Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship
From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
| Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Current design of the titles (2022–present) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||||||||||
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date established | June 8, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Current champion(s) | TMDK (Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Date won | April 12, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
The Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship (STRONG無差別級王座, STRONG musabetsu-kyū ōza) is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned and promoted by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. The title is exclusively featured on NJPW's United States based television program NJPW Strong Live.
The current champions are TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste), who are in their first reign as champions. They defeated previous champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo), West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs) and Fred Rosser and Tom Lawlor in a four corners tag team match at Windy City Riot on April 12, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois.
History[edit]
On June 8, 2022, NJPW announced the creation of the championship, with it being contested in an eight-team tournament that was then scheduled to determine the inaugural champions, culminating in a final match at Strong: High Alert on July 24, 2022. Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) defeated Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura in the tournament final to become the inaugural champions.
Inaugural championship tournament (2022)[edit]
Tournament bracket[edit]
| Quarterfinals Strong: Ignition (6/19)[1][2] | Semifinals Strong: Ignition (6/19)[3][4] | Final Strong: High Alert (7/24)[5] | ||||||||||||
| Stray Dog Army (Barrett Brown and Misterioso) | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Midnight Heat (Eddie Pearl and Ricky Gibson) | 8:28 | |||||||||||||
| Stray Dog Army | 7:27 | |||||||||||||
| Aussie Open | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) | Pin | |||||||||||||
| The Dark Order (Alan Angels and Evil Uno) | 12:44 | |||||||||||||
| Aussie Open | Pin | |||||||||||||
| Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura | 11:57 | |||||||||||||
| Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura | Pin | |||||||||||||
| The Factory (Aaron Solo and Nick Comoroto) | 9:17 | |||||||||||||
| Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura | Pin | |||||||||||||
| TMDK | 10:02 | |||||||||||||
| West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs) | 10:21 | |||||||||||||
| TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste) | Pin | |||||||||||||
Reigns[edit]
As of April 23, 2024, there have been a total of five reigns shared between four different teams composed of eight individual champions. The inaugural champions were Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis). Chris Sabin is the oldest champion at 40 while Kyle Fletcher is the youngest at 23.
The current champions are TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste), who are in their first reign, as a team and individually. They defeated previous champions Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo), West Coast Wrecking Crew (Jorel Nelson and Royce Isaacs) and Fred Rosser and Tom Lawlor in a four corners tag team match at Windy City Riot on April 12, 2024, in Chicago, Illinois.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific team—reign numbers for the individuals are in parentheses, if different |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Days recog. | Number of days held recognized by the promotion |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Days recog. | Defenses | ||||
| 1 | Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) | July 24, 2022 | Strong: High Alert | Charlotte, NC | 1 | 96 | 76 | 3 | Defeated Christopher Daniels and Yuya Uemura in the finals of an eight-team tournament to become the inaugural champions. New Japan Pro-Wrestling recognizes this reign as beginning on August 13, 2022, when the match aired on tape delay. | [5] |
| 2 | The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) | October 28, 2022 | Rumble on 44th Street | New York, NY | 1 | 169 | 169 | 3 | This was a three-way tag team match, which also involved The DKC and Kevin Knight. | [6] |
| 3 | Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) | April 15, 2023 | Capital Collision | Washington, D.C. | 2 | 36 | 36 | 1 | This was a three-way tag team match, which also involved Dream Team (Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada). | [7] |
| — | Vacated | May 21, 2023 | Resurgence | Long Beach, CA | — | — | — | — | Kyle Fletcher vacated the Strong and the IWGP Tag Team Championship after Mark Davis suffered an injury. | [8] |
| 4 | Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) | June 4, 2023 | Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 30 | 30 | 0 | Defeated House of Torture (Evil and Yujiro Takahashi) and United Empire (Great-O-Khan and Aaron Henare) in a three-way tag team match to win the vacant titles. The match was also disputed for the vacant IWGP Tag Team Championship. | [9] |
| 5 | Bullet Club War Dogs (Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd) | July 4, 2023 | Independence Day Night 1 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 97 | 97 | 0 | [10] | |
| 6 | Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo) | October 9, 2023 | Destruction in Ryōgoku | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 186 | 186 | 5 | [11] | |
| 7 | TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste) | April 12, 2024 | Windy City Riot | Chicago, Illinois | 1 | 11+ | 11+ | 0 | This was a four-corners tag team match also involving Fred Rosser and Tom Lawlor and West Coast Wrecking Crew (Royce Isaacs and Jorel Nelson). | [12] |
Combined reigns[edit]
As of April 23, 2024.
