IWGP Tag Team Championship

IWGP Tag Team Championship

Team 3D (Brother Devon [left] and Brother Ray [right]) are two–time IWGP Tag Team Champions
Details
Current champion(s) Ten-Koji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima)
Date won January 4, 2012
Promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW)
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)
Date established December 12, 1985[1]
Other name(s)
  • IWGP World Tag Team Championship (used primarily in TNA)
  • New Japan IWGP (World) Tag Team Championship (used primarily in TNA)

The IWGP Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by 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.[1] 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.[2] 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".[2] Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won via the result of a scripted match. Title changes usually happen at NJPW–promoted events; although the title has only changed hands twice at a non–NJPW event,[3] it has been defended in several other promotions.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan currently holds the record for most reigns by an individual wrestler, with nine. Tenzan's combined nine reign lengths add up to 1617+ days, which is the most of any champion. At five reigns, the team of Tenzan and Masahiro Chono hold the record for most by a team. Tenzan and Chono's combined five reign lengths add up to 1,010 days (the most of any team). At &10000000000000564000000564 days, Bad Intentions' (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) only reign is the longest in the title's history. Keiji Mutoh and Shiro Koshinaka's only reign is the shortest, at six days. Currently, Bad Intentions' only reign has the most defenses, with ten. There are 12 reigns shared between 11 teams that are tied for the fewest successful defenses, with zero. Overall, there have been 58 reigns shared between 54 wrestlers. The current champions are Ten-Koji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima), who are in their third reign as a team. Individually, this is the ninth reign for Tenzan and the fourth for Kojima.

Contents

History

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.[1] 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) since April 2009,[4] and in the Mexican lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (Spanish for Worldwide Wrestling Council) in 2005.[5]

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.[6] 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.[6] 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 Ōmori, 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.[7]

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.[8][9] 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.[10] 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.[11] 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.[3][12]

