Misplaced Pages

#939060

91-402: 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

182-492: 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

273-655: A 20-minute time limit draw and then a 5-minute overtime draw. The next day in New York City they were defeated by Kevin Steen and El Generico when Steen forced Sabin to submit to the Sharpshooter . The team was scheduled to return to ROH on October 24 and 25, but were pulled from the events by TNA and replaced by the Latin American Xchange. On February 13, 2010, Ring of Honor announced at their 8th Anniversary Show that

364-474: A Best of Five Series with Beer Money, Inc., contested for the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Beer Money won the first two matches, a ladder match and a Street Fight, after knocking their opponents out with beer bottles. However, Shelley and Sabin came back to win the two following matches, a steel cage match and an Ultimate X match, to even the score to 2–2 and set up a deciding match for

455-698: A few weeks in TNA, Kevin Nash —who had a history with both men and was also a Detroit native—was brought in as their manager , ending his previous alliances with Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt in the process, though his association with the group was short lived. The team continued to work in independent promotions in parallel with their work in TNA, getting a run with the Illinois–based All American Wrestling 's Tag Team Championship between September 2007 and January 2008. In October 2007 at Bound for Glory

546-405: A ladder to get Devon up to the title belt (which broke the "unwritten rule" of the match). At Against All Odds , Sabin, Shelley, and Lethal won a Street Fight with the existence of the X Division as a whole (excluding Devine) on the line. Sabin and Shelley were beaten off early in the match, essentially making it a handicap match of Team 3D against Lethal. As agreed in the pre–match stipulations,

637-462: 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

728-474: A new partnership with The Crash Lucha Libre ; both partnerships ended later in 2019. On October 21, 2019, NJPW announced the formation of a new American subsidiary of the company, named New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (NJoA). In 2019, they had run a record 13 shows in the United States, with plans to run double that in 2020. It was reported at the same time that NJPW and ROH had no joint shows planned for

819-514: A physical therapist required him to step away from wrestling for the time being until he was able to get the COVID-19 vaccine . Moose would replace Shelley in the match at Hard to Kill , and Storm would be brought back to occasionally team with Sabin through the early months of 2021 as The Guns quietly disbanded for the third time. Later, in September 2021, Shelley announced that he left Impact, but

910-547: A tag team match to them. As part of their gimmick they were now described as "TNA Frontline members in name only". At Final Resolution , the Guns were attacked by the debuting Suicide At Genesis , Shelley defeated Sabin in the finals of a tournament to become the new TNA X Division Champion . At Destination X , Shelley lost his X Division title to Suicide in an Ultimate X match that also involved Consequences Creed, Jay Lethal and Chris Sabin. The Guns and Lethal Consequences spent

1001-764: A team in Pro Wrestling Zero1 in 2006, Shelley and Sabin have worked together on and off ever since. They have won three TNA World Tag Team Championships and one ROH World Tag Team Championship while in Ring of Honor (ROH) - and in NJPW they have held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship once each. Shelley and Sabin first started teaming in Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max in 2006, winning

SECTION 10

#1732859447940

1092-528: Is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki , and based in Nakano, Tokyo . It is currently owned by card game company Bushiroad , while TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of the company. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the promotion's Chairman since September 2013, while Hiroshi Tanahashi has served as the president of the promotion since December 2023. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, NJPW

1183-573: Is the largest and longest-running professional wrestling promotion in Japan. Their biggest event is the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show (currently promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom banner) held each year since 1992. In addition to promoting professional wrestling matches, NJPW has also showcased mixed martial arts fights on some of its live events. The promotion was owned by Yuke's from 2005 until 2012. It

1274-694: The 2020 New Japan Cup as well. World Wonder Ring Stardom is owned by Bushiroad , also made adjustments to their schedule, cancelling shows from February 18 to March 14. Their March 8 show in Korakuen Hall was held without any spectators in attendance, instead streaming live on their YouTube channel. On March 23, NJPW would later cancel the 2020 Sakura Genesis event that was originally scheduled to take place in on March 31. On April 8, NJPW would cancel more events from April 11 through May 4, which mean both nights of 2020 Wrestling Dontaku were cancelled as well. On May 6, NJPW cancelled their annual Best of