| † | Indicates the current champions |
|---|
By team[edit]
| Rank | Team | Combined reigns | Combined defenses | Combined days | Combined days rec. by NJPW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo) | 1 | 5 | 186 | |
| 2 | The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) | 1 | 3 | 169 | |
| 3 | Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) | 2 | 4 | 132 | 112 |
| 4 | Bullet Club War Dogs (Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd) | 1 | 0 | 97 | |
| 5 | Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) | 1 | 0 | 30 | |
| 6 | TMDK † (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste) | 1 | 0 | 11+ | |
By wrestler[edit]
| Rank | Wrestler | Combined reigns | Combined defenses | Combined days | Combined days rec. by NJPW |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hikuleo | 1 | 5 | 186 | |
| El Phantasmo | 1 | 5 | 186 | ||
| 3 | Alex Shelley | 1 | 3 | 169 | |
| Chris Sabin | 1 | 3 | 169 | ||
| 5 | Kyle Fletcher | 2 | 4 | 132 | 112 |
| Mark Davis | 2 | 4 | 132 | 112 | |
| 7 | Alex Coughlin | 1 | 0 | 97 | |
| Gabe Kidd | 1 | 0 | 97 | ||
| 9 | Hirooki Goto | 1 | 0 | 30 | |
| Yoshi-Hashi | 1 | 0 | 30 | ||
| 11 | Mikey Nicholls † | 1 | 0 | 11+ | |
| Shane Haste † | 1 | 0 | 11+ | ||
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (June 19, 2022). "NJPW STRONG #98 - Ignition 2022 - Tag 1 - TV-Show @ The Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (June 19, 2022). "NJPW STRONG #99 - Ignition 2022 - Tag 2 - TV-Show @ The Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (June 19, 2022). "NJPW STRONG #100 - Ignition 2022 - Tag 3 - TV-Show @ The Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (June 19, 2022). "NJPW STRONG #101 - Ignition 2022 - Tag 4 - TV-Show @ The Vermont Hollywood in Los Angeles, California, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved July 31, 2022.
- ^ a b Haulotte, Kylie (July 24, 2022). "** SPOILERS ** NJPW Strong: High Alert Tapings From 7/24". Wrestling Inc. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip (October 28, 2022). "NJPW Rumble On 44th Street - Pay Per View @ Palladium Times Square in New York City, New York, USA". Cagematch - The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved October 28, 2022.
- ^ Jeremy, Lambert (April 15, 2023). "Aussie Open Win NJPW STRONG Tag Titles At NJPW Capital Collision". Fightful. Retrieved April 15, 2023.
- ^ Tessier, Colin (May 21, 2023). "Mark Davis Injured, New IWGP And NJPW STRONG Tag Team Champions To Be Crowned At NJPW Dominion". Fightful. Retrieved May 21, 2023.
- ^ Simon, Tyriece (June 4, 2023). "NJPW Dominion 6.4 In Osaka-Jo Hall Results: Sanada vs. Yota Tsuji, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Match". sescoops.com. Retrieved June 4, 2023.
- ^ "LEC presents NJPW STRONG INDEPENDENCE DAY TUE. JULY. 4. 2023 / DOOR 17:30 / BELL 18:30". njpw1972.com. NJPW. July 4, 2023. Retrieved July 4, 2023.
- ^ "DESTRUCTION in RYOGOKU MON. OCTOBER. 9. 2023". njpw1972.com. NJPW. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
- ^ Renner, Ethan (April 13, 2024). "NJPW Windy City Riot live results: Moxley vs. Naito IWGP title match". Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online. Retrieved April 13, 2024.
External links[edit]
- Official Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship History at New Japan Pro Wrestling
- NJPW STRONG Openweight Tag Team Title History at Cagematch.net