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
1 Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami 1 01985-12-12 December 12, 1985 &10000000000000236000000236 Sendai, Japan Live event 5 Kimura and Fujinami defeated Antonio Inoki and Seiji Sakaguchi in a tournament final to become the first champions.[1][13]
2 Akira Maeda and Osamu Kido 1 01986-08-05 August 5, 1986 &1000000000000004900000049 Tokyo, Japan Live event 1
3 Kengo Kimura (2) and Tatsumi Fujinami (2) 2 01986-09-23 September 23, 1986 &10000000000000135000000135 Tokyo, Japan Live event 0 [14]
— Vacated — 01987-02-05 February 5, 1987 — N/A N/A — The championship was vacated when Kimura and Fujinami split up.[14]
4 Keiji Mutoh and Shiro Koshinaka 1 01987-03-20 March 20, 1987 &100000000000000060000006 Tokyo, Japan Live event 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 01987-03-26 March 26, 1987 &10000000000000159000000159 Osaka, Japan Live event 2
6 Kazuo Yamazaki and Yoshiaki Fujiwara 1 01987-09-01 September 1, 1987 &10000000000000139000000139 Fukuoka, Japan Live event 2
7 Kengo Kimura (3) and Tatsumi Fujinami (3) 3 01988-01-18 January 18, 1988 &10000000000000144000000144 Takuyama, Japan Live event 3
8 Masa Saito and Riki Chōshū 1 01988-06-10 June 10, 1988 &10000000000000282000000282 Hiroshima, Japan Live event 4
9 George Takano and Super Strong Machine[N 1] 1 01989-03-19 March 19, 1989 &10000000000000116000000116 Yokohama, Japan Live event 1
10 Riki Chōshū (2) and Takayuki Iizuka[N 2] 1 01989-07-13 July 13, 1989 &1000000000000006900000069 Tokyo, Japan Live event 1
11 Masa Saito (2) and Shinya Hashimoto 1 01989-09-20 September 20, 1989 &10000000000000219000000219 Osaka, Japan Live event 3
12 Keiji Mutoh (2) and Masahiro Chono 1 01990-04-27 April 27, 1990 &10000000000000189000000189 Tokyo, Japan Live event 3
13 Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki 1 01990-11-01 November 1, 1990 &1000000000000005500000055 Tokyo, Japan Live event 2
14 Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine (2)[N 1] 1 01990-12-26 December 26, 1990 &1000000000000007000000070 Hamamatsu, Japan Live event 2
15 Hiroshi Hase (2) and Kensuke Sasaki (2) 2 01991-03-06 March 6, 1991 &1000000000000001500000015 Nagasaki, Japan Live event 0
16 Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner
(The Steiner Brothers)		 1 01991-03-21 March 21, 1991 &10000000000000229000000229 Tokyo, Japan Starrcade 1991 in Tokyo Dome 2 The Steiners' WCW World Tag Team Championship was also on the line.
17 Hiroshi Hase (3) and Keiji Mutoh (3) 1 01991-11-05 November 5, 1991 &10000000000000117000000117 Tokyo, Japan Live event 2 Scott Norton substituted for an injured Scott Steiner in this match.
18 Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader
(Big, Bad, and Dangerous)		 1 01992-03-01 March 1, 1992 &10000000000000117000000117 Yokohama, Japan Live event 2
19 Rick Steiner (2) and Scott Steiner (2)
(The Steiner Brothers)		 2 01992-06-26 June 26, 1992 &10000000000000149000000149 Tokyo, Japan Live event 3 The Steiners' WCW World Tag Team Championship was also on the line.
20 Scott Norton and Tony Halme 1 01992-11-22 November 22, 1992 &1000000000000002200000022 Tokyo, Japan Live event 0
21 Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior (3)[N 3]
(The Hell Raisers)		 1 01992-12-14 December 14, 1992 &10000000000000234000000234 Tokyo, Japan Live event 4 [13]
22 Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton (2)
(The Jurassic Powers)		 1 01993-08-05 August 5, 1993 &10000000000000152000000152 Tokyo, Japan Live event 3 [15]
23 Hawk Warrior (2) and Power Warrior (4)[N 3]
(The Hell Raisers)		 2 01994-01-04 January 4, 1994 &10000000000000325000000325 Tokyo, Japan Battlefield 2
24 Hiroshi Hase (4) and Keiji Mutoh (4) 2 01994-11-25 November 25, 1994 &10000000000000162000000162 Iwate, Japan Live event 1 [16]
— Vacated — 01995-05-06 May 6, 1995 — N/A N/A — The title was vacated by Mutoh after he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.[16]
25 Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono (2)
(Cho-Ten)		 1 01995-06-10 June 10, 1995 &1000000000000002700000027 Osaka, Japan Live event 0 Tenzan and Chono defeated Junji Hirata and Shinya Hashimoto to win the vacant championship.[17]
— Vacated — 01995-07-07 July 7, 1995 — N/A N/A — The title was vacated when Chono missed a title defense due to his father's death.[17]
26 Junji Hirata (3)[N 1] and Shinya Hashimoto (2) 1 01995-07-13 July 13, 1995 &10000000000000335000000335 Sapporo, Japan Live event 6 Hashimoto and Hirata defeated Mike Enos and Scott Norton to win the vacant championship.
27 Kazuo Yamazaki (2) and Takashi Iizuka[N 2] 1 01996-06-12 June 12, 1996 &1000000000000003400000034 Osaka, Japan Live event 0
28 Hiroyoshi Tenzan (2) and Masahiro Chono (3)
(Cho-Ten)		 2 01996-07-16 July 16, 1996 &10000000000000172000000172 Sapporo, Japan Live event 2
29 Kengo Kimura (4) and Tatsumi Fujinami (4) 4 01997-01-04 January 4, 1997 &1000000000000009800000098 Tokyo, Japan Wrestling World (1997) 3
30 Kensuke Sasaki (5) and Riki Chōshū (3) 1 01997-04-12 April 12, 1997 &1000000000000002100000021 Tokyo, Japan Live event 0
31 Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima
(The Bull Powers)		 1 01997-05-03 May 3, 1997 &1000000000000009900000099 Osaka, Japan Live event 1
