IWGP Tag Team Championship

Before the IWGP championship system was created, New Japan Pro-Wrestling featured the NWA North American Tag Team Championship, a title originally based in Los Angeles, and the WWF International Tag Team Championship, a title licensed from the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which was abandoned when the WWF working relationship ended. The inaugural champions were Kengo Kimura & Tatsumi Fujinami, who defeated Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi in the final of a tournament to win the championship on December 12, 1985, at an NJPW live event. and in the Mexican lucha libre promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in 2005. On October 30, 2005, in Kobe, Japan, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Masahiro Chono defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura to begin their fifth overall reign as a team. On July 2, 2006, an interim tag team title was created when Tenzan & Chono showed signs of inactivity. In 2009, The British Invasion defeated Team 3D on July 21, 2009, at a TNA television taping for the championship. Afterwards, NJPW released a statement announcing that they did not sanction the defense nor the title change, and as such did not recognize the reign. 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. 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. ==Reigns==

Overall, there have been 110 reigns shared among 97 different wrestlers, who made up 72 different teams. Hiroyoshi Tenzan holds the record for most reigns by an individual wrestler at 12, with his combined reigns adding up to 1,988 days. At seven reigns, the Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) hold the record for most by a team. Tenzan & Masahiro Chono's combined five reign lengths add up to 1,010 days (the most of any team). At days, Bad Intentions' (Giant Bernard & Karl Anderson) only reign is the longest in the title's history and has the most defenses at 10. Keiji Muto & Shiro Koshinaka's only reign is the shortest at six days. There are 20 reigns shared between 18 teams that are tied for the fewest successful defenses, with zero. The current champions are Knock Out Brothers (Yuto-Ice and Oskar), who are in their first reign as a team and individually. They won the titles by defeating Taichi and Tomohiro Ishii at Destruction in Kobe on September 28, 2025, in Kobe, Japan. ==References==