The Super Junior Tag League is a professional wrestling tag team tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).
Established in 2010, but preceded by the G1 Climax Junior Heavyweight Tag League in 2001 (won by El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger), it is the junior heavyweight equivalent of the World Tag League for heavyweight tag teams. From 2010 to 2017, it was named the Super Junior Tag Tournament and followed a single-elimination format, before becoming the Super Junior Tag League in 2018, switching to a round-robin format. Since the tournament's inception, there were two years where the tournament did not take place—in 2011 and 2020 (due to major changes to NJPW's schedule during the COVID-19 pandemic). The winning team traditionally earns the right to challenge for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at the following year's Wrestle Kingdom, assuming the team does not hold the title at the time of their victory.
Pre-existing Junior Tag Tournaments (1994–2003) New Japan Pro Wrestling hosted several Junior Heavyweight Tag Team tournaments before making it an annual institution. These include: TournamentYearWinnerFinal venueRef.Super Grade Jr. Heavyweight Tag League 1994 Shinjiro Otani and Wild Pegasus JCB Hall Junior Heavyweight Super Grade Tag League 1996 The Great Sasuke and Black Tiger (II) ? IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title League 1998 Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa Osaka Dome G1 Junior Tag League 2001 2001 Jushin Thunder Liger and El Samurai Korakuen Hall Dream Win Junior Tag Team Tournament 2002 El Samurai and Gedo Korakuen Hall IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title (#1 Contendership) Tournament 2003 (Ryusuke Taguchi and Hirooki Goto) / Jado and Gedo Tsu City Gymnasium
1994 The first such tournament was a round-robin league that took place from October 9 to October 18, 1994, four years before the junior heavyweight division had tag team championship belts.
+ Final Standings Shinjiro Otani and Wild Pegasus 10 Black Tiger and Great Sasuke 10 Dean Malenko and Tokimitsu Ishizawa 10 Norio Honaga and Gran Hamada 10 Super Delfin and TAKA Michinoku 8 Flying Scorpio and El Samurai 6 Masayoshi Motegi and Kamikaze 2 Shoichi Funaki and Yuki Ishikawa 0
Results OtaniPegasus TigerSasuke MalenkoIshizawa HonagaHamada DelfinMichinoku ScorpioSamurai MotegiKamikaze FunakiIshikawa OtaniPegasus TigerSasuke(13:11)OtaniPegasus(13:26)OtaniPegasus(12:37)DelfinMichinoku(11:40)OtaniPegasus(13:57)OtaniPegasus(12:06)OtaniPegasus(12:30) TigerSasukeTigerSasuke(13:11) TigerSasuke(15:27)HonagaHamada(13:11)DelfinMichinoku(15:01)TigerSasuke(17:45)TigerSasuke(14:51)TigerSasuke(forfeit) MalenkoIshizawaOtaniPegasus (13:26)TigerSasuke(15:27) MalenkoIshizawa(13:55)MalenkoIshizawa(13:46)MalenkoIshizawa(12:23)MalenkoIshizawa(9:39)MalenkoIshizawa(8:10) HonagaHamadaOtaniPegasus(12:37)HonagaHamada(13:11)MalenkoIshizawa(13:55) HonagaHamada(13:38)HonagaHamada(14:28)HonagaHamada(10:42)HonagaHamada(8:13) DelfinMichinokuDelfinMichinoku(11:40)DelfinMichinoku(15:01)MalenkoIshizawa(13:46)HonagaHamada(13:38) ScorpioSamurai(12:32)DelfinMichinoku(14:33)DelfinMichinoku(forfeit) ScorpioSamuraiOtaniPegasus(13:57)TigerSasuke(17:45)MalenkoIshizawa(12:23)HonagaHamada(14:28)ScorpioSamurai(12:32) ScorpioSamurai(13:43)ScorpioSamurai(forfeit) MotegiKamikazeOtaniPegasus(12:06)TigerSasuke(14:51)MalenkoIshizawa(9:39)HonagaHamada(10:42)DelfinMichinoku(14:33)ScorpioSamurai(13:43) MotegiKamikaze(forfeit) FunakiIshikawaOtaniPegasus(12:30)TigerSasuke(forfeit)MalenkoIshizawa(8:10)HonagaHamada(8:13)DelfinMichinoku(forfeit)ScorpioSamurai(forfeit)MotegiKamikaze(forfeit)
1996 According to at least one source, The Great Sasuke and Black Tiger (II) won a "Junior Heavyweight Super Grade Tag League" for NJPW in 1996. However, as no such tournament seems to appear in records, it's possible that this was either a transcription error of that team making the 1994 final, or of an IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match they had against one another in 1996.