1365-533: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship . They became the second gaijin team to win the championship after American Dragon and Curry Man . After three successful title defenses, two of which took place in TNA, Shelley and Sabin lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title to Apollo 55 ( Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi ) on July 5, 2009, at NJPW's Circuit 2009 New Japan Soul . On November 8, 2010, NJPW announced that

1456-539: The Impact World Tag Team Championship for the first time in over ten years and second time overall, ending The North's record-setting 383 day reign. After retaining the titles against The North in a rematch and against The Rascalz, they would lose the titles back to the North at Bound for Glory in a Fatal Four way tag team match after Shelley was attacked before the match and Sabin was left alone to defend

1547-810: The KOPW (King of Pro Wrestling) Championship. For tag teams, there is a traditional championship for two-man teams (the IWGP Tag Team Championship ), and one for three-man teams (the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship ). There are two championships in NJPW for junior heavyweight wrestlers - a singles title (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship ) and one for tag teams (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ). In New Japan's United States based NJPW Strong brand, there are two championships for male wrestlers -

1638-888: The NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast , the promotion's first tour of the United States to be held in May 2011. The tour featured shows in Rahway, New Jersey on May 13, New York City on May 14 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15, as well as cross-promotion with American independent group Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW). As part of the tour, NJPW introduced a new title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On January 31, 2012, Yuke's announced that it had sold all shares of New Japan Pro-Wrestling to card game company Bushiroad for ¥ 500 million ( $ 6.5 million). New Japan aired its first internet pay-per-view ,

1729-638: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as well as holding more shows in Thailand , Singapore , and Taiwan . Also announced was the Lion's Gate Project , which would feature NJPW rookies as well as up-and-coming outsiders working trial matches in an effort to earn a spot in the promotion. Finally, it was announced that there were plans to take the company public with a listing on the stock market within three to five years. On December 21, 2015, NJPW announced

1820-473: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1975 to 1985 and once more from 1992 to 1993. NJPW was briefly reaffiliated with the NWA in the late 2000s to the early 2010s as well. On January 4, 1992, NJPW partnered with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to produce Super Warriors , the first ever January 4 Tokyo Dome Show , an event that would become an annual tradition for NJPW and is considered their biggest event of

1911-696: The New Zealand -based Fale Dojo , a pro wrestling training facility run by NJPW performer Bad Luck Fale . NJPW will utilize the partnership as an opportunity to scout talent from Oceania . The following month on April 24, 2017, it was announced that NJPW would co-present the Japanese qualifiers for the Pro Wrestling World Cup tournament hosted by the British What Culture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) promotion. On May 12, 2017, NJPW announced

SECTION 20

#1732859447940

2002-711: The Strong Openweight Championship for singles wrestlers, and the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship for tag teams. There are two championships for female wrestlers in NJPW, the IWGP Women's Championship and the Strong Women's Championship . As of November 28, 2024. The Greatest 18 Club was New Japan's first hall of fame, being established in 1990 during Antonio Inoki's career 30th anniversary. Additionally, Lou Thesz also debuted

2093-605: The United Center in Chicago, Illinois . During September 2022, NJPW announced NJPW Tamashii , an Oceania-based brand that would stage events throughout the region. On October 1, 2022, NJPW's founder Antonio Inoki died from systemic transthyretin amyloidosis at age 79. On January 4, 2023, NJPW held their Wrestle Kingdom 17 event in Inoki's honor. In October 2023, NJPW and sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom established

2184-580: The United Japan Pro-Wrestling (UJPW) alliance. The inaugural UJPW event took place on May 6, 2024, in the Nippon Budokan arena. On December 23, NJPW announced that Takami Ohbari had stepped down as the promotion's president, with Hiroshi Tanahashi replacing him as NJPW president and representative director. On April 23, 2024, NJPW announced that it would fully acquire sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom on June 28. The acquisition

