IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship

Lore & Background

Title changes happen mostly at NJPW-promoted events. The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin), a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) tag team, defeated then-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 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) 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 (Hernandez and Homicide).

In Their Own Story

The arena lights dimmed, leaving only a single spotlight on the turnbuckle where the belts rested. Dust motes danced in the beam as the crowd hummed with anticipation. This wasn't just gold; it was history forged in sweat and gravity-defying leaps. The referee raised his hand, signaling the start of another chapter in the lineage.

Reader's Guide

Overall, there have been 82 reigns shared among 58 different wrestlers, who made up 46 different teams. The inaugural champions were Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa, who defeated Dr. Wagner Jr. and Koji Kanemoto on August 8, 1998, in the final of a tournament. Rocky Romero holds the record for most reigns by an individual wrestler at eight. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) hold the record for the most by a team at seven. Gedo and Jado's combined four reigns add up to the most of any team at 960 days, and also hold the record for most total defenses at 15. Ryusuke Taguchi holds the records for most combined days and most total defenses by an individual wrestler, with 990 days and 17 defenses respectively across his seven reigns with four different partners. Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) hold the record for most defenses during a single reign at seven. Otani and Takaiwa's second reign is the longest in the title's history. Minoru at 348 days, and Prince Devitt's first reign is the shortest at 21 days. El Desperado and Místico are the current champions in their first reign as a team, but fifth for Desperado and first for Místico individually. They won the titles by defeating Ichiban Sweet Boys (Robbie Eagles and Kosei Fujita) at Night 2 of Wrestling Dontaku in Fukuoka, Japan on May 4, 2026.

Did You Know?

• The inaugural champions were Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa, who won the titles on August 8, 1998.
• Rocky Romero holds the record for most reigns by an individual wrestler at eight.
• The Young Bucks hold the record for most reigns as a team at seven.
• Gedo and Jado's combined four reigns total the most days of any team at 960, and they also hold the record for most total defenses at 15.
• Ryusuke Taguchi holds the records for most combined days (990) and most total defenses (17) by an individual wrestler.