Wikipedia

List of NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champions

The NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion.

Current champions Toru Yano (left), Oleg Boltin (center) and Hiroshi Tanahashi (right)

NEVER is an acronym of the terms "New Blood", "Evolution", "Valiantly", "Eternal", and "Radical" and was a NJPW-promoted series of events, which featured younger up-and-coming talent and outside wrestlers not signed to the promotion.[1] The title was announced on December 21, 2015,[2][3] with the first champions crowned on January 4, 2016.[4][5] Through NJPW's relationship with Ring of Honor (ROH), the title has also been defended in the American promotion.[6] The championship is contested for by teams of three wrestlers and is the first title of its kind in the history of NJPW.[2] The title's openweight nature means that both heavyweight and junior heavyweight wrestlers are eligible to challenge for it.

Chaos (Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe and Toru Yano) were the first champions in the title's history.[7] Los Ingobernables de Japón (Bushi, Evil and Sanada) and Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii, Toru Yano, and Beretta) both hold the record for shortest reign at 1 day each, while Chaos (Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi) hold the record for longest reign at 454 days and record for most defenses at 9 defenses. Los Ingobernables de Japón also hold the record for most reigns as a team with three. Individually, Bushi and Evil hold the record for title defenses with 6 each. Bushi, Evil, Tonga, and Yano share the record for individual reigns at 4 each. As a faction, Bullet Club have held the titles on the most occasions (The Elite and Super Villains were part of Bullet Club while holding the titles) though never more than twice with the same three wrestlers.

The current champions are Toru Yano, Oleg Boltin and Hiroshi Tanahashi, who are in their first reign as a team, while it's the fifth individually for Tanahashi and Yano, and first for Boltin. They defeated House of Torture (Evil, Sho and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) at Wrestling World 2024 in Taiwan at the Zepp New Taipei in New Taipei City, Taiwan.