1998 In 1998, from July 31 to August 8, NJPW held a tournament to crown the first ever IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. It followed a round-robin format between four teams, with a final round between the two top scorers.
+Final standings Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa 2 Dr. Wagner Jr. and Koji Kanemoto 2 El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger 1 Kendo Kashin and Yuji Yasuraoka 1
Results Otani and Takaiwa Wagner Jr. and Kanemoto Samurai and Liger Kashin and Yasuraoka Otani and Takaiwa – Otani and Takaiwa(15:47) Otani and Takaiwa(14:50) Kashin and Yasuraoka(11:15) Wagner Jr. and Kanemoto Otani and Takaiwa(15:47) – Wagner Jr. and Kanemoto(19:01) Wagner Jr. and Kanemoto(19:03) Samurai and Liger Otani and Takaiwa(14:50) Wagner Jr. and Kanemoto(19:01) – Samurai and Liger(11:40) Kashin and Yasuraoka Kashin and Yasuraoka(11:15) Wagner Jr. and Kanemoto(19:03) Samurai and Liger(11:40)–
2001 The G1 Junior Tag League was a round-robin tournament that took place from November 16 to November 25, 2001. The finals saw the previous champions, El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger, defeat the reigning team that had taken the belts from them months prior in Jado & Gedo. This was presumably considered retribution enough, as a rematch for the belts never occurred. Nonetheless, the team to eventually dethrone Jado & Gedo the following May did consist of one of the League's winners.
+ Final Standings Jushin Thunder Liger and El Samurai 7 Jado and Gedo 7 Minoru Tanaka and Masayuki Naruse 6 Kendo Kashin and Black Tiger (III) 4 Masahito Kakihara and Gran Naniwa 4 Katsuyori Shibata and Wataru Inoue 2
Matches LigerSamurai JadoGedo TanakaNaruse KashinTiger KakiharaNaniwa ShibataInoue LigerSamurai Draw (30:00) Liger Samurai (16:40) Liger Samurai (13:14) Liger Samurai (17:10) Shibata Inoue (14:46) JadoGedo Draw (30:00) Tanaka Naruse (15:36) Jado GedoDQ (9:18) Jado Gedo (12:12) Jado Gedo (14:25) TanakaNaruse Liger Samurai (16:40) Tanaka Naruse (15:36) Tanaka Naruse (10:04) Kakihara Naniwa (15:50) Tanaka Naruse (6:29) KashinTiger Liger Samurai (13:14) Jado GedoDQ (9:18) Tanaka Naruse (10:04) Tiger Kashin (8:05) Tiger Kashin (14:07) KakiharaNaniwa Liger Samurai (17:10) Jado Gedo (12:12) Kakihara Naniwa (15:50) Tiger Kashin (8:05) Kakihara Naniwa (10:42) ShibataInoue Shibata Inoue (14:46) Jado Gedo (14:25) Tanaka Naruse (6:29) Tiger Kashin (14:07) Kakihara Naniwa (10:42)
2002 This was a one night tournament that took place on December 23, 2002 in Korakuen Hall, at the NJPW Dream Win 2002 event. Unlike the previous tournaments, this was a single-elimination format, and - owing to the limited time - featured only 4 teams. The teams were apparently drawn at random on the night, in-fitting with the event's irreverent holiday theming. As such, a shot at the tag titles was not in consideration.
2003 This was initially another four-team single-elimination tournament, for #1 contendership of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. This time spread across three nights, from October 31 to November 2, 2003. However, two days after the final, reigning champions Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto vacated the titles due to Kanemoto suffering an injury. So another such tournament was held between November 24 and 29 (reintegrating several who had lost in the first). The original "block's" winning team of Hirooki Goto and Ryusuke Taguchi thus fought Jado & Gedo later in the night of the November 29 event in a match for the vacant championships, which Jado & Gedo won.