2275-532: The X Division Champion Jay Lethal and his number one contender Sonjay Dutt after their match and declared a war on the X Division as a whole, demanding that the entire X Division and all the members therein be disbanded and removed from TNA. The entire feud focused mainly upon Team 3D (including a new member in Johnny Devine , who was dubbed "Brother Devine") against the Machine Guns and Jay Lethal. During

2366-759: The Zero-1 Max International Lightweight Tag Team Championship from Minoru Fujita and Ikuto Hidaka on August 25. They held the title for almost two years before dropping them back to Fujita and his new partner Takuya Sugawara . In the United States, the pair had short runs in the independent promotions Pro Wrestling Guerrilla and Ring of Honor under the names Motor City Machine Guns and Murder City Machine Guns, respectively. The team's work for other companies eventually ended when their main employer, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), requested their wrestlers stop taking bookings with certain independent promotions. It

2457-472: The American AXS TV network announced it had acquired rights to rebroadcast a series of thirteen episodes of NJPW matches from TV Asahi . The series premiered on January 16, 2015, airing weekly on Fridays. Averaging 200,000 viewers per episode, the show was considered a success, leading to AXS TV and TV Asahi signing a multi-year deal to continue airing the show. In June 2016, the show was also acquired by

2548-456: The April 28 episode of Impact! , Shelley made his return, saving Sabin from a beatdown at the hands of Mexican America ( Anarquia and Hernandez). Ironically, the same day Shelley made his return, Sabin suffered a knee injury in his match with Anarquia, who was out of position causing Sabin to tear both his ACL and MCL. Later that same week, Sabin underwent knee surgery, which would sideline him for

2639-649: The Asia Pacific Pro-Wrestling Alliance, an interpromotional governing body that seeks to connect wrestling promotions across Asia. On January 5, 2024, the alliance was renamed the Asia-Pacific Federation of Wrestling (APFW). The inaugural event sanctioned by APFW, NJPW's Wrestling World in Taiwan, took place on April 14 in Taipei . In early December 2023, NJPW was announced as a founding member of

2730-584: The August 12 episode of Impact! . On the August 12 episode of Impact! the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Beer Money, Inc. in a Two Out of Three Falls match to win the Best of Five Series and retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship. The following month at No Surrender , the Motor City Machine Guns retained their title in a match against Generation Me. After the match Generation Me turned heel by attacking

2821-472: The August 24, 2022, episode of Dynamite , Sonjay Dutt announced that Jay Lethal would team with the Motor City Machine Guns at the All Out PPV, where they would take on Wardlow and FTR in a six-man tag-team match, with Sabin and Shelley set to make their All Elite Wrestling debut. At the event, Wardlow and FTR would win the match, with assistance from Samoa Joe , who attacked Satnam Singh early in

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

2912-482: The Canadian Fight Network . On December 1, 2014, NJPW and TV Asahi announced NJPW World , a new worldwide streaming site for the promotion's events. On July 18, 2015, NJPW announced the "New IWGP Conception", a global expansion strategy centered on their international partnerships with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), GFW, ROH, Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), and

3003-447: The Inoki family, the company began to reintegrate its prior puroresu style of wrestling. Also in 2007, NJPW hosted its first ever pay-per-view (PPV) event Wrestle Kingdom I . The promotion debuted a new series called NEVER in August 2010, designed to be a series of events spotlighting younger up-and-coming New Japan talent and feature more outsider participation in the promotion. On January 4, 2011, New Japan officially announced

3094-501: The Machine Guns and injuring Shelley. On the following episode of Impact! Generation Me laid claim to the TNA World Tag Team Championship, claiming that the champions wouldn't be able to defend them for 30 days, due to Shelley's injury, before stealing Sabin's title belt. Shelley would however make his return two weeks later and promised Generation Me a rematch for the World Tag Team Championship at Bound for Glory . At

3185-463: The Machine Guns, ending their reign at 182 days, two days short of the longest reign in the title's history. The Motor City Machine Guns received their rematch for the title on the January 13 episode of Impact! , but lost again due to a miscommunication. For the next three months, the Motor City Machine Guns went inactive, as Shelley suffered a collarbone injury and Sabin returned to the X Division. On