32 Kazuo Yamazaki (3) and Kensuke Sasaki (6) 1 01997-08-10 August 10, 1997 &1000000000000007000000070 Nagoya, Japan The Four Heaven in Nagoya Dome 0
33 Keiji Mutoh (5) and Masahiro Chono (4) 2 01997-10-19 October 19, 1997 &10000000000000184000000184 Kobe, Japan Live event 2 [18]
— Vacated — 01998-04-21 April 21, 1998 — N/A N/A — The title was vacated due to Mutoh having surgery on his knee.[18]
34 Hiroyoshi Tenzan (3) and Masahiro Chono (5)
(Cho-Ten)		 3 01998-06-05 June 5, 1998 &1000000000000004000000040 Tokyo, Japan Live event 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 01998-07-15 July 15, 1998 &10000000000000173000000173 Sapporo, Japan Live event 2
36 Hiroyoshi Tenzan (4) and Satoshi Kojima (2)
(Ten-Koji)		 1 01999-01-04 January 4, 1999 &1000000000000007700000077 Tokyo, Japan Wrestling World (1999) 1
37 Kensuke Sasaki (7) and Shiro Koshinaka 1 01999-03-22 March 22, 1999 &1000000000000009700000097 Amagasaki, Japan Live event 2
38 Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto
(The Mad Dogs)		 1 01999-06-27 June 27, 1999 &1000000000000006200000062 Shizuoka, Japan Live event 1
39 Manabu Nakanishi (2) and Yuji Nagata 1 01999-08-28 August 28, 1999 &10000000000000327000000327 Shizuoka, Japan Live event 4
40 Hiroyoshi Tenzan (5) and Satoshi Kojima (3)
(Ten-Koji)		 2 02000-07-20 July 20, 2000 &10000000000000430000000430 Tokyo, Japan Live event 6
41 Osamu Nishimura and Tatsumi Fujinami (5) 1 02001-09-23 September 23, 2001 &1000000000000003500000035 Osaka, Japan Live event 1
42 Keiji Mutoh (6) and Taiyō Kea
(BATT)		 1 02001-10-28 October 28, 2001 &1000000000000009700000097 Fukuoka, Japan Live event 0 [19]
— Vacated — 02002-02-02 February 2, 2002 — N/A N/A — The title was vacated due to Mutoh leaving NJPW.[19]
43 Hiroyoshi Tenzan (6) and Masahiro Chono (6)
(Cho-Ten)		 4 02002-03-24 March 24, 2002 &10000000000000446000000446 Hyōgo, Japan Live event 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 02003-06-13 June 13, 2003 &10000000000000184000000184 Tokyo, Japan Live event 3 [20]
45 Hiroyoshi Tenzan (7) and Osamu Nishimura (2) 1 02003-12-14 December 14, 2003 &1000000000000004900000049 Nagoya, Japan Live event 0
46 Minoru Suzuki and Yoshihiro Takayama 1 02004-02-01 February 1, 2004 &10000000000000294000000294 Sapporo, Japan Live event 4 [21]
47 Hiroshi Tanahashi (2) and Shinsuke Nakamura 1 02004-12-11 December 11, 2004 &10000000000000323000000323 Osaka, Japan Live event 4
48 Hiroyoshi Tenzan (8) and Masahiro Chono (7)
(Cho-Ten)		 5 02005-10-30 October 30, 2005 &10000000000000325000000325 Kobe, Japan Live event 3 [6]
— Vacated — 02006-09-20 September 20, 2006 — N/A N/A — NJPW president Simon Kelly Inoki stripped Chono and Tenzan of the title after Chono and Tenzan ceased teaming.[6]
49 Manabu Nakanishi (3) and Takao Ōmori
(Wild Child)		 1 02006-09-28 September 28, 2006 &10000000000000164000000164 Sapporo, Japan Live event 1 A provisional 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.[6] Nakanishi and Ōmori were recognized as the official champions on September 28, 2006 after they won the Provisional Tag Team Championship on July 17, 2006.[7]
50 Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko 1 02007-03-11 March 11, 2007 &10000000000000343000000343 Nagoya, Japan Live event 5
51 Togi Makabe and Toru Yano
(The Most Violent Players)		 1 02008-02-17 February 17, 2008 &10000000000000322000000322 Tokyo, Japan Live event 4
52 Brother Devon and Brother Ray
(Team 3D)		 1 02009-01-04 January 4, 2009 &10000000000000198000000198 Tokyo, Japan Wrestle Kingdom III in the Tokyo Dome 4 [3][22]
53 Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams
(The British Invasion)		 1 02009-07-21 July 21, 2009 &1000000000000008900000089 Orlando, Florida TNA Impact! 1 This was a tables match that aired on the July 30, 2009 episode of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's Impact!.[9][23] NJPW did not sanction the match, nor initially recognize nor sanction the title change until August 10.[3][10][24]
54 Brother Devon and Brother Ray
(Team 3D)		 2 02009-10-18 October 18, 2009 &1000000000000007800000078 Irvine, California Bound for Glory (2009) 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.[25][26]
55 Tetsuya Naitō and Yujiro Takahashi
(No Limit)		 1 02010-01-04 January 4, 2010 &10000000000000119000000119 Tokyo, Japan Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome 1 This was a three–way hardcore match, which also included Bad Intentions (Karl Anderson and Giant Bernard).[27]
56 Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata (2)
(Blue Justice Army)		 1 02010-05-03 May 3, 2010 &1000000000000004700000047 Fukuoka, Japan Wrestling Dontaku 2010 0 This was a three–way match, which also included Bad Intentions (Karl Anderson and Giant Bernard).
57 Giant Bernard (2) and Karl Anderson
(Bad Intentions)		 1 02010-06-19 June 19, 2010 &10000000000000564000000564 Osaka, Japan Dominion 6.19 10 This was a three–way elimination match, which also included No Limit (Tetsuya Naitō and Yujiro Takahashi).
58 Hiroyoshi Tenzan (9) and Satoshi Kojima (4)
(Ten-Koji)		 3 02012-01-04 January 4, 2012 &1000000000000005100000051+ Tokyo, Japan Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome 0

