World's Strongest Tag Determination League

The **World's Strongest Tag Determination League** (世界最強タッグ決定リーグ戦, **Sekai Saikyō Taggu Kettei Rīgu-sen**), more commonly known in the West as the **Real World Tag League**, is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling since 1977, usually run on the first weeks of December. The first tournament was actually called the **Open Tag League**, but it was renamed to its present name the following year.

The tournament is held under round-robin rules, with 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss; in earlier tournaments, only a time limit draw would provide the one point, with other methods (such as a double disqualification and double countouts) providing nothing for either team.

The name "Real World Tag League" was a mistranslation by AJPW promoter Giant Baba; "saikyō" in Japanese means "strongest," not "real", but Baba used Engrish for promotional material.

Between 1988 and 1994, the World Tag Team Championship was annually vacated in time for the tournament, which would be used to determine the new champions. The rule was reinstated for the 2012 tournament, but was again ignored the following year, but was reinstated in 2014. In 2000 and 2015 the vacancy was determined by separate post-tournament playoffs between the 2nd and 3rd places.

Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima are the only team to win both the World's Strongest Tag Determination League and its counterpart in New Japan Pro Wrestling, the G1 Tag League, as well as the only team to win both tournaments in the same year (2008).

## List of Winners

### 1977

The 1977 Tag League, featuring 9 teams, was held from December 2 to December 15.

Final standings
 Mighty Inoue and Akihisa Takachiho | 1

### 1978

The 1978 Tag League, featuring 6 teams, was held from December 1 to December 15. Abdullah the Butcher used both The Sheik and Tor Kamata as partners.

Final standings
 Kim Duk and Kintaro Ohki | 0

### 1979

The 1979 Tag League, featuring 7 teams, was held from November 30 to December 13.

Final standings
 Frank Hill and Wahoo McDaniel | 0

### 1980

The 1980 Tag League, featuring 7 teams, was held from November 28 to December 11.

Final standings
 The Great Mephisto and The Sheik | 0

### 1981

The 1981 Tag League, featuring 9 teams, was held from November 27 to December 13.

Final standings
 Ashura Hara and Genichiro Tenryu | 2

### 1982

The 1982 Tag League, featuring 7 teams, was held from November 26 to December 13.

Final standings
 Super Destroyer and Umanosuke Ueda | 0

### 1983

The 1983 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 25 to December 12.

Final standings
 The Mongolian and Goro Tsurumi | 0

### 1984

The 1984 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 22 to December 12.

Final standings
 Mike Shaw and Tiger Jeet Singh | 0

### 1985

The 1985 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 23 to December 12.

Final standings
 Ashura Hara and Rusher Kimura | 5

### 1986

The 1986 Tag League, featuring 9 teams, was held from November 22 to December 12.

Final standings
 Ashura Hara and Super Strong Machine | 0

### 1987

The 1987 Tag League, featuring 12 teams, was held from November 21 to December 11.

Final standings
 Chris Youngblood and Mark Youngblood | 2

### 1988

The 1988 Tag League, featuring 11 teams, was held from November 19 to December 16. It was also to decide the vacant World Tag Team Championship.

Final standings
 Tommy Rich and Dick Slater | 0

### 1989

The 1989 Tag League, featuring 10 teams, was held from November 17 to December 6. It was also to decide the vacant World Tag Team Championship.

Final standings
 The Great Kabuki and Shunji Takano | 2

### 1990

The 1990 Tag League, featuring 12 teams, was held from November 15 to December 7. It was also to decide the vacant World Tag Team Championship.

Final standings
 Mighty Inoue and Rusher Kimura | 2

### 1991

The 1991 Tag League, featuring 13 teams, was held from November 16 to December 6. It was also to decide the vacant World Tag Team Championship.

Final standings
 Mighty Inoue and Rusher Kimura | 4

### 1992

The 1992 Tag League, featuring 11 teams, was held from November 14 to December 4. It was also to decide the vacant World Tag Team Championship.

Final standings
 Billy Black and Joel Deaton | 4

### 1993

The 1993 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 13 to December 2. It was also to decide the vacant World Tag Team Championship. Giant Baba replaced Ted Dibiase as Stan Hansen's partner after one match due to injury.

Final standings
 Richard Slinger and Tracy Smothers | 0

1Hansen and Ted Dibiase originally defeated Slinger and Smothers in 7:11; however, when Baba replaced Dibiase, the teams wrestled a rematch.

### 1994

The 1994 Tag League, featuring 10 teams, was held from November 19 to December 10. It was also to decide the vacant World Tag Team Championship.

Final standings
 Dan Spivey and Jim Steele | 2

### 1995

The 1995 Tag League, featuring 10 teams, was held from November 18 to December 9.

