Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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Details | |||||||||||||||||||
Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) | ||||||||||||||||||
Date established | June 8, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||
Current champion(s) | Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo) | ||||||||||||||||||
Date won | October 9, 2023 | ||||||||||||||||||
Other name(s) | |||||||||||||||||||
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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 Guerrillas of Destiny Hikuleo and El Phantasmo, who are in their first reign as champions. They defeated Bullet Club War Dogs members Alex Coughlin and Gabriel Kidd to win the championships.
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.
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 |
As of February 13, 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 Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo), who are in their first reign, as a team and individually. They defeated Bullet Club War Dogs (Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd) at Destruction in Ryōgoku on October 9, 2023, in Tokyo, Japan.
No. | Overall reign number |
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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. | |||||
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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 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 97 | 97 | 0 | [10] | |
6 | Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo) |
October 9, 2023 | Destruction in Ryōgoku | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 127+ | 127+ | 5 | [11] |
As of February 13, 2024.
† | Indicates the current champions |
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Rank | Team | Combined reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
Combined days rec. by NJPW |
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1 | The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) |
1 | 3 | 169 | |
2 | Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis) |
2 | 4 | 132 | 112 |
3 | Guerrillas of Destiny † (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo) |
1 | 5 | 127+ | |
4 | Bullet Club War Dogs (Alex Coughlin and Gabe Kidd) |
1 | 0 | 97 | |
5 | Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) |
1 | 0 | 30 |
Rank | Wrestler | Combined reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
Combined days rec. by NJPW |
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1 | Alex Shelley | 1 | 3 | 169 | |
Chris Sabin | 1 | 3 | 169 | ||
3 | Kyle Fletcher | 2 | 4 | 132 | 112 |
Mark Davis | 2 | 4 | 132 | 112 | |
5 | Hikuleo † | 1 | 5 | 127+ | |
El Phantasmo † | 1 | 5 | 127+ | ||
7 | Alex Coughlin | 1 | 0 | 97 | |
Gabe Kidd | 1 | 0 | 97 | ||
9 | Hirooki Goto | 1 | 0 | 30 | |
Yoshi-Hashi | 1 | 0 | 30 |