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36-613: Initially rivals, Kanemoto and Tanaka began teaming together in October 1999, and immediately set their sights on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship , then held by Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa . On October 11, the duo was unsuccessful in their challenge for the titles. Despite the loss, they continued to team together into 2000, and in June defeated Otani and Takaiwa to win

72-501: A Three Way Tornado Tag Team Six Sides of Steel cage match against No Limit and The Latin American Xchange ( Hernandez and Homicide ). Overall, there have been 75 reigns shared among 53 wrestlers, who made up 40 different teams. The inaugural champions were Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa , who defeated Dr. Wagner Jr. and Koji Kanemoto on August 8, 1998, in the final of a tournament. Rocky Romero holds

108-504: A Number 1 Contenders tournament for the All Asia Tag Team Championship , but lost the following the day in the title match against Seiya Sanada and Manabu Soya. In late November, Kono entered the 2010 World's Strongest Tag Determination League teaming with Kenso . The two emerged victorious, defeating Suwama and Ryota Hama in the finals. On January 3, 2011, Kono and Kenso challenged Taiyo Kea and Akebono for

144-691: A career in Mixed Martial Arts . In early 2005, Kono began a MMA career fighting for Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling . He won his first fight at Pancrase – Spiral 5 on July 10, 2005 defeating Yukio Kawabe by Technical Submission. He then lost to Aslan Dzeboev by Knockout at Pancrase – Spiral 8 on October 2. He then went on a two fight win streak defeating Teymur Aliyev at Pancrase – Blow 4 and Daniel Lyons at Pancrase – Blow 7 both by TKO. Kono then lost his last four fights, losing to Mu Bae Choi by Technical Submission at Pancrase – Blow 10, then to Tetsuya Mizuno at Pancrase – Rising 9 by TKO. His next appearance

180-893: A feud with the Partisan Forces stable (Minoru Suzuki, Masakatsu Funaki, Akebono , and Taiyo Kea). On July 4, 2010, Kono challenged Suzuki for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship but lost. At Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 10 on August 29, Kono faced Masakatsu Funaki and lost by Knockout. In September 2010, the New Generation Force disbanded, and shortly afterward, Kono joined the Voodoo Murders and began wrestling simply as Kono (stylised in all capital letters). On November 5, 2010, Kono teamed with Minoru to win

216-518: 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 pay-per-view event in

252-500: A professional wrestling championship, the title is won as a result of a predetermined outcome. Title changes happen mostly at NJPW-promoted events. The Motor City Machine Guns ( Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin ), a Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) tag team, defeated then-champions No Limit ( Tetsuya Naito 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

288-543: A special appearance for New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome , where he teamed with Masakatsu Funaki to defeat the New Japan Seigigun of Yuji Nagata and Wataru Inoue . On June 20, 2013, Kono, following Funaki, announced his resignation from All Japan out of loyalty to Keiji Mutoh , who had left the promotion when Nobuo Shiraishi took over as its new president at the beginning of

324-593: A three-on-four handicap match, where he, Kazma Sakamoto and Ryoji Sai faced Mutoh and the Novus stable (Jiro Kuroshio, Koji Doi and Rionne Fujiwara). On September 23, Kono defeated Yusuke Kodama to advance to the semifinals of the Wrestle-1 Championship tournament. On October 8, Kono defeated Masakatsu Funaki in their semifinal match, after Funaki's training partner Tajiri turned on him and joined Desperado. Later that same day, Kono defeated Kai to win

360-664: Is a professional wrestling tag team championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion . "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix ( インターナショナル・レスリング・グラン・プリ , intānashonaru resuringu guran puri ) . The title was introduced on August 8, 1998, at an NJPW live event . The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship is one of two tag team titles contested for in NJPW;

396-677: Is a former two-time Wrestle-1 Champion . Kono began training in the All Japan Dojo in late 2002 and made his debut on March 28, 2003 in a losing effort to Nobutaka Araya. For the next two years, Kono was largely featured in opening matches where he worked with fellow newcomers and older wrestlers, often coming out on the losing end, a common practice for young wrestlers in Japan as a way of paying dues. During this time, Kono had no title matches and did not take part in any tournaments. In 2005, he left All Japan and professional wrestling to pursue

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432-579: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship . After Kanemoto finally tagged Minoru in, he shocked the New Japan fans by attacking Kanemoto and helping Gedo and Jado win, turning heel and joining Control Terrorism Unit (C.T.U.) in the process. After turning heel, Minoru wrestled as both himself and Heat throughout late 2004, and the two faced off for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship twice in late 2004, with

468-663: 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 the "IWGP Jr. Tag Class", while the IWGP Tag Team Championship is considered the "IWGP Heavyweight Class". The title is contested for by junior heavyweight wrestlers; the weight-limit for the title is 100 kg (220 lb) per partner. Being