Final standings
 Johnny Smith and Rob Van Dam | 2

### 1996

The 1996 Tag League, featuring 7 teams, was held from November 16 to December 6. In an alteration of previous years, each team faced each other twice during the group stage.

Final standings
 Gary Albright and Sabu | 6

### 1997

The 1997 Tag League, featuring 10 teams, was held from November 15 to December 5.

Final standings
 Tamon Honda and Takao Omori | 4

### 1998

The 1998 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 14 to December 5.

Final standings
 Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama | 2

### 1999

The 1999 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 13 to December 3.

Final standings
 Tamon Honda and Masao Inoue | 2

### 2000

The 2000 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 19 to December 9. Due to a four-way tie for first place, the four teams were placed into a semifinals instead of the traditional one-match final.

Final standings
 Masahito Kakihara and Mitsuya Nagai | 2

### 2001

The 2001 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 24 to December 7. As with the previous year, the top four teams faced off in the semifinals as a result of a four-way tie.

Final standings
 Yoji Anjo and Johnny Smith | 3

### 2002

The 2002 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 23 to December 6.

Final standings
 Arashi and Nobutaka Araya | 2

### 2003

The 2003 Tag League, featuring 7 teams, was held from November 22 to December 2.

Final standings
 Parka Guerrera and La Parka Original | 0

### 2004

The 2004 Tag League was held from November 21 to December 1. It was the first to utilize a multi-block system, featuring 10 teams in two blocks, with the winners of each block facing each other in the final.

Final standings
 Tomoaki Honma and Kohei Suwama | 0 | Nobutaka Araya and Nobukazu Hirai | 0

### 2005

The 2005 Tag League, featuring 10 teams in two blocks, was held from November 20 to December 5.

Final standings
 Giant Bernard and TARU | 2 | Shuji Kondo and "brother" YASSHI | 0

### 2006

The 2006 Tag League, featuring 7 teams, was held from November 19 to December 2.

Final standings
 Nosawa Rongai and Minoru Suzuki | 1

### 2007

The 2007 Tag League featured 8 teams and was held from November 23 to December 9.

Final standings
 TARU and Zodiac | 0

### 2008

The 2008 league was held from November 22 to December 8 and featured 8 teams.

Final standings
 Seiya Sanada and Manabu Soya | 4

### 2009

The 2009 Tag League, featuring 9 teams, was held from November 23 to December 6.

Final standings
 TARU and Joe Doering | 4

### 2010

The 2010 Tag League, featuring 9 teams, was held from November 20 to December 7.

Final standings
 Tamon Honda and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi | 2

### 2011

The 2011 Tag League, featuring 9 teams, was held from November 19 to December 4.

Final standings
 Suwama and Takumi Soya | 6

### 2012

The 2012 Tag League was held from November 17 to November 30. It was only the second to utilize a multi-block system, featuring 10 teams in two blocks, with the winners of each block facing each other in the final, contested for the vacant World Tag Team Championship. KENSO and The Great Sasuke were forced to pull out of the tournament and forfeit all of their matches, after Sasuke suffered a shoulder injury.

Final standings
 KENSO and The Great Sasuke | 0 | Bambi Killer and Franz Dynamite | 2

### 2013

The 2013 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, will be held from November 30 to December 8. Bambi Killer was originally scheduled to take part in the tournament, but was forced to pull out due to a neck injury and was replaced by KENSO.

Final standings
 Atsushi Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki | 2

### 2014

The 2014 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, took place from November 16 to December 6. Atsushi Aoki and Hikaru Sato earned a spot in the tournament by winning the 2014 Jr. Tag Battle of Glory in October. The tournament was contested for the World Tag Team Championship, which Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori vacated on October 23 in time for the tournament.

Final standings
 KENSO and Mitsuya Nagai | 4

### 2015

The 2015 World's Strongest Tag Determination League took place from November 23 to December 6.

Final standings
 Yuma Aoyagi and Naoya Nomura | 2

### 2016

The 2016 edition of the World Strongest Tag Determination League took place from December 3 through December 18.

Final standings
 Black Tiger VII and Mitsuya Nagai | 2 | Hikaru Sato and Super Tiger | 2

### 2017

The 2017 edition of the World Strongest Tag Determination League, featured 10 teams in a single block, took place from November 19 to December 12. Originally Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi were scheduled to take part of the tournament. However, Okabyashi was forced to pull out due to a shoulder injury. Their spots were filed by Daichi Hashimoto and Hideyoshi Kamitani who defeated Sekimoto and Takuya Nomura to earn a spot in the tournament on November 9.