List of combined reigns

† Indicates the current champions

By team

Rank[N 4] Team # of reigns Combined days
1 Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono
(Cho-Ten)		 5 1,010
2 Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami 4 613
3 Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson
(Bad Intentions)		 1 564
4 Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior
(The Hell Raisers)		 2 559
5 Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima
(Ten-Koji)†		 3 558+
6 Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner
(The Steiner Brothers)		 2 378
7 Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono 2 373
8 Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko 1 343
9 Junji Hirata and Shinya Hashimoto 1 335
10 Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata 1 327
11 Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura 1 323
12 Togi Makabe and Toru Yano
(The Most Violent Players)		 1 322
13 Minoru Suzuki and Yoshihiro Takayama 1 294
14 Masa Saito and Riki Chōshū 1 282
15 Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh 2 279
16 Brother Devon and Brother Ray
(Team 3D)		 2 276
17 Masa Saito and Shinya Hashimoto 1 219
18 Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yutaka Yoshie 1 184
19 Genichiro Tenryu and Shiro Koshinaka 1 173
20 Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Ōmori 1 164
21 Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada 1 159
22 Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton
(The Jurassic Powers)		 1 152
23 Kazuo Yamazaki and Yoshiaki Fujiwara 1 139
24 Tetsuya Naitō and Yujiro Takahashi
(No Limit)		 1 119
25 Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader 1 117
26 George Takano and Super Strong Machine 1 116
27 Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima 1 99
28 Kensuke Sasaki and Shiro Koshinaka 1 97
28 Keiji Mutoh and Taiyō Kea
(BATT)		 1 97
30 Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams
(The British Invasion)		 1 89
31 Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine 1 70
31 Kazuo Yamazaki and Kensuke Sasaki 1 70
31 Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki 2 70
34 Riki Chōshū and Takayuki Iizuka 1 69
35 Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto
(The Mad Dogs)		 1 62
36 Akira Maeda and Osamu Kido 1 49
36 Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Osamu Nishimura 1 49
38 Wataru Inoue and Yuji Nagata
(Blue Justice Army)		 1 47
39 Osamu Nishimura and Tatsumi Fujinami 1 35
40 Kazuo Yamazaki and Takashi Iizuka 1 34
41 Scott Norton and Tony Halme 1 22
42 Kensuke Sasaki and Riki Chōshū 1 21
43 Keiji Mutoh and Shiro Koshinaka 1 6