504-841: The NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship from Isami Kodaka and Takumi Tsukamoto in March 2017. The two became rivals once again in late 2018 in Minoru's new home promotion of Pro Wrestling Noah . On November 25, 2018, Kanemoto and Hiroshi Yamato unsuccessfully challenged Minoru and Hi69 for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship . IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ( IWGPジュニアタッグ王座 , IWGP juniataggu ōza )

540-605: The Junior Stars with Minoru to defeat Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo . The two once again teamed up for the 2011 Junior Tag League , making it to the final where they just barely lost out to Kai and Hayashi in a match that went over 30 minutes. Kanemoto once again returned to AJPW in November and the two entered the 2011 Real World Tag League and performed well, defeating the likes of Manabu Soya and Takao Omori and Masanobu Fuchi and Taiyo Kea , but were unable to reach

576-590: The Unified World Tag Team Championship. Kono was suspended specifically for not attempting to stop Taru's assault on Hirai. Kono's suspension was lifted on June 30. At a press conference, Kono announced that he would be returning to performing under his real name. Kono made his return to All Japan on October 10, 2011, teaming with Joe Doering and Osamu Nishimura in a six-man tag team match, where they were defeated by Akebono, Masakatsu Funaki and Ryota Hama. On January 4, 2012, Kono made

612-612: The World Tag Team Championship but lost. On February 6, Kono and Joe Doering defeated Taiyo Kea and Akebono to win the World Tag Team Championship. On June 3, 2011, in the aftermath of a backstage fight between Yoshikazu Taru and Nobukazu Hirai which resulted in Hirai suffering a stroke, All Japan immediately disbanded the Voodoo Murders, suspended all of its Japanese members, including Kono, and vacated

648-633: The Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Kazma Sakamoto and Yuji Hino on March 6, 2016. On November 2, Kono defeated Daiki Inaba to win the Wrestle-1 Championship for the second time. He lost the title to Shotaro Ashino on March 20, 2017. On March 31, 2020, Kono, along with the rest of Wrestle-1's roster was released as the promotion ceased operations on April 1. On April 1, Kono participated in Wrestle-1's final event teaming with Mutoh, Hayashi, and Kondo in

684-440: The final and finished the tournament with 8 points. In 2012, Kanemoto was traded to All Japan full time and the Junior Stars officially re-formed, defeating Turmeric Storm ( Tomoaki Honma and Kazushi Miyamoto ) to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship on October 21. In 2013, Kanemoto joined Tanaka's stable Stack of Arms alongside Masayuki Kono and Masakatsu Funaki . The two remained with AJPW until June 25, 2013, when they left

720-566: The finals but lost to Mutoh and Masakatsu Funaki . In his first big victory of 2010, Kono defeated Suwama at Pro Wrestling Love in Ryogoku Vol. 9 on March 21, 2010. In the spring, he entered the 2010 Champion Carnival , finishing second in his block with 5 points, allowing him to advance to the semi-finals where he fell to Funaki. Following the Champion Carnival, Kono joined the New Generation Force stable with Suwama, Ryota Hama , Seiya Sanada , and Manabu Soya and from there began

756-630: The first match ending by double knockout and the second with Heat pinning Kanemoto. October 9, 2004 would be the last time the Junior Stars teamed together during both their runs in NJPW, with Minoru leaving after his contract expired in 2009. The only time the two teamed together during this period was a one-off match where they defeated Masaaki Mochizuki and Shinjiro Otani at Masaaki Mochizuki's 15th Anniversary show in December 2008. After Kanemoto began competing outside of NJPW in 2011, he debuted for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) on March 6, re-forming

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792-427: The inaugural Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champions , where they won their block with a clean record of four wins and zero losses, advancing to the semifinals. On November 30, Kono and Tajiri were eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals by Akira and Manabu Soya. On August 2, 2015, the rest of Desperado turned on Kono, kicking him out of the stable. Kono then started a feud with his former stablemate Kazma Sakamoto over

828-519: The match, Kono turned on Funaki, hitting his mentor with a steel chair and beating him down with help from Kohei Sato and Ryoji Sai . Kono and Funaki faced off in a singles match at Wrestle 1's second show on September 15, where Kono was victorious with help from Sai and Kazma Sakamoto . Kono, Sai and Sakamoto, replacing an injured Kohei Sato, formed a stable named Desperado, which was in October also joined by René Duprée . In early 2014, after Desperado had failed in their attempt to recruit Kai to

864-478: The month. Kono's final match for the promotion took place on June 30 and saw him, Funaki and Koji Kanemoto lose to Akebono, Osamu Nishimura and Ryota Hama in a six-man tag team match. On July 10, 2013, Kono was announced as part of Keiji Mutoh's new Wrestle-1 promotion. During the promotion's inaugural event on September 8, Kono teamed with Masakatsu Funaki in a tag team match, where they were defeated by Katsuyori Shibata and Kazushi Sakuraba . Following

