 1 182
27 Davey Richards 2 1 166
28 Ricochet 3 163
30 Beretta 4 1 157
31 Akira 1 155
32 Tsuyoshi Kikuchi 4 150
33 Master Wato 2 121
34 Robbie Eagles 1 116
35 Matt Sydal 2 0 106
36 Kenny Omega 1 2 104
Kota Ibushi
38 Dr. Wagner Jr. 96
Kendo Kashin
40 The Great Sasuke 0 94
41 American Dragon 1 85
Curry Man
43 Tetsuya Naito 83
Yujiro
45 Taichi 2 2 78
46 Wataru Inoue 1 71
47 BUSHI 1 61
Shingo Takagi
49 Kevin Knight 0 37

Gallery[]

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