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 to the title is 220 lb (100 kg).[3] Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won via the result of a scripted match. Title changes usually happen 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 and Minoru are currently tied for the record of most reigns by an individual wrestlers, with five. At four reigns, the team of Gedo and Jado hold the record for 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. They also hold the most total defenses as champions, with 15; they are also separately tied for the record of a single wrestler. Gedo and Jado 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 24 reigns shared between 26 wrestlers, which made up 19 different teams. The current champions are Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi), who are in their first reign. The Motor City Machineguns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin), a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) tag team, defeated 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 at a live event. During that time, they had three successful defenses, with two being held by TNA due to an agreement with NJPW.[4] Their first defense in TNA occurred on March 31, 2009 at the tapings of their weekly television program TNA Impact!.[5] On April 19, 2009, they had their second, and last, defense in TNA at the Lockdown PPV 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).[6] [edit] 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 | | 01 1 | Otani Shinjiro Otani and Takaiwa Tatsuhito Takaiwa | 01 1 | 01998-08-08 August 8, 1998 | &0000000000000149.000000149 | 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 | 01999-01-04 January 4, 1999 | &0000000000000096.00000096 | Osaka Osaka, 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 | &0000000000000094.00000094 | 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 | &0000000000000348.000000348 | 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 | &0000000000000254.000000254 | Tokyo Tokyo, Japan | Live event Live event | 03 3 | | | 06 6 | Samurai El Samurai and Liger Jushin Liger (2) | 01 1 | 02001-03-06 March 6, 2001 | &0000000000000136.000000136 | Tokyo Tokyo, Japan | Live event Live event | 01 1 | | | 07 7 | Gedo Gedo and Jado Jado | 01 1 | 02001-07-20 July 20, 2001 | &0000000000000286.000000286 | Sapporo Sapporo, Japan | Live event Live event | 06 6 | | | 08 8 | Liger Jushin Liger (3) and Tanaka Minoru Tanaka (2) | 01 1 | 02002-05-02 May 2, 2002 | &0000000000000119.000000119 | 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 | &0000000000000150.000000150 | 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 | &0000000000000282.000000282 | Kobe Kobe, Japan | Live event Live event | 06 6 | [7] | | zz — | Vacated Vacated | zz — | 02003-11-04 November 4, 2003 | 00 — | zz N/A | zz N/A | zz — | The championship is vacated due to Kanemoto fracturing his left cheekbone.[7] | | 11 11 | Gedo Gedo and Jado Jado | 02 2 | 02003-11-29 November 29, 2003 | &0000000000000104.000000104 | Miyagi Miyagi, Japan | Live event Live event | 02 2 | Gedo and Jado defeated Hirooki Goto and Ryusuke Taguchi to win the vacant championship. | | 12 12 | American Dragon American Dragon and Curry Man Curry Man | 01 1 | 02004-03-12 March 12, 2004 | &0000000000000085.00000085 | Tokyo Tokyo, Japan | Live event Live event | 01 1 | [8] | | 13 13 | Gedo Gedo and Jado Jado | 03 3 | 02004-06-05 June 5, 2004 | &0000000000000272.000000272 | Osaka Osaka, Japan | Live event Live event | 05 5 | | | 14 14 | Kanemoto Koji Kanemoto (3) and Inoue Wataru Inoue | 01 1 | 02005-03-04 March 4, 2005 | &0000000000000071.00000071 | 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 | &0000000000000281.000000281 | 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 | &0000000000000139.000000139 | Tokyo Tokyo, Japan | Live event Live event | 02 2 | | | 17 17 | Gedo Gedo and Jado Jado | 04 4 | 02006-07-08 July 8, 2006 | &0000000000000298.000000298 | Shizuoka Shizuoka, Japan | Live event Live event | 02 2 | | | 18 18 | Togo Dick Togo and Michinoku Taka Michinoku | 01 1 | 02007-05-02 May 2, 2007 | &0000000000000270.000000270 | 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 | &0000000000000021.00000021 | 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 | &0000000000000155.000000155 | 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 | &0000000000000084.00000084 | Sapporo Sapporo, Japan | Live event Live event | 01 1 | | | 22 22 | Naito Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Yujiro
(No Limit) | 01 1 | 02008-10-13 October 13, 2008 | &0000000000000083.00000083 | Tokyo Tokyo, Japan | Live event Live event | 01 1 | | | 23 23 | Shelley Alex Shelley and Sabin Chris Sabin
(The Motor City Machineguns) | 01 1 | 02009-01-04 January 4, 2009 | &0000000000000182.000000182 | Tokyo Tokyo, Japan | Wrestle Kingdom III Wrestle Kingdom III | 03 3 | The Motor City Machineguns defended the championship twice in the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion during their reign, as part of an agreement between TNA and NJPW.[9] | | 24 24 | Devitt Prince Devitt (3) and Taguchi Ryusuke Taguchi (2)
(Apollo 55) | 01 1 | 02009-07-05 July 5, 2009 | &0000000000000159.000000159+ | Tokyo Tokyo, Japan | Live event Live event | 02 2 | [10] | [edit] List of combined reigns | † | Indicates the current champions | [edit] By team [edit] By wrestler - ^ a b Each reign is ranked highest to lowest; reigns with the same number mean that they are tied for that certain rank.
[edit] References - General
- Specific
- ^ a b "IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship history: Reign 1" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/jr_tag_main01.html#001. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
- ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag.html. Retrieved 2009-09-27.
- ^ "No Limit, once again IWGP Jr. Not recapture Tag! / April 19th TNA "Lock Down" match result (1)" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. 2009-04-20. http://www.njpw.co.jp/news/article.php?nwid=9954. Retrieved 2009-12-08. "Translated version shows that it was questioned if Hernandez weighed more than 100kg, the weight-limit."
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-01-15). ""Global Impact 2" and New Japan and TNA relations". WrestleView.com. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1232054145.php. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-04-02). "Spoilers: Impact tapings for 4/9-16". WrestleView.com. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1238650426.php. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
- ^ Caldwell, James (2009-04-19). "Caldwell's TNA Lockdown PPV report 4/19: Ongoing "virtual time" coverage of all-cage PPV - Sting vs. Foley". PWTorch.com. http://pwtorch.com/artman2/publish/PPV_Reports_5/article_31502.shtml. Retrieved 2009-12-08.
- ^ a b "IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship history: Reign 10" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/jr_tag_main02.html#010. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ Milner, John M.. "Christopher Daniels". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/daniels.html. 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."
- ^ Martin, Adam (2009-01-01). "1/4 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom III Results: Tokyo, Japan". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1231099061.php. Retrieved 2009-12-01.
- ^ Golden, Hunter (2009-07-08). "Rising Sun Soliloquy Newsletter #32". WrestleView.com. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1247097664.php. 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."
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