3276-478: The March 2, 2023 episode of Impact , The Motor City Machine Guns lost their titles to Bullet Club members Ace Austin and Chris Bey, ending their reign at 78 days. On the March 23, 2024 tapings for TNA Impact! , the Motor City Machine Guns, wrestled their final match for TNA in a losing effort against The System ( Eddie Edwards and Brian Myers ), as both Shelley and Sabin's contracts expired on April 1, 2024. On

3367-402: The Motor City Machine Guns coming out victorious. On December 5 at Final Resolution the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Generation Me in a Full Metal Mayhem match to retain the World Tag Team Championship. The following month at Genesis the Motor City Machine Guns lost the TNA World Tag Team Championship to Beer Money, Inc., after Roode rolled up Sabin, following a miscommunication between

3458-683: The Motor City Machine Guns defeated The Young Bucks to win the ROH World Tag Team Championship for the first time. They would retain the titles until March 9, 2018, when they lost them against The Briscoe Brothers at ROH 16th Anniversary Show. In June, Shelley suffered an injury. On July 20, 2018, Shelley left the promotion and retired from active competition, disbanding the tag team. On January 4, 2009, Sabin and Shelley defeated No Limit ( Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro ) at New Japan Pro-Wrestling 's Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome to win

3549-424: The Motor City Machine Guns unsuccessfully challenged Magnus and Joe for the TNA World Tag Team Championship in a steel cage match. During the next month, the Motor City Machine Guns did not make another appearance on Impact Wrestling , instead wrestling exclusively on TNA house shows . On May 21, it was reported that Shelley had chosen not to renew his contract with TNA, instead leaving the promotion and disbanding

3640-412: The Motor City Machine Guns would be returning to the promotion the following month, competing at events on December 11 and 12. On December 11 the Motor City Machine Guns were defeated by No Limit in their New Japan return match. The following day they defeated Apollo 55 in the fourth ever match between the two teams. On July 31, 2016, NJPW announced that the Motor City Machine Guns would be returning to

3731-568: The Motor City Machine Guns would return to the company on May 8 in New York City. On May 8, the Motor City Machine Guns were defeated by the ROH World Tag Team Champions The Kings of Wrestling ( Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli ) via disqualification, when the Briscoe Brothers interfered in the match. On February 26, 2016, at the 14th Anniversary Show , Sabin and Shelley re-formed the Motor City Machine Guns, when

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

3822-663: The Motor City Machine Guns. On March 30, 2007, in their hometown of Detroit, Shelley and Sabin made their ROH debut as a team under the name The Murder City Machine Guns by challenging and then attacking Jay Briscoe after he and his brother Mark , who had injured himself during the match, had won back the ROH World Tag Team Championship from Naruki Doi and Shingo . On April 28 in Chicago, IL, at Good Times, Great Memories The Briscoe Brothers successfully defended their tag team title against Shelley and Sabin. After

3913-903: The Super Juniors tournament. The next day, NJPW postponed their Wrestle Dynasty event to 2021, which was to take place in Madison Square Garden in New York. On June 9, NJPW announced their return with special show with mystery match card called Together Special on June 15 and the return of the New Japan Cup would now be held from June 16 until July 11, with the final being held at Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka alongside Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall being rescheduled to July 12. On September 29, NJPW announced that Meij would no longer be appointed president of

4004-627: The TNA Tag Team Championship. The following month at Final Resolution the British Invasion defeated Shelley and Sabin to once again retain their title. At Destination X the Machine Guns defeated Generation Me (Jeremy Buck and Max Buck) in an Ultimate X match to earn another shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Shelley and Sabin received their title shot on the April 12 episode of Impact! , but were defeated by World Tag Team Champion Matt Morgan and Amazing Red, who replaced

4095-463: The TNA World Tag Team Championship. After Jeremy Buck pinned Sabin in an eight-person tag team match, where the Motor City Machine Guns teamed with Jay Lethal and Velvet Sky and Generation Me with Robbie E and Cookie , on the November 18 episode of Impact! , the Motor City Machine Guns challenged Generation Me to an Empty Arena match . The match took place later that same night on Reaction with

