IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship


The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro-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 the "IWGP Jr. Tag Class", while the IWGP Tag Team Championship is considered the "IWGP Heavy Weight Class". The title is contested for by junior heavyweight wrestlers; the weight-limit for the title is per partner. 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 Motor City Machine Guns, a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling tag team, defeated then-reigning champions No Limit 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; 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.

Reigns

Overall, there have been 61 reigns shared among 44 wrestlers, who made up 33 different teams. NJPW keep track of all championship title defenses per reign, which is unlike most mainstream wrestling organizations.
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.
Rocky Romero holds the record for most reigns by an individual wrestler, with eight. At seven reigns, The Young Bucks 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. 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. Apollo 55 hold the record for most defenses during a single reign, with 7.
The Great Sasuke and Jyushin Thunder Liger's only reign, Minoru and Prince Devitt's first reign, El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto's only reign, Apollo 55's fourth reign, Jyushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask's only reign, The Young Bucks' second and fourth reigns, Roppongi Vice's first, second and fourth reigns, Matt Sydal and Ricochet's first and second reigns and Roppongi 3K's first and second reigns 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.
The team of Roppongi 3K are the current champions in their fourth reign. They won the titles by defeating previous champions the Bullet Club on January 4, 2020 at Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome.