The NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship (NEVER
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship | |||||||||||||||||||
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The NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship belts | |||||||||||||||||||
Details | |||||||||||||||||||
Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) | ||||||||||||||||||
Date established | December 21, 2015[1] | ||||||||||||||||||
Current champion(s) | Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano and Oleg Boltin | ||||||||||||||||||
Date won | June 16, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||
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The title was announced on December 21, 2015, with the first champions crowned on January 4, 2016. Through NJPW's relationship with Ring of Honor (ROH), the title has also been defended in the American promotion. The championship is contested for by teams of three wrestlers and is the first title of its kind in the history of NJPW. The title's openweight nature means that both heavyweight and junior heavyweight wrestlers are eligible to challenge for it.
Like most professional wrestling championships, the title is won as a result of a match with a predetermined outcome.
History
editOn December 11, 2015, NJPW announced that at Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2016, the Bullet Club trio of Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi would take on Toru Yano and two mystery partners.[8][9] Eight days later, Yano revealed his partners as the Ring of Honor (ROH) tag team The Briscoe Brothers (Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe).[10] On December 21, NJPW added that the match would be for the newly created NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, the promotion's first six-man title.[1][11] The title's name carried the acronym NEVER, which stood for "New Blood", "Evolution", "Valiantly", "Eternal", and "Radical" and was a NJPW-promoted series of events that ran from 2010 to 2012 and featured younger up-and-coming talent and outside wrestlers not signed to the promotion.[12] This is the second title to carry the NEVER name, after the NEVER Openweight Championship, which was introduced in November 2012.[1][13]
On January 4, 2016, Toru Yano and The Briscoe Brothers defeated Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi to become the inaugural champions.[2][14] After losing the title to Fale, Tonga and Takahashi on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka,[15] Yano and The Briscoe Brothers also became the first two-time winners of the title, when they regained it three days later at The New Beginning in Niigata.[16] Later that month, the title was defended outside Japan for the first time, when new champions Kenny Omega and The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) successfully defended it against A. C. H., Kushida and Matt Sydal at ROH's 14th Anniversary Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.[17][18] On September 25, 2016, the title was vacated for the first time due to one of the champions, Matt Sydal, failing to make it to a scheduled championship defense because of "travel issues".[19] NJPW crowned new champions that same day.[20]
On January 4, 2017, at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, the Los Ingobernables de Japón (L.I.J.) trio of Bushi, Evil and Sanada won a four-team gauntlet match to capture the title for the first time.[21][22] They then began exchanging the title with members of the Taguchi Japan stable, resulting in them becoming record three-time champions on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2017.[23] The quick title changes resulted in the title earning a reputation as a "hot potato",[24][25] with Japanese media nicknaming it the "short life championship" (
Reigns
editThere have been 28 reigns shared among 39 wrestlers and 22 teams with 2 vacancies.[30] Chaos (Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe and Toru Yano) were the first champions in the title's history.[2] Chaos (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi) hold the record for the longest reign and most defenses in an individual reign , while Los Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi, Evil and Sanada) hold the record for the shortest reign in the title's history, with their first reign of one day being the shortest. They also hold the record for most reigns as a team with three.[30] Individually, Evil holds the record for six reigns, later followed by Toru Yano.
The current champions are Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano and Oleg Boltin, who are in their second reign as a team. It is Yano's record sixth reign as an individual, and the second for Tanahashi and Boltin. They defeated Los Ingobernables de Japón (Yota Tsuji, Bushi and Hiromu Takahashi) on June 16, 2024 in Sapporo, Japan on Night 1 of New Japan Soul.
References
edit- ^ a b c 【WK10】1.4
東京 ドームは“8大 選手権 ”!第 2試合 は初代 NEVER無 差別 級 6人 タッグ王座 戦 !第 3試合 はROH世界 選手権 に! NJランボー参戦 選手 も追加 !. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). December 21, 2015. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015. - ^ a b c 【
新 日 ・東京 ドーム】「NEVER無 差別 級 6人 タッグ」矢野 組 が初代 王者 に. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). January 5, 2016. Retrieved January 5, 2016. - ^
鈴木 みのる. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved February 11, 2023. - ^ デビッド・フィンレー. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved January 5, 2017.
- ^ バッドラック・ファレ. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on December 8, 2017. Retrieved December 17, 2017.
- ^ マット・ジャクソン. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved February 20, 2016.
- ^ リコシェ. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
- ^ 【WK10】
来年 1月 3日 (日 )『大 プロレス祭 り』“公開 記者 会見 ”のスケジュールが決定 !岡 倫 之 選手 の入団 会見 も実施 !. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). December 11, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2017. - ^
真壁 &本 間 1・4東京 ドームでIWGPタッグ挑戦 . Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). December 11, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2017. - ^ 【WK10】1.4
東京 ドームの第 2試合 は矢野 &ブリスコ・ブラザーズvsファレ&裕 二郎 &タマに決定 !ウワサの“ブリスコ兄弟 ”の凄 さとは?. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). December 20, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2017. - ^ "NJPW Tokyo Dome Updates – Briscoes vs. Bullet Club for new titles, more". Pro Wrestling Torch. December 20, 2015. Archived from the original on December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 21, 2015.
- ^ Nextジェネレーション
育成 新 プロジェクト「NEVER」シリーズがスタート!!. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). July 12, 2010. Archived from the original on December 28, 2010. Retrieved December 21, 2015. - ^ Caldwell, James (October 5, 2012). "News items: Velvet Sky launches clothing line, Details on Nash's next int'l tour, NJPW introducing new title". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
- ^ Meltzer, Dave (January 3, 2016). "Wrestle Kingdom 10 live results: Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
- ^ "2/11 New Japan "New Beginning in Osaka" Results – Okada defends IWGP World Title, two big title changes". Pro Wrestling Torch. February 11, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ "2/14 New Japan "New Beginning in Niigata" Results – Tanahashi vs. Omega for vacant IWGP IC Title, Bullet Club everywhere". Pro Wrestling Torch. February 14, 2016. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ "ROH 14th Anniversary". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ Rose, Bryan (February 26, 2016). "ROH 14th Anniversary live results: Jay Lethal vs. Kyle O'Reilly vs. Adam Cole". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved February 26, 2016.
- ^ 【お
知 らせ】マット・サイダル選手 が飛行機 トラブルのため9.25神戸 大会 を欠場 。デビッド・フィンレー選手 が代打 出場 でNEVER6人 タッグは「王座 決定 戦 」に変更 . New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). September 25, 2016. Archived from the original on September 25, 2016. Retrieved September 25, 2016. - ^ Rose, Bryan (September 25, 2016). "NJPW Destruction in Kobe results: Elgin defends his title against Naito". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ Johnson, Mike (January 4, 2017). "Omega vs. Okada classic, Tanahashi vs. Naito, lots of title changes & more: complete New Japan Wrestle Kingdom 11 coverage (page two)". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ 【
新 日 1・4ドーム】NEVER6人 タッグはSanada組 が制 す. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). January 5, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017. - ^ “
田口 ジャパン”またNEVER陥落 …ロス・インゴが3度目 戴冠 . Daily Sports Online (in Japanese). Kobe Shimbun. May 4, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017. - ^ Andrews, R.W. (January 17, 2017). "1/5 New Japan's New Year's Dash from Tokyo: Takahashi, Nakanishi, Kushida, Ricochet, O'Reilly, Finlay, Cole, Elgin, Young Bucks". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
- ^ Meltzer, Dave (February 20, 2017). "February 20, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE financials, death of Chavo Guerrero, more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, California. p. 20. ISSN 1083-9593.
The show was built around five title matches, with one change, the hot potato Never trios titles which went back to Sanada & Evil & Bushi, who defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi & Ryusuke Taguchi & Manabu Nakanishi.
- ^ a b 【
新日本 】LIJ NEVER6人 タッグ王座 V3. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). September 11, 2017. Retrieved September 11, 2017. - ^ a b 【
新日本 】NEVER6人 タッグ王者 のBushiが試合 順 に難 クセ. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). February 16, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017. - ^
新 日 ・制御 不能 軍 が田口 ジャパン撃破 で史上 最多 タイのNEVER6人 王座 V2 . Daily Sports Online (in Japanese). Kobe Shimbun. June 21, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017. - ^ "JRA presents Road to Tokyo Dome". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved December 17, 2017.
- ^ a b "NEVER Open 6 Men Tag Class". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved August 3, 2017.