4186-498: The World '16 . On September 30 at All Star Extravaganza VIII , the Motor City Machine Guns took part in a three-way ladder match for the ROH World Tag Team Championship, which was won by The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and also included The Addiction. Sabin and Shelley then formed a stable named "Search and Destroy" with Jay White , Jonathan Gresham and Lio Rush . On September 22, 2017, at Death Before Dishonor XV ,

4277-583: The Worlds '15 on May 12 and 13 in Philadelphia and Global Wars '15 on May 15 and 16 in Toronto. In June 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with the new American Global Force Wrestling (GFW) organization helmed by Jeff Jarrett . In November 2014, GFW announced that it would be broadcasting NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on pay-per-view in the United States as a four-hour event. Also in November 2014,

4368-546: The champions Beer Money, Inc. ( Robert Roode and James Storm ), after their manager Jacqueline interfered in the match. Earlier in the evening they disrespected Mick Foley as he was addressing the TNA originals backstage. Despite this and other showings of disrespect, they remained fan favorites and a part of the team opposing the Main Event Mafia. However, they would turn heel months later attacking Lethal Consequences (Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed) after losing

4459-459: The champions British Invasion ( Doug Williams and Brutus Magnus ) at Turning Point . On the November 12 episode of Impact! Beer Money, Inc. defeated the British Invasion in a non–title match to join the Motor City Machine Guns in the Tag Team Title match at Turning Point. At the pay-per-view The British Invasion defeated Shelley and Sabin and Beer Money, Inc. in a three–way match to retain

4550-699: The champions , Tama Tonga and Tonga Loa , in consecutive matches. In 2008, the team appeared in an episode of the MTV series Made , teaching a school boy the basics of professional wrestling. The two are also members of a rock band named The High Crusade, along with former TNA wrestler Petey Williams , Adam Tatro and Chris Plumb. The band released their debut album, It's Not What You Think , on September 7, 2010. New Japan Pro-Wrestling New Japan Pro-Wrestling ( 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 , Shin Nihon Puroresuringu Kabushiki-gaisha ) ( NJPW )

4641-640: The championships. With Shelley out of commission for the next two months, James Storm would fill in as Sabin's partner, defeating XXXL ( Acey Romero and Larry D ) at Turning Point on November 14. After Shelley returned to action on the December 1 episode of Impact! , resuming the team with another victory over XXXL, The Guns were scheduled to team up with Rich Swann to face Kenny Omega and The Good Brothers at Hard To Kill on January 16, 2021, but Shelley legitimately had to back out due to "unavoidable circumstances", later revealed in that his outside career as

SECTION 50

#1732859447940

4732-596: The creation of a new title: the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, with the inaugural champion to be crowned during the promotion's G1 Special in USA shows in Long Beach, California on July 1 and 2. Four days later, NJPW held a press conference to announce plans to establish a subsidiary company, including a dojo, in the United States. A Los Angeles office was scheduled to be opened before

4823-514: The creation of its seventh active title and the first six-man tag team championship in the promotion's history, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On January 5, 2016, NJPW announced a partnership with the Amuse talent agency with the goal of making the promotion's wrestlers internationally recognized stars in the vein of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson . In March 2017, NJPW partnered with

4914-551: The current WWE Tag Team Champions in their first reign . They are best known for their tenure in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). The team name is a play on the nickname of Detroit , the hometown of both Shelley and Sabin. The duo also made appearances for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) on the NJPW Strong brand, as well as Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) and Deadlock Pro-Wrestling (DPW). Originally forming

5005-405: The duo won the pre–show match against Lethal Consequences, and immediately afterwards competed in the Ultimate X match for the X Division Championship which was won by champion Amazing Red . On the following episode of Impact! , they won a tag team Ultimate X match against Lethal Consequences when Sabin retrieved the X, to become #1 contenders for the TNA World Tag Team Championships and challenged