900-747: The promotion in a mass-exodus. Kanemoto and Tanaka were both part of the mass exodus from All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) to form Wrestle-1 , led by Keiji Mutoh . They continued to team together in Wrestle-1, and earned a shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship in June 2014, unsuccessfully challenging The Wolves ( Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards ) on July 6. After Kanemoto left Wrestle-1 in 2014, he began to compete independently once again, and started to work for Pro Wrestling Zero1 in 2016. After Minoru eventually left Wrestle-1 in 2016, they reformed once again in Zero1 and won

936-459: The record for most defenses during a single reign, with 7. 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. Intergalactic Jet Setters ( Kushida and Kevin Knight ) are the current champions. Individually, is Kushida's fourth reign and Knight's second, and while it is their second time holding

972-586: The record for most reigns by an individual wrestler, with eight. At seven reigns, The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) 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. They also hold the most total defenses as champions, with 15. Ryusuke Taguchi holds the records for most combined days and most total defenses by an individual wrestler, with 990 days and 17 defenses respectively across his 7 reigns with 4 different partners. Apollo 55 ( Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) hold

1008-626: The rest of Team 2000 Jr ( Akira and Gedo & Jado ) defeated El Samurai , Jushin Thunder Liger , Katsuyori Shibata and Minoru Tanaka, with Kanemoto last pinning Minoru for the win. Kanemoto achieved much singles success throughout 2002, while Minoru struggled to gain any traction with his new Heat character. The two eventually faced off for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on October 14 at The Spiral, with Kanemoto coming out on top. Team 2000 went their own separate ways in late 2002 and Kanemoto thus slowly began to turn face, taking on

1044-445: The rights to the name Desperado. On September 6, Kono was defeated by Sakamoto and Koji Doi in a handicap match, when his scheduled partner Nosawa Rongai turned on him and, as a result, lost the name Desperado to the new trio of Sakamoto, Doi and Nosawa. On October 9, Kono formed a new stable with Shuji Kondo and rookies Hiroki Murase and Shotaro Ashino . On October 31, the stable was named TriggeR. On November 27, Kono and Kondo won

1080-535: The role of a no nonsense veteran. As Kanemoto became a fan favourite once again, Heat finally began to achieve success, beating Jado for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in December 2003. In 2004, Heat and Kanemoto slowly became allies again, teaming together throughout the year. On October 9, 2004, at Pro-Wrestlers Be Strongest, Minoru returned to his birth name and the Junior Stars re-united to take on Gedo and Jado for

1116-569: The spring and summer, Kono often competed in tag team matches for the All Japan army and occasionally teamed with Mutoh. On July 5, 2009, he received his first title shot when he unsuccessfully teamed with Mutoh to challenge Minoru Suzuki and Taiyo Kea for the World Tag Team Championship . In the fall of 2009, Kono teamed with Suwama in the 2009 World's Strongest Tag Determination League . The two were able to make it to

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1152-574: The stable, Kono entered a new feud with the self-proclaimed ace of Wrestle-1. The feud culminated on July 6 in a grudge match, where Kono put the future of Desperado on the line. Kono, however, was victorious over Kai, forcing him to have his head shaved. On September 21, Kono entered the Wrestle-1 Championship tournament , defeating Jiro Kuroshio in his first round match. The following day, Kono handed Wrestle-1 founder Keiji Mutoh his first loss since March 2012 by submitting him in

1188-544: The title as a team. They defeated Bullet Club War Dogs ( Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney ) at King of Pro-Wrestling to win the championships. Masayuki Kono Masayuki Kono ( 河野 真幸 , Kōno Masayuki , born April 12, 1980 in Noboribetsu, Hokkaidō ) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist . He is working as a freelancer. He is best known for his time in Wrestle-1 , where he

1224-500: The titles for the first time at Summer Struggle. The two held the titles until March 2001, when they were forced to vacate after Kanemoto suffered a legitimate injury during the match. Kanemoto eventually returned in October that year, turning on Minoru and becoming a heel in the process, joining Team 2000. As a reward for his defection and betrayal of Tanaka, Team 2000 leader Masahiro Chono gave Kanemoto his own sub-group to lead named "Team 2000 Jr." In his first match back, Kanemoto and

1260-492: The tournament and become the inaugural Wrestle-1 Champion. Following his win, Kono nominated Keiji Mutoh as his first challenger for the title, claiming that he was going to retire Mutoh at his 30th anniversary event on November 1. On November 1, Kono lost the title to Mutoh in his first defense. Later that same month, Kono and Tajiri took part in the First Tag League Greatest tournament, set to determine

1296-615: Was at Warrior Realm 12 where he lost to Brad Morris by Submission. His most recent fight was a loss to Stanislav Nedkov at Pancrase – Shining 10 by TKO. By early 2009, Kono had retired from MMA and returned to professional wrestling. He spent the first few months of 2009 in Canada, wrestling on the independents before returning to All Japan in May 2009. Upon his return, Kono was pushed immediately, as he teamed Keiji Mutoh to defeat Satoshi Kojima and Suwama with Kono submitting Kojima. Throughout

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