Final standings
 Manabu Soya and Black Tiger VII | 6

### 2018

The 2018 edition of the World Strongest Tag Determination League, featured 11 teams in a single block, took place from November 13 to December 11. The tournament featured outside participation from freelancers Parrow and Odison and from Wrestle-1 Manabu Soya.

Final standings
 Tajiri and Gianni Valletta | 6

### 2019

The 2019 edition of the World Strongest Tag Determination League, featured 11 teams in a single block, taking place from November 11 to December 9. The tournament featured outside participation from freelancers Parrow and Odison, Gianni Valletta, from Dragon Gate Takashi Yoshida and from Big Japan Pro Wrestling Daisuke Sekimoto. During the tournament, Dylan James was replaced by Jun Akiyama. During the tournament, The Bodyguard suffered an injury, thus having to forfeit the rest of their matches.

Final standings
 Daisuke Sekimoto and The Bodyguard | 3

### 2020

The 2020 edition of the World Strongest Tag Determination League, featured 8 teams in a single block, taking place from November 18 to December 7. The tournament featured outside participation from Big Japan Pro Wrestling Daisuke Sekimoto and Abdullah Kobayashi and from Pro Wrestling Zero1 Masato Tanaka. On November 17, it was announced that Zeus, had tested tested positive for coronavirus (COVID-19), leading him to pull out of the tournament and be replaced by his Purple Haze stablemate Izanagi.

Final standings
 Izanagi and Shigehiro Irie | 4

### 2021

The 2021 edition of the World Strongest Tag Determination League, featured 4 teams in four blocks instead of two blocks in the first time in the tournaments history, taking place from November 13 to December 5. The tournament featured outside participation from Big Japan Pro Wrestling's Abdullah Kobayashi and Drew Parker and from Dradition, LEONA and from Active Advance Pro Wrestling, Kengo Mashimo. On November 2, it was announced that Yuko Miyamoto was being pulled of the tournament due to him suffering a fractured fibula he would be replaced by Isami Kodaka.

Final standings
 Abdullah Kobayashi and Drew Parker | 4
 Jake Lee and Hokuto Omori | 2
 Jun Saito and Rei Saito | 0

### 2022

The 2022 edition of the World's Strongest Tag Determination League reverts back to the single-block format featuring 8 teams. The tournament takes place from November 13 to December 7. The tournament features outside participants from New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Yuji Nagata and Big Japan Pro Wrestling's Takuya Nomura. On November 25, it was announced that Shotaro Ashino would be absent for the remainder of the tournament, due to injury, leading them to forfeit the remainder of their matches.

Final standings
 Shotaro Ashino and Ryuki Honda | 5

### 2023

The 2023 edition of the World's Strongest Tag Determination League reverts back to the single-block format featuring 8 teams. The tournament takes place from November 12 to December 6. The tournament features outside participants from Hideki Suzuki from Pro Wrestling NOAH, Ren Ayabe from Just Tap Out Pro-Wrestling, Yukio Sakaguchi and Hideki Otani from DDT Pro-Wrestling, Hayato Tamura and Galeno Del Mal from GLEAT, Kuroshio Tokyo Japan, who was recently released from WWE, freelancers Cyrus and Ryan Davidson.

Current standings
 Shuji Ishikawa and Ren Ayabe | 6

## Gallery

* Gallery
* Winners

World's Strongest Tag Determination League trophy

Bruiser Brody and Jimmy SnukaBruiser Brody and Stan HansenTed DiBiase and Stan HansenTerry Gordy and Stan HansenTerry Gordy and Steve WilliamsToshiaki Kawada and Mitsuharu MisawaKenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu MisawaToshiaki Kawada and Akira TaueJun Akiyama and Kenta KobashiKeiji Mutoh and Taiyo KeaSatoshi Kojima and Kaz HayashiJamal and Taiyo KeaBubba Ray and D–VonSatoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi TenzanKeiji Mutoh and Joe DoeringMasakatsu Funaki and Keiji MutohKENSO and KonoKAI and Seiya SanadaManabu Soya and Takao OmoriSuwama and Joe DoeringJun Akiyama and Takao OmoriKento Miyahara and SuwamaShuji Ishikawa and SuwamaJoe Doering and Dylan JamesKento Miyahara and Yuma AoyagiKento Miyahara and Takuya NomuraKatsuhiko Nakajima and Hokuto Omori

## References

1. ↑ *ja:「2015 世界最強タッグ決定リーグ戦」日程決定のお知らせ* (in Japanese). *All Japan Pro Wrestling* (2015-09-15). Retrieved on 2015-09-16.
2. ↑ 「World Strongest Tag Determination League 2016」  (in English). *Puroresu Spirit* (2016-11-12). Retrieved on 2016-11-12.