By wrestler

Rank[N 4] Wrestler # of reigns Combined days
1 Hiroyoshi Tenzan 9 1617+
2 Masahiro Chono 7 1,383
3 Giant Bernard 2 907
4 Kensuke Sasaki/Power Warrior 7 816
5 Keiji Mutoh 6 755
6 Tatsumi Fujinami 5 648
7 Kengo Kimura 4 613
8 Satoshi Kojima 4 657+
9 Manabu Nakanishi 3 590
10 Karl Anderson 1 564
11 Hawk Warrior 2 559
12 Shinya Hashimoto 2 554
13 Junji Hirata/Super Strong Machine 3 521
14 Hiroshi Tanahashi 2 507
15 Masa Saito 2 501
16 Rick Steiner 2 378
16 Scott Steiner 2 378
18 Yuji Nagata 2 374
19 Riki Chōshū 3 372
20 Hiroshi Hase 4 348
21 Travis Tomko 1 343
22 Shinsuke Nakamura 1 323
23 Togi Makabe 1 322
23 Toru Yano 1 322
25 Minoru Suzuki 1 294
25 Yoshihiro Takayama 1 294
27 Shiro Koshinaka 3 276
27 Brother Devon 2 276
27 Brother Ray 2 276
30 Kazuo Yamazaki 3 243
31 Akira Maeda 2 208
32 Yutaka Yoshie 1 184
33 Scott Norton 2 174
34 Genichiro Tenryu 1 173
35 Takao Ōmori 1 164
36 Nobuhiko Takada 1 159
37 Hercules Hernandez 1 152
38 Yoshiaki Fujiwara 1 139
39 Tetsuya Naitō 1 119
39 Yujiro Takahashi 1 119
41 Bam Bam Bigelow 1 117
41 Big Van Vader 1 117
43 George Takano 1 116
44 Takayuki/Takashi Iizuka 2 103
45 Taiyō Kea 1 97
46 Brutus Magnus 1 89
46 Doug Williams 1 89
48 Osamu Nishimura 2 84
49 Hiro Saito 1 70
50 Michiyoshi Ohara 1 62
51 Tatsutoshi Goto 1 62
52 Osamu Kido 1 49
53 Wataru Inoue 1 47
54 Tony Halme 1 22

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Junji Hirata used the ring name Super Strong Machine during his first two reigns; one reign was with George Takano and the second was with Hiro Saito.
  2. ^ a b Takayuki Iizuka also used the ring name Takashi Iizuka and won the IWGP Tag Team Championship once with Kazuo Yamazaki.
  3. ^ a b Kensuke Sasaki used the ring name Power Warrior while he was a part of The Hell Raisers.
  4. ^ a b Each reign is ranked highest to lowest; reigns with the same number mean that they are tied for that certain rank.

