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NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship

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NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
The NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship belts
Details
PromotionNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)
Date establishedDecember 21, 2015[1]
Current champion(s)Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano and Oleg Boltin
Date wonJune 16, 2024
Statistics
First champion(s)Chaos
(Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe and Toru Yano)[2]
Most reignsAs a team (3 reigns):

As an individual (6 reigns):

Longest reignChaos
(Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi)
(454 days)
Shortest reign1 day:
Oldest championMinoru Suzuki
(54 years, 7 months and 25 days)[3]
Youngest championDavid Finlay
(23 years, 4 months and 9 days)[4]
Heaviest championBad Luck Fale
(156 kg (344 lb))[5]
Lightest championTaiji Ishimori
(75 kg (165 lb))[6][7]

The NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship (NEVER無差別級6人タッグ王座, Nebā Musabetsu-kyū Roku-nin Taggu Ōza) is a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. The current champions are Hiroshi Tanahashi, Toru Yano and Oleg Boltin, who are in their second reign as a team. It is Yano and Tanahashi's record sixth reign as individuals, and the second for 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.

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

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On 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]

(Left to right) David Finlay, Satoshi Kojima and Ricochet upon winning the title in September 2016

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" (短命王座, tanmei ōza).[26] During its first 20 months of existence, the title changed hands 12 times, with no championship team successfully defending it more than two times until L.I.J.'s record-breaking third title reign.[26][27][28] The title was also slotted on the undercards of NJPW events and some championship matches took place as early as the second match on a seven-match show with no other title matches. Bushi publicly criticized NJPW's handling of the title, claiming that the booking was costing the title credibility.[27] L.I.J.'s record-setting reign ended on December 17, 2017, when they were defeated by Bullet Club's Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa in their fourth defense.[29]

Reigns

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Main article: List of NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions

There 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 sixth for Tanahashi and the second for 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

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  1. ^ 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.
  2. ^ 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.
  3. ^ 鈴木みのる. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved February 11, 2023.
  4. ^ デビッド・フィンレー. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ 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.
  7. ^ リコシェ. New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on July 3, 2016. Retrieved July 3, 2016.
  8. ^ 【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.
  9. ^ 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.
  10. ^ 【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.
  11. ^ "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.
  12. ^ 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.
  13. ^ 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.
  14. ^ Meltzer, Dave (January 3, 2016). "Wrestle Kingdom 10 live results: Kazuchika Okada vs Hiroshi Tanahashi". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved January 4, 2016.
  15. ^ "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.
  16. ^ "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.
  17. ^ "ROH 14th Anniversary". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  18. ^ 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.
  19. ^ 【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.
  20. ^ Rose, Bryan (September 25, 2016). "NJPW Destruction in Kobe results: Elgin defends his title against Naito". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Retrieved August 3, 2017.
  21. ^ 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.
  22. ^ 【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.
  23. ^ “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.
  24. ^ 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.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ 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.
  27. ^ 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.
  28. ^ 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.
  29. ^ "JRA presents Road to Tokyo Dome". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved December 17, 2017.
  30. ^ a b "NEVER Open 6 Men Tag Class". New Japan Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved August 3, 2017.
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