5096-442: The early 2000s, the burgeoning popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) in Japan was noticed by Inoki, who wanted to integrate elements of shoot wrestling to make the company appear more realistic. The company would partner with martial arts organization K-1 and begin to insert wrestlers into MMA fights, with the goal of pushing NJPW in a more realistic direction and to make it appear as an actual sport. The company's new management

5187-431: The end of 2017, with a dojo scheduled to be opened at the start of 2018. NJPW's second American event, Strong Style Evolved , took place on March 25, 2018, also in Long Beach. In November 2017, NJPW signed a television deal with Discovery Communications , which would see the company's programming brought to 70 million Indian homes through DSport . In January 2018, NJPW announced the four-show Fallout Down Under tour,

5278-401: The event TNA pulled all of their wrestlers from any upcoming ROH shows. In April 2008 Shelley and Sabin returned to Ring of Honor, losing to the Age of the Fall ( Tyler Black and Jimmy Jacobs ) and defeating the Briscoe Brothers on the 18th and 19th respectively. They returned to Ring of Honor in August 2008. On August 1 in Manassas, VA they fought Austin Aries and Bryan Danielson to

5369-440: The event, the duo defeated Aussie Open to win the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championships, in a three-way match, also involving The DKC and Kevin Knight . On July 18, 2020, at Slammiversary , Motor City Machine Guns returned to Impact Wrestling and defeated The Rascalz ( Zachary Wentz and Dezmond Xavier ) after answering their open challenge. On the following episode of Impact Wrestling , they defeated The North to capture

5460-427: The fans and showing respect for the fans. On the October 30 episode of Impact!, The Machine Guns along with A.J. Styles, Samoa Joe , Jay Lethal, Consequences Creed, Petey Williams , Eric Young and ODB formed a faction of younger wrestlers called The TNA Front Line to oppose The Main Event Mafia . At Turning Point , Shelley and Sabin received a shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship , but were defeated by

5551-416: The feud, Team 3D awarded the stolen X Division Championship to Devine, before Devine won the title outright. The two teams faced off in an Ultimate X match for the title at Final Resolution . Prior to the pay-per-view, it was claimed that Ray and Devon were too heavy to support themselves on the cables, so they "broke" Sabin and Shelley's fingers, making them unable to climb. Team 3D won this match by using

SECTION 60

#1732859447940

5642-410: The first ever IWGP Heavyweight Champion by defeating Inoki. However, this championship was later abandoned and the current version of the championship was established in 1987. Inoki would serve as the president of the promotion until 1989, when he was succeeded by Seiji Sakaguchi . On April 24, 1989, NJPW hosted Battle Satellite , its first show in the Tokyo Dome . The promotion was a member of

5733-419: The former turned on his Knights of the Rising Dawn (KRD) stablemate Christopher Daniels, helping Shelley defeat him in a singles match. At the following day's Ring of Honor Wrestling tapings, Sabin and Shelley defeated Daniels and Frankie Kazarian, The Addiction , in their return match. This led to the two unsuccessfully challenging The Addiction for the ROH World Tag Team Championship on June 24 at Best in

5824-408: The fourth day of the 2012 G1 Climax , on August 5, 2012. The October 8, 2012, King of Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view marked the first time viewers outside Japan were able to order a pay-per-view by the promotion through Ustream . On October 5, 2012, New Japan announced the creation of the NEVER Openweight Championship, which would be contested for on the NEVER series. A two-day tournament to determine

5915-418: The future. On October 31, 2019, Super7 announced the first line of NJPW action figures . Amidst from the Japanese onset of the COVID-19 pandemic , in accordance with recommendations from the Japanese Ministry of Health, NJPW decided to cancel all scheduled shows from March 1 through March 15. On March 10, NJPW announced that they were cancelling all shows through March 22, which meant that they cancelled

6006-499: The inaugural New Japan Cup USA tournament. As part of NJPW's expansion into the United States, the series would be produced by NJoA. In February 2021, it was reported that NJPW had entered into partnerships with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Impact Wrestling . On November 19, 2021, NJPW would re-establish a relationship with Pro Wrestling Noah with Noah wrestlers being involved at the third night of NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 16 event. During Wrestle Kingdom 16 in January 2022, it