References

General
Specific
  1. ^ a b c d "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 1" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag_main01.html#001. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  2. ^ a b "IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship history" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/jr_tag.html. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  3. ^ a b c d Martin, Adam (2009-08-12). "More on TNA and New Japan issues". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1250109476.php?style=dark. Retrieved 2009-08-13. 
  4. ^ Martin, Adam (2009-04-19). "Lockdown PPV results - 4/19/09". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1240196272.php. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  5. ^ SuperLuchas staff (2006-01-03). "2005 Lo Mejor de la Lucha Mexicana" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas: pp. 20–21. issue 140. 
  6. ^ a b c d e "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 48" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag_main08.html#048. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  7. ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 49" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag_main08.html#049. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  8. ^ Martin, Adam (2009-07-22). "Spoilers: 7/21 TNA Impact TV tapings". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1248239224.php. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  9. ^ a b Sokol, Chris; Bryan Sokol (2009-07-31). "Impact: Two titles changes on 200th episode". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2009/07/31/10321466.html?cid=rsssportswrestling. Retrieved 2009-08-13. 
  10. ^ a b "SLAM! Wrestling News/Rumours". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. 2009-08-06. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/news.html. Retrieved 2009-08-13. "The British Invasion's IWGP World Team Team Title victory over Team 3D on last week's TNA iMPACT! is not being recognized by New Japan Pro Wrestling. Team 3D will continue to defend the titles in Japan.....New Japan Pro Wrestling has officially recognized the British Invasion as the IWGP Tag Team Champions. They duo defeated Team 3D on a recent TNA iMPACT! to win the titles and New Japan Pro Wrestling had originally decided against recognizing the change." 
  11. ^ Martin, Adam (2009-08-05). "New Japan on title change in TNA". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1249514171.php. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  12. ^ Martin, Adam (2009-08-10). "New Japan changes stance on tag titles". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1249956489.php. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  13. ^ a b "PWI: Wrestling History". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. PWI-Online.com. http://www.pwi-online.com/pages/wrestlingframe.html. Retrieved 2009-09-03. 
  14. ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 3" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag_main01.html#003. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  15. ^ Powell, John (2004-03-07). "Hercules' Hernandez dies". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2004/03/07/pf-374027.html. Retrieved 2009-08-13. 
  16. ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 24" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag_main04.html#024. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  17. ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 25" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag_main05.html#025. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  18. ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 33" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag_main06.html#033. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  19. ^ a b "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 42" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag_main07.html#042. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  20. ^ Power Slam Staff (August 2003). "We are the Champions (as of July 8)". Power Slam Magazine (Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD): p. 15. 109. 
  21. ^ Power Slam Magazine Staff (March 2005). "We are the champions (as of February 11)". Power Slam Magazine (Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD): p. 15. 116. 
  22. ^ Martin, Adam (2009-01-01). "1/4 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom III Results: Tokyo, Japan". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1231099061.php. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  23. ^ Martin, Adam (2009-07-21). "Spoilers: Note on 7/21 Impact tapings". WrestleView. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1248224997.php. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  24. ^ "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 53" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag_main09.html#053. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  25. ^ Tylwalk, Nick (2009-10-20). "Sting loses but doesn't retire, capping off night of ups and downs at Bound for Glory". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/PPVReports/2009/10/19/11447881.html. Retrieved 2009-10-21. 
  26. ^ "IWGP Tag Team Championship history: Reign 54" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. NJPW.co. http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/tag_main09.html#054. Retrieved 2009-08-15. 
  27. ^ "January 4 New Japan Tokyo Dome report - legends, promotional wars". Wrestling Observer. 2010-01-04. http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/11848/. Retrieved 2010-01-04. 

External links

IWGP Tag Team Champions
Kengo Kimura and Tatsumi Fujinami  · Akira Maeda and Osamu Kido  · Keiji Mutoh and Shiro Koshinaka  · Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada  · Kazuo Yamazaki and Yoshiaki Fujiwara  · Masa Saito and Riki Chōshū  · George Takano and Super Strong Machine  · Riki Chōshū and Takayuki Iizuka  · Masa Saito and Shinya Hashimoto  · Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono  · Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki  · Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine  · The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner and Scott Steiner)  · Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh  · Big, Bad, and Dangerous (Bam Bam Bigelow and Big Van Vader)  · Scott Norton and Tony Halme  · The Hell Raisers (Hawk Warrior and Power Warrior)  · The Jurassic Powers (Hercules Hernandez and Scott Norton)  · Cho-Ten (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono)  · Junji Hirata and Shinya Hashimoto  · Kazuo Yamazaki and Takashi Iizuka  · Kensuke Sasaki and Riki Chōshū  · The Bull Powers (Manabu Nakanishi and Satoshi Kojima)  · Kazuo Yamazaki and Kensuke Sasaki  · Genichiro Tenryu and Shiro Koshinaka  · Ten-Koji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) (current)  · Kensuke Sasaki and Shiro Koshinaka  · The Mad Dogs (Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto)  · Manabu Nakanishi and Yuji Nagata  · Osamu Nishimura and Tatsumi Fujinami  · BATT (Keiji Mutoh and Taiyō Kea)  · Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yutaka Yoshie  · Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Osamu Nishimura  · Minoru Suzuki and Yoshihiro Takayama  · Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura  · Wild Child (Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Ōmori)  · Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko  · The Most Violent Players (Togi Makabe and Toru Yano)  · Team 3D (Brother Devon and Brother Ray)  · The British Invasion (Brutus Magnus and Doug Williams)  · No Limit (Tetsuya Naitō and Yujiro Takahashi)  · Blue Justice Army (Yuji Nagata and Wataru Inoue)  · Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson)