IWGP World Tag Team Championship
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The IWGP World Tag Team Championship is the main heavyweight tag team title in New Japan Pro Wrestling. It was founded in 1985 when Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura won the IWGP Tag League. It has been held by heavyweights and junior heavyweights, although with the recent creation of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship the latter have been discouraged from competing for the World Tag Team Title.
Title history
| Wrestlers: | Reigns Together: | '''Date
| Place: |
| Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura | 1 | December 12, 1985 | Sendai, Japan; Defeated Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi in the final of 1985 IWGP Tag League tournament to win the first title. |
| Osamu Kido & Akira Maeda | 1 | August 5, 1986 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura | 2 | September 23, 1986 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Title declared vacant | March 1987 | Fujinami & Kimura split so Fujinami can pursue the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship held by Antonio Inoki. | |
| Shiro Koshinaka & Keiji Muto | 1 | March 20, 1987 | Tokyo, Japan; Defeated Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada in the final of a tournament to win the vacant title. |
| Akira Maeda & Nobuhiko Takada | 1 | March 26, 1987 | Osaka, Japan |
| Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Kazuo Yamazaki | 1 | September 1, 1, 1987 | Fukuoka, Japan |
| Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura | 3 | January 18, 1988 | Takayama, Japan |
| Riki Choshu & Masa Saito | 1 | June 10, 1988 | Hiroshima, Japan |
| Super Strong Machine & George Takano | 1 | March 19, 1989 | Yokohama, Japan |
| Riki Choshu & Takayuki Iizuka | 1 | July 13, 1989 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Shinya Hashimoto & Masa Saito | 1 | September 20, 1989 | Osaka, Japan |
| Masahiro Chono & Keiji Muto | 1 | April 27, 1990 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki | 1 | November 2, 1990 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Hiro Saito & Super Strong Machine | 1 | December 26, 1990 | Hamamatsu, Japan |
| Hiroshi Hase & Kensuke Sasaki | 2 | March 6, 1992 | Nagasaki, Japan |
| The Steiner Brothers (Rick Steiner & Scott Steiner) | 1 | March 21, 1991 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Title declared vacant | November 5, 1991 | Scott injured | |
| Hiroshi Hase & Keiji Muto | 1 | November 5, 1991 | Tokyo, Japan; Defeated Scott Norton & Rick Steiner to win the vacant title. |
| Bam Bam Bigelow & Big Van Vader | 1 | March 1, 1992 | Yokohama, Japan |
| The Steiner Brothers | 2 | June 26, 1992 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Tony Halme & Scott Norton | 1 | November 22, 1992 | Tokyo, Japan |
| The Hell Raisers (Power Warrior & Road Warrior Hawk) | 1 | December 14, 1992 | Tokyo, Japan |
| The Jurassic Powers (Hercules Hernandez & Scott Norton) | 1 | August 5, 1993 | Tokyo, Japan |
| The Hell Raisers | 2 | January 4, 1994 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Hiroshi Hase & Keiji Muto | 2 | November 25, 1994 | Iwate, Japan |
| Title declared vacant | May 6, 1995 | Muto wins IWGP World Heavyweight Championship and decided to focus on it | |
| Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 1 | June 10, 1995 | Osaka, Japan; Defeated Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata to win the vacant title. |
| Title declared vacant | July 7, 1995 | Chono's father dies and Chono is unable to make a title defense | |
| Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata | 1 | July 13, 1995 | Sapporo, Japan; Defeated Mike Enos & Scott Norton to win the vacant title. |
| Takashi Iizuka (Takayuki Iizuka) & Kazuo Yamazaki | 1 | June 12, 1996 | Osaka, Japan |
| Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 2 | July 1996 | Sapporo, Japan |
| Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo Kimura | 4 | January 4, 1997 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Riki Choshu & Kensuke Sasaki | 1 | April 12, 1997 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Satoshi Kojima & Manabu Nakanishi | 1 | May 3, 1997 | Osaka, Japan |
| Kensuke Sasaki & Kazuo Yamazaki | 1 | August 10, 1997 | Nagoya, Japan |
| Masahiro Chono & Keiji Muto | 2 | October 19, 1997 | Kobe, Japan |
| Title declared vacant | April 21, 1998 | Muto undergoes knee surgery | |
| Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 3 | June 5, 1998 | Tokyo, Japan; Defeated Shiro Koshinaka & Genichiro Tenryu in the final of a tournament to win the vacant title. |
| Shiro Koshinaka & Genichiro Tenryu | 1 | July 15, 1998 | Sapporo, Japan |
| Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 1 | January 4, 1999 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Shiro Koshinaka & Kensuke Sasaki | 1 | March 22, 1999 | Amagasaki, Japan |
| Tatsutoshi Goto & Michiyoshi Ohara | 1 | June 27, 1999 | Shizuoka, Japan |
| Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi | 1 | August 28, 1999 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 2 | Jul 20, 2000 | Sapporo, Japan |
| Tatsumi Fujinami & Osamu Nishimura | 1 | September 22, 2001 | Osaka, Japan |
| Taiyo Kea & Keiji Muto | 1 | October 28, 2001 | Fukuoka, Japan; also hold AJPW Double Cup Tag Team Championship |
| Title declared vacant | February 2, 2002 | Kea and Muto stay in All Japan Pro Wrestling | |
| Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 4 | March 24, 2002 | Amagasaki, Japan; Defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yutaka Yoshie in the final of a tournament to win the vacant title. |
| Hiroshi Tanahashi & Yutaka Yoshie | 1 | June 13, 2003 | Tokyo, Japan |
| Osamu Nishimura & Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 1 | December 14, 2003 | Nagoya, Japan |
| Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiro Takayama | 1 | February 1, 2004 | Sapporo, Japan |
| Title declared vacant | November 21, 2004 | Takayama injured | |
| Shinsuke Nakamura & Hiroshi Tanahashi | 1 | December 11, 2004 | Osaka, Japan; Defeated Kensuke Sasaki & Minoru Suzuki to win the vacant title. |
| Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 5 | October 30, 2005 | Kobe, Japan |
| Shiro Koshinaka & Togi Makabe | 1 | July 2, 2006 | Tokyo, Japan; Defeated Giant Bernard & Travis Tomko in a 4-team one-night tournament final to become the interim champions when Chono is injured. |
| Manabu Nakanishi & Takao Omori | 1 | July 17, 2006 | Sapporo, Japan |
Trivia
- The all-time record of reigns for a team is Masahiro Chono & Hiroyoshi Tenzan with five.
- Foreign teams who have held the titles include the Steiners, Big Van Vader & Bam Bam Bigelow, Scott Norton & Tony Halme (Halme is Swedish), and Norton & Hercules Hernandez.
- Japanese-foreigner teams who have held the titles are Kensuke Sasaki & Road Warrior Hawk and Keiji Mutoh & Taiyo Kea. Both Hawk and Kea are Japanese-American.
- Mutoh & Kea are the first (and so far only) team to hold both the IWGP tag team title and the AJPW Double Cup Tag Team Championship. They are also the only team to hold both titles at the same time.
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