Title history edit

Key
No. Overall reign number
Reign Reign number for the specific team—reign numbers for the individuals are in parentheses, if different
Days Number of days held
Defenses Number of successful defenses
+ Current reign is changing daily
No. Champion Championship change Reign statistics Notes Ref.
Date Event Location Reign Days Defenses
1 Toru Yano and The Briscoe Brothers
(Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) 		January 4, 2016 Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan 1 38 1[8] Defeated Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi) to become the inaugural champions. [7]
2 Bullet Club
(Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi) 		February 11, 2016 The New Beginning in Osaka Osaka, Japan 1 3 0 [9]
3 Toru Yano and The Briscoe Brothers
(Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe) 		February 14, 2016 The New Beginning in Niigata Nagaoka, Japan 2 6 0 [10]
4 The Elite
(Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) 		February 20, 2016 Honor Rising: Japan 2016 Tokyo, Japan 1 50 2[11] [12]
5 Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin and Yoshitatsu April 10, 2016 Invasion Attack 2016 Tokyo, Japan 1 23 1 [13]
6 The Elite
(Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) 		May 3, 2016 Wrestling Dontaku 2016 Fukuoka, Japan 2 61 0 [14]
7 Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima July 3, 2016 Kizuna Road 2016 Takizawa, Japan 1 84 0 [15]
— Vacated September 25, 2016 — — — — — Title vacated due to Sydal failing to make a scheduled championship defense because of "travel issues". [16]
8 David Finlay, Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima September 25, 2016 Destruction in Kobe Kobe, Japan 1
(1, 2, 2) 		101 1 Defeated Superkliq (Adam Cole, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) to win the vacant title. [17]
9 Los Ingobernables de Japón
(Bushi, Evil and Sanada) 		January 4, 2017 Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan 1 1 0 This was a gauntlet match, also involving Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Hangman Page and Yujiro Takahashi) and Chaos (Jado, Will Ospreay and Yoshi-Hashi). [18]
10 Taguchi Japan
(Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi) 		January 5, 2017 New Year Dash!! Tokyo, Japan 1
(2, 1, 1) 		37 0 [19]
11 Los Ingobernables de Japón
(Bushi, Evil and Sanada) 		February 11, 2017 The New Beginning in Osaka Osaka, Japan 2 52 1 [20]
12 Taguchi Japan
(Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi) 		April 4, 2017 Road to Sakura Genesis 2017 Tokyo, Japan 1
(3, 3, 2) 		29 0 [21]
13 Los Ingobernables de Japón
(Bushi, Evil and Sanada) 		May 3, 2017 Wrestling Dontaku 2017 Fukuoka, Japan 3 228 3 [22]
14 Bullet Club
(Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) 		December 17, 2017 Road to Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan 1
(2, 2, 1) 		18 0 [23]
15 Chaos
(Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) 		January 4, 2018 Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan 1
(1, 1, 3) 		1 0 This was a gauntlet match, also involving Michael Elgin and War Machine (Hanson and Raymond Rowe), Suzuki-gun (Taichi, Takashi Iizuka and Zack Sabre Jr.) and Taguchi Japan (Juice Robinson, Ryusuke Taguchi and Togi Makabe). [24]
16 Bullet Club
(Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa 		January 5, 2018 New Year Dash!! Tokyo, Japan 2
(3, 3, 2) 		118 3 [25]
17 Super Villains
(Marty Scurll, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) 		May 3, 2018 Wrestling Dontaku 2018 Fukuoka, Japan 1
(1, 3, 3) 		101 0 [26]
18 Bullet Club
(Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Taiji Ishimori) 		August 12, 2018 G1 Climax 28 Tokyo, Japan 1
(4, 3, 1) 		171 2 [27]
19 Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe and Toru Yano January 30, 2019 Road to The New Beginning Miyagi, Japan 1
(3, 1, 4) 		340 4 [28]
20 Los Ingobernables de Japón
(Bushi, Evil and Shingo Takagi) 		January 5, 2020 Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome Tokyo, Japan 1
(4, 4, 1) 		208 2 This was a gauntlet match, also involving Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Yujiro Takahashi, and Chase Owens), Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi-Hashi, and Robbie Eagles) and Suzuki-gun (Taichi, El Desperado, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru). [29]
— Vacated July 31, 2020 — — — — — After leaving Los Ingobernables de Japón during the finals of the New Japan Cup on July 11, 2020, Evil claimed on July 12 that he had "no interest" in defending the title with his former stablemates, leading NJPW to eventually vacate the championship. [30][31][32]
21 Chaos
(Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi) 		August 9, 2020 Summer Struggle 2020 Tokyo, Japan 1
(1, 2, 1) 		454 9 Defeated fellow Chaos stablemates Kazuchika Okada, Toru Yano and Sho in the finals of an eight-team tournament to win the vacant titles. [33][34]
22 House of Torture
(Evil, Sho and Yujiro Takahashi) 		November 6, 2021 Power Struggle Osaka, Japan 1
(5, 1, 2) 		241 4 [35]
23 Chaos
(Hirooki Goto, Yoh and Yoshi-Hashi) 		July 5, 2022 New Japan Road Tokyo, Japan 1
(2, 1, 2) 		80 0 [36]
24 House of Torture
(Evil, Sho and Yujiro Takahashi) 		September 23, 2022 New Japan Burning Spirit Takamatsu, Japan 2
(6, 2, 3) 		141 1 This was a tornado dog cage match. [37]
25 Strong Style
(Ren Narita, Minoru Suzuki and El Desperado) 		February 11, 2023 The New Beginning in Osaka (2023) Osaka, Japan 1 81 1 If House of Torture did not defend, they would have been stripped of the titles. [38]
26 Hiroshi Tanahashi and Chaos
(Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada) 		May 3, 2023 Wrestling Dontaku Fukuoka, Japan 1
(4, 3, 1) 		266 8 [39]
— Vacated January 24, 2024 Road to the New Beginning 2024 Tokyo, Japan — — — After a successful defense against The Mighty Don't Kneel (Kosei Fujita, Mikey Nicholls and Shane Thorne), Okada, whose contract with NJPW expired on that day, announced that he was vacating the titles. [40]
27 Toru Yano, Oleg Boltin and Hiroshi Tanahashi April 14, 2024 Wrestling World 2024 in Taiwan Taipei, Taiwan 1
(5, 1, 5) 		9+ 1 Defeated House of Torture (Evil, Sho and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) in a four-team tournament to win the vacant titles. [41]

Combined reigns edit

As of April 23, 2024.