6097-586: The inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19, 2012. The final NEVER event was held in November 2012. In February 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with Ring of Honor (ROH), which saw the promotion return to North America the following May to present two supershows; Global Wars in Toronto and War of the Worlds in New York City. During the tour, New Japan wrestlers also took part in an event held by Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling (BCW). A year later, NJPW and ROH announced another tour together to produce four more supershows; War of

6188-423: The injured Hernandez in the match. The following month at Sacrifice the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Beer Money, Inc. and Team 3D in a three–way match to earn another shot at the Tag Team Championship. On July 11 at Victory Road the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Beer Money, Inc. to win the vacant TNA World Tag Team Championship for the first time. After Victory Road the Motor City Machine Guns entered

6279-417: The match. In September 2024, it was reported that Shelley and Sabin signed with WWE . They made their debut on the SmackDown brand on October 18 on a qualifying match against A-Town Down Under ( Grayson Waller and Austin Theory ) and Los Garza ( Angel and Berto ), and won the WWE Tag Team Championship the following week after they defeated #DIY ( Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa ), and then

6370-455: The next few months unsuccessfully trying to unmask Suicide, initially also claiming that he is Daniels . On the August 6 episode of Impact! , Shelley and Sabin both turned face once again aligning themselves with Daniels against World Elite when an all out brawl broke out in the Impact! Zone. In September Shelley and Sabin began appearing as occasional commentators alongside Mike Tenay and Taz on Impact! broadcasts. At Bound for Glory

6461-462: The pay–per–view the Motor City Machine Guns defeated Generation Me to retain the TNA World Tag Team Championship. Also at Bound for Glory, Team 3D announced their retirement from professional wrestling, but requested one final match against the Motor City Machine Guns, whom they called the best tag team in wrestling. The Motor City Machine Guns accepted and the match took place on November 7, 2010, at Turning Point , where they defeated Team 3D to retain

6552-470: The promotion and was replaced by Takami Ohbari on October 23, who is the current CEO of New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America. In 2020, NJPW partnered with Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) and Major League Wrestling (MLW), with both promotions sending wrestlers to the Super J-Cup tournament. On July 31, NJPW announced a new weekly series titled NJPW Strong , with its initial episodes to feature matches from

6643-571: The promotion on August 21. In their return match, the Motor City Machine Guns unsuccessfully challenged The Young Bucks for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. After defeating the Strong Openweight Tag Team Champions , Aussie Open on the September 15th episode of Impact! , Sabin and Shelley made their return to New Japan Pro-Wrestling at Rumble on 44th Street on October 28. At

6734-452: The promotion was returning to the multi-year contract system. The contracts forbid negotiations with other promotions. After All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was launched by wrestlers working for NJPW, they started signing foreigners to guaranteed deals as well. Any side contracts or agreements offered to wrestlers under NJPW contracts, need the promotion's approval before being signed. NJPW currently has partnerships with several promotions across

6825-475: The promotion's inaugural tour of Australia spanning from February 16–19. In March 2018, New Japan opened the NJPW LA Dojo with Katsuyori Shibata serving as head trainer and ROH wrestler Scorpio Sky serving as assistant trainer. On May 13, 2018, New Japan hired its first foreign president, Dutch businessman Harold Meij . In February 2019, NJPW re-established their partnership with the NWA and entered into

6916-455: 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

7007-586: 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

7098-417: The rest of the year. On March 18, 2012, at Victory Road , TNA aired a video, promoting the upcoming return of the Motor City Machine Guns. The Motor City Machine Guns returned on the April 5 episode of Impact Wrestling , defeating Mexican America in a tag team match, before announcing their intention of going for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, held by Magnus and Samoa Joe. On April 15 at Lockdown ,

7189-524: The team interfered in a tables match between Team 3D (Brothers Ray and Devon ) and the Steiner Brothers ( Scott and Rick ), trying to prevent Team 3D from cheating and effectively helping the Steiners win the match. The following month at Genesis the Motor City Machine Guns surprised Team 3D and defeated them in a tag team match. Later in the event Ray and Devon, embarrassed by their loss, attacked