Results
Super Junior Tag Tournament (2010–2017) TournamentYearWinner(team)(individual)Final venueRef. 2010 El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto 1 1, 1 JCB Hall Super J Tag League 2010 (2) Jado and Gedo 1 1, 1 Differ Ariake 2012 Time Splitters(Alex Shelley and Kushida) 1 1, 1 Korakuen Hall 2013 The Young Bucks(Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) 1 1, 1 Korakuen Hall 2014 reDRagon(Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) 1 1, 1 Gifu Industry Hall 2015 Matt Sydal and Ricochet 1 1, 1 Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium 2016 Roppongi Vice(Beretta and Rocky Romero) 1 1, 1 Edion Arena Osaka 2017 Roppongi 3K(Sho and Yoh) 1 1, 1 Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium
2010 Super J Tag Tournament was a one-night professional wrestling tournament hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling and took place on May 8. Most of the wrestlers involved were signed to New Japan but did feature wrestlers from other promotions like Mascara Dorada & Valiente from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Kota Ibushi from Dramatic Dream Team, Fujita Hayato and Taro Nohashi from Michinoku Pro Wrestling, and Kushida from Smash.
El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto defeated Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) to win the tournament and become IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.
Results
Super J Tag League Six months after the first Super J Tag Tournament, from November 9 to November 13, 2010, NJPW held the year's second junior heavyweight tag team tournament entitled the "Super J Tag League". As the name suggests, it followed round-robin rules instead of the single-elimination format that the Super J Tag Tournament used. It included ten teams split across two blocks. The winning team of Jado and Gedo received a title match against The Golden Lovers at a Dramatic Dream Team event on December 26, which they lost.
+Standings Block A Block BDavey Richards and Rocky Romero6Jado and Gedo6Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi6Koji Kanemoto and Tiger Mask6La Sombra and Mascara Dorada4AKIRA and KUSHIDA4FUJITA and NOSAWA Rongai2Masaaki Mochizuki and Super Shisa2El Samurai and Jushin Thunder Liger2Fujita Hayato and Taro Nohashi2 Block A Richards Romero Devitt Taguchi Sombra Dorada FUJITA NOSAWA Samurai Liger Richards Romero RichardsRomero(14:41) SombraDorada(12:30) RichardsRomero(10:06) RichardsRomero(12:44) Devitt Taguchi RichardsRomero(14:41) DevittTaguchi (9:04) DevittTaguchi (9:44)DevittTaguchi (14:11) Sombra Dorada SombraDorada(12:30) DevittTaguchi (9:04) SombraDorada(11:35) SamuraiLiger(11:56) FUJITA NOSAWA RichardsRomero(10:06) DevittTaguchi (9:44) SombraDorada(11:35) FUJITANOSAWA(11:38) Samurai Liger RichardsRomero(12:44) DevittTaguchi (14:11) SamuraiLiger(11:56) FUJITANOSAWA(11:38) Block B Jado Gedo Kanemoto Tiger AKIRA KUSHIDA Mochizuki Shisa Hayato Nohashi Jado Gedo JadoGedo(12:27) JadoGedo(13:47)Mochizuki Knight(14:41) JadoGedo(12:59) Kanemoto Tiger JadoGedo(12:27) KanemotoTiger(14:00) KanemotoTiger(11:50) KanemotoTiger(11:58) AKIRA KUSHIDA JadoGedo(13:47) KanemotoTiger(14:00) AKIRAKUSHIDA(12:25) AKIRAKUSHIDA(13:00) Mochizuki Shisa Mochizuki Knight(14:41) KanemotoTiger(11:50) AKIRAKUSHIDA(12:25) HayatoNohashi(12:49) Hayato Nohashi JadoGedo(12:59) KanemotoTiger(11:58) AKIRAKUSHIDA(13:00) HayatoNohashi(12:49)
2012 Super Jr. Tag Tournament 2012 was a two-night professional wrestling tournament hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The preliminary round took place on October 21 and the semi-final and final took place on November 2. The tournament utilized wrestlers mostly signed to New Japan but also included Negro Casas from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Taka Michinoku from Kaientai Dojo, and freelancer Brian Kendrick.
Time Splitters (Alex Shelley and Kushida) defeated Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) to win the tournament and become the number one contenders to the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They challenged the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Forever Hooligans (Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero) to a title match at Power Struggle on November 11.
Results
2013 The 2013 Super Jr. Tag Tournament was a two-night professional wrestling tournament hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The preliminary round took take place on October 25 and the semi-final and final on November 6. The debuting Young Bucks won the tournament and on November 9 at Power Struggle, defeated Taichi and Taka Michinoku to also win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.
Results
2014