List of IWGP Tag Team Champions explained

The IWGP Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" are the initials of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix. The title was introduced on December 12, 1985, at a NJPW live event. The IWGP Heavyweight 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. According to NJPW's official website, the IWGP Tag Team Championship is considered the "IWGP Heavy Weight Class", while the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is listed as the "IWGP Jr. Tag Class".^[1] 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, it has been defended in several other promotions.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan currently holds the record for most reigns by an individual wrestler, with twelve. Tenzan's combined twelve reign lengths add up to 1,988 days, which is the most of any champion. At seven reigns, Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) hold the record for most by a team. Tenzan and Masahiro Chono's combined five reign lengths add up to 1,010 days (the most of any team). At 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. Overall, there have been 101 reigns shared among 90 wrestlers, who made up 66 different teams.

United Empire (Great-O-Khan and Henare) are the current champions in Khan's third reign and Henare's first reign, and in their first reign as a team. They defeated the TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste) at Power Struggle on November 4, 2024 in Osaka, Japan.

Title history

As of, .

Combined reigns

As of, .

†	Indicates the current champions

By team

Rank	Team	No. of reigns	Combined defenses	Combined days



	and




	and
	Dangerous Tekkers



	and
	and
	and

	and
	and
	and

	and


	and
	and

	and


	TMDK
	Golden☆Ace
	and
	and





	and



	Bullet Club

	and
	and
	and
	and


	and
	and







	and
	and
	United Empire †
	FinJuice
	and
	and
	Los Ingobernables de Japón
	and

By wrestler

Rank	Wrestler	No. of reigns	Combined defenses	Combined days






















	Taichi
	Zack Sabre Jr.































	Kota Ibushi















	Kenta




	†







	Bad Luck Fale




	†

References

General

Web site: IWGP Tag Team Title History. Matt. Benaka. Brian. Westcott. Earl. Oliver. Andrew. Zadarnowski. Earl Oliver. Wrestling Title Histories by Gary Will and Royal Duncan. Solie.org. August 12, 2009.
Book: Royal Duncan & Gary Will. Wrestling Title Histories. Japan & Korea: New Japan IWGP Tag Team Title. 373. Archeus Communications. 2006. 4th. 0-9698161-5-4.
Web site: IWGP Tag Team Championship history. New Japan Pro-Wrestling. NJPW.co. ja. November 10, 2016.

Specific

External links

njpw.co.jp

Notes and References

Web site: IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship history. New Japan Pro-Wrestling. NJPW.co. ja. 2009-08-15. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090828104149/http://www.njpw.co.jp/histry/jr_tag.html. 2009-08-28.