7280-454: 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. The Motor City Machine Guns The Motor City Machine Guns are an American professional wrestling tag team consisting of Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin . They are signed to WWE , where they perform on the SmackDown brand and are

7371-681: The win resulted in Lethal being given back the X Division title and the members of Team 3D essentially being disqualified from future matches until they could all drop their weight below super heavyweight status. They were members of Team TNA alongside Kaz and Curry Man in the 2008 edition of the TNA World X Cup , but lost to Team Mexico at Victory Road . They then slipped into the role of tweeners , showing disrespect to Christian Cage , A.J. Styles , Consequences Creed , B.G. James and The Latin American Xchange however still being cheered heavily by

7462-812: The world, for which NJPW wrestlers can also perform for. The promotion has its own fictional governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix, shortened as IWGP. At the top of NJPW's championship hierarchy for male wrestlers is the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship . Secondary titles include the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship , the NEVER Openweight Championship , the NJPW World Television Championship , and

7553-402: The world; including WWE , World Championship Wrestling , American Wrestling Association , World Class Championship Wrestling , Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , WAR , Jersey All Pro Wrestling , UWFi , Ring of Honor , Pride Fighting Championships , and All Elite Wrestling . Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The promotion

7644-607: The year and comparable to WWE 's WrestleMania event. In April 1995, NJPW and WCW held the two-day Collision in Korea event at the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang , North Korea . The event was the first professional wrestling event held in North Korea and holds the record for most attended wrestling event of all time, with 355,000 people packing the stadium over the two days. In

7735-482: Was announced that NJPW programming, including new programs and reruns of past English broadcasts, would return to AXS TV and Fight Network in the United States and Canada. Reruns will begin airing on AXS starting January 20, with all new content to premiere on March 3. On the April 20, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite , it was announced that New Japan and AEW would co-promote a supershow called AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door . The event would take place on June 26, 2022, at

7826-462: Was completed on June 28, with Stardom Co., Ltd. becoming a subsidiary of NJPW. Up until the 1980s, NJPW signed its workers to multi-year contracts, before changing to a system where the promotion signed its wrestlers to one-year deals that expired at the end of every January. Following the departures of A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura , NJPW chairman Takaaki Kidani announced in February 2016 that

7917-561: Was criticized by critics and fans. Inoki later departed NJPW in 2005 after selling his share of the company to Yuke's , and began his own promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), in 2007. After his departure, Inoki's son-in-law Simon took over the company, before Naoki Sugabayashi was appointed president in 2007 after Simon also left NJPW to join Antonio in IGF. After the departure of

8008-729: Was founded by Antonio Inoki on January 13, 1972 after his departure from the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion. The first NJPW event, titled Opening Series , took place on March 6, 1972, in the Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo, to a crowd of 5,000. The following year, NJPW signed a television deal with NET TV, now known as TV Asahi . The company launched its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) ; and in 1983, Hulk Hogan became

8099-504: Was not until April 2007 that the team debuted in TNA, where they had previously been singles wrestlers in the company's X Division . After briefly working together while wrestling as opponents in an Xscape match at the annual Lockdown pay-per-view they became regulars in the tag team division. Initially using the Murder City name, the team's moniker was later changed to the more " PG " Motor City. After Shelley and Sabin had teamed for

8190-556: Was open to returning at a later time. On the March 10, 2022, episode of Impact! , the Motor City Machine Guns reunited as Sabin came out to back Shelley in his feud with their former protégé Jay White , leading to a match scheduled against White and Chris Bey on the March 17 episode. On December 9, 2022, The Guns captured the Impact World Tag Team Championships from Heath and Rhino in Pembroke Pines, Fl. On

8281-408: Was then sold to Bushiroad in 2012, which parlayed its entry to the world of professional wrestling into a best-selling trading card game, King of Pro Wrestling , and appearances from NJPW stars in its various franchises. NJPW was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance at various points in its history. NJPW also had agreements with various MMA and professional wrestling promotions around

#939060