Super Jr. Tag League

The **Super Jr. Tag League** is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tag team tournament held by the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). The tournament was originally known as the **Super J Tag Tournament** and was under a single elimination tag team tournament from 2010 until 2017, the tournament was given its current name in August 2018. The tournament is meant for wrestlers under the weight limit of 100 kg (220 lb), who are referred to in Japan as junior heavyweights. In 2010, the tournament was created as a spin-off of the singles tournament, the Super J Cup and it started to be a single-elimination tag team tournament which in 2011 was not held but returned in 2012 and was renamed **Super Jr. Tag Tournament**. The winners of the tournament earn themselves a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, if not already the reigning champions.

## Tournament History

The tournament was announced on 2010 as the **Super J Tag Tournament** in a single elimination format. The tournament was held on one night on May 8, it served to crown the vacant IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. The tournament included wrestlers from other promotions like Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, DDT Pro-Wrestling, Michinoku Pro Wrestling, and SMASH. The winners El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto defeated Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) to win vacant titles. After this the tournament was inactive in 2011, before returnng in the following year as an annual tournament and was renamed **Super Jr. Tag Tournament**, with the winners Time Splitters (KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley) becoming the first team to sucessfully win their chance and becoming the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions at Power Struggle on November 11.

Usually the tournament was held during the Road to Power Struggle tour and the winner would recieve their championship shot at Power Struggle. But in 2015 the tournament changed it's final, despite the tournament occuring during the Road to Power Struggle tour, the finals were at Power Struggle and the winner would recieve their championship shot at Wrestle Kingdom. The tournament is used to push tag team into the title picture with some winning the titles after the tournament or some winning the tournament as the reigning champions. On August 20, 2018, the tournanment was rebranded as **Super Jr. Tag League** under a round-robin tag team tournament divided into a two-block system used in many other puroresu tournaments.

## 2010

Super J Tag Tournament was a one-night 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 and 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.

## 2012

Super Junior Tag Tournament 2012 was a two-night 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.

The Time Splitters (KUSHIDA and Alex Shelley) 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.

## 2013

The 2013 Super Jr. Tag Tournament was a two-night 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.

## 2014

The 2014 Super Jr. Tag Tournament was a four-night tournament hosted by New Japan Pro Wrestling. The preliminary round took place on October 25, the semifinals on November 1 and 2 and final on November 3. The tournament included outside participation from Ring of Honor reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) and Matt Sydal, from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Fuego and Máscara Dorada. For the third year in a row, the tournament's winning team, reDRagon went on to also capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at Power Struggle.

## 2015

The 2015 Super Jr. Tag Tournament is a three-night tournament hosted by New Japan Pro Wrestling. The preliminary round took place on October 24, the semifinals on November 1 and final on November 7 at Power Struggle. The tournament included outside participation from Ring of Honor reDRagon (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) and Matt Sydal, from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Máscara Dorada. The winners Matt Sydal and Ricochet became the first team to fail to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 9.

## 2016

The 2016 Super Jr. Tag Tournament is a three-night professional wrestling tournament hosted by New Japan Pro Wrestling. The preliminary round is scheduled to take place on October 21, the semifinals on October 30 and final on November 5 at Power Struggle. The tournament included outside participation from Pro Wrestling Noah Taiji Ishimori, from Ring of Honor ACH and from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Ángel de Oro, Titán and Fuego. The winners Roppongi Vice (Beretta and Rocky Romero went on to win the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the third time at Wrestle Kingdom 10.

## 2017

The 2017 Super Jr. Tag Tournament was a four-night professional wrestling tournament hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The preliminary round took place on October 23 and 29, the semifinals on October 30 and final on November 5 at Power Struggle. The winners Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) became the first team to win the tournament while also holding the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship simultaneously.

## 2018

The 2018 tournament was rebranded as Super Jr. Tag League under a round-robin tag team tournament divided into a two-block system used in many other puroresu tournaments. The tournament was held from October 16 during the Road to Power Struggle tour until November 3 at Power Struggle, covering thirteen shows. The winners Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) became the first team to win the tournament two years in a row.

Final standings
 Volador Jr. and Soberano Jr. | 4

 2
 3

## 2019

The 2019 tournament was a round-robin tag team tournament tournament hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The tournament was held from October 16 during the Road to Power Struggle tour until November 3 at Power Struggle, covering thirteen shows. The winners Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) became the first team to win the tournament three years in a row.

Final standings
 Tiger Mask and Yuya Uemura | 0

## 2021

The 2021 tournament took place from August 7 during the Summer Struggle tour until August 17 covering five shows. The tournament did not took place in 2020 due to COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. On August 16, Dick Togo and Gedo forfeited their match against Ryusuke Taguchi and Master Wato, after being in close contact with BUSHI and Shingo Takagi, who had fever during that day. The following day, after Roppongi 3K disbanded due to Sho turning on Yoh it was announced that their match against Gedo and Dick Togo would be ruled a double forfeit, due to latter being unable to work NJPW events.

Final standings
 Gedo and Dick Togo | 0

## 2022

On November 21, it was announced that the 2022 edition of the tournament would be held alongside the 2022 World Tag League, with tournament being held between November 21 to December 14, 2022. The tournament consisted of sixteen nights, and took place on alternate days opposed to the World Tag League with the exception of some events and the finals on December 14. In addition to NJPW regulars, the tournament also featured Impact Wrestling's Ace Austin and Chris Bey, who represented Bullet Club and GLEAT's El Lindaman.

Current Standings
 Dick Togo and Sho | 4

## 2023

The 2023 tournament was a round-robin tag team tournament tournament hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. The tournament was held from October 21 during the Road to Power Struggle tour until November 4 at Power Struggle, covering eight shows. In addition to NJPW regulars, the tournament also featured Michinoku Pro Wrestling's MUSASHI.

Standings
 Ryusuke Taguchi and The DKC | 4

## Gallery

* Gallery
* Winners

Super Jr. Tag League trophySuper Jr. Tag Tournament trophySuper Jr. Tag Tournament old trophy

El Samurai and Koji KanemotoAlex Shelley and KUSHIDAMatt and Nick JacksonKyle O'Reilly and Bobby FishMatt Sydal and RicochetRocky Romero and BerretaSho and YohEl Desperado and Yoshinobu KanemaruLio Rush and YohTJP and Francesco Akira