IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro Wrestling ( NJPW ) wrestling promotion . " IWGP " is the acronym of NJPW ' s governing body , the International Wrestling Grand Prix . The title was introduced on August 8 , 1998 at a NJPW live event . The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is not the only tag team title contested for in NJPW ; the IWGP Tag Team Championship is also sanctioned by NJPW . According to NJPW ' s official website , the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is listed as an " IWGP Jr . Tag Class " , while the IWGP Tag Team Championship is considered an " IWGP Heavy Weight Class " . The title is contested for by junior heavyweight wrestlers ; the weight - limit for the title is 220 lb ( 100 kg ) . Being a professional wrestling championship , the title is won as a result of a predetermined outcome . Title changes happen mostly at NJPW - promoted events . The inaugural champions were Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa , who defeated Dr . Wagner , Jr . and Koji Kanemoto on August 8 , 1998 in the finals of a tournament . Jushin Liger , Minoru Tanaka and Prince Devitt are currently tied for the record of most reigns by an individual wrestler , with five . At four reigns , the team of Gedo and Jado hold the record for the most by a team . Gedo and Jado ' s combined four reign lengths add up to 960 days — the most of any team . Separately , Gedo and Jado are tied for most days as champion . NJPW keep track of all championship title defenses per reign , which is unlike most mainstream wrestling organizations . They also hold the most total defenses as champions , with 15 . Gedo and Jado separately are tied for the record of total defenses by a single wrestler . Gedo and Jado are tied with Liger and Kanemoto for most defenses during a single reign , at 6 . Liger and The Great Sasuke ' s only reign and Minoru and Prince Devitt ' s first reign share the record for the fewest successful defenses , with zero . At 348 days , Otani and Takaiwa ' s second reign is the longest in the title ' s history . Minoru and Prince Devitt ' s first reign is the shortest , at 21 days . Overall , there have been 28 reigns shared among 28 wrestlers , who made up 21 different teams . The Motor City Machine Guns ( Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin ) , a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling ( TNA ) tag team , defeated then - reigning champions No Limit ( Tetsuya Naitō 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 ( 2009 ) 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 ) . The current champions are The Young Bucks ( Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson ) , who are in their third reign both individually and as a team .