 
Los Ingobernables de Japón (Sanada, Bushi and Evil), record three-time champions
† Indicates the current champion

By team edit

Rank Team No. of
reigns 		Combined
defenses 		Combined
days
1 Chaos
(Hirooki Goto, Tomohiro Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi) 		1 9 454
2 House of Torture
(Evil, Sho and Yujiro Takahashi) 		2 5 382
3 Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe, and Toru Yano 1 4 340
4 Los Ingobernables de Japón
(Bushi, Evil, and Sanada) 		3 4 281
5 Hiroshi Tanahashi and Chaos
(Tomohiro Ishii and Kazuchika Okada) 		1 8 266
6 Los Ingobernables de Japón
(Bushi, Evil and Shingo Takagi) 		1 2 208
7 Bullet Club
(Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa and Taiji Ishimori) 		1 2 171
8 Bullet Club
(Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa) 		2 3 136
9 The Elite
(Kenny Omega, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) 		2 2 111
10 David Finlay Jr., Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima 1 1 101
Super Villains
(Marty Scurll, Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) 		1 0 101
12 Matt Sydal, Ricochet and Satoshi Kojima 1 0 84
13 Strong Style
(Ren Narita, Minoru Suzuki, and El Desperado) 		1 1 81
14 Chaos
(Hirooki Goto, Yoh and Yoshi-Hashi) 		1 0 80
15 Chaos
(Jay Briscoe, Mark Briscoe and Toru Yano) 		2 1 44
16 Taguchi Japan
(Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi) 		1 0 37
17 Taguchi Japan
(Hiroshi Tanahashi, Ricochet and Ryusuke Taguchi) 		1 0 29
18 Hiroshi Tanahashi, Michael Elgin and Yoshitatsu 1 1 23
19 Toru Yano, Oleg Boltin and Hiroshi Tanahashi † 1 1 9+
20 Bullet Club
(Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi) 		1 0 3
21 Chaos
(Beretta, Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano) 		1 0 1

By wrestler edit

 
Evil holds the record for most reigns, with 6 and the longest combined days as champion, with 871 days.
Rank Wrestler No. of
reigns 		Combined
defenses 		Combined
days
1 Evil 6 11 871
2 Tomohiro Ishii 3 17 721
3 Hirooki Goto 2 9 534
Yoshi-Hashi
5 Bushi 4 6 489
6 Ryusuke Taguchi 3 4 406
7 Toru Yano † 5 6 394+
8 Yujiro Takahashi 3 5 385
9 Sho 2 5 382
10 Hiroshi Tanahashi † 5 10 364+
11 Togi Makabe 1 4 340
12 Tama Tonga 4 5 310
13 Tanga Loa 3 5 307
14 Sanada 3 4 281
15 Kazuchika Okada 1 8 266
16 Ricochet 3 1 214
17 Matt Jackson 3 2 212
Nick Jackson
19 Shingo Takagi 1 2 208
20 Satoshi Kojima 2 1 185
21 Taiji Ishimori 1 2 171
22 Bad Luck Fale 3 3 139
23 Kenny Omega 2 2 111
24 David Finlay Jr. 1 1 101
Marty Scurll 0
26 Matt Sydal 1 0 84
27 Minoru Suzuki 1 1 80
El Desperado
Ren Narita
30 Yoh 1 0 80
31 Jay Briscoe 2 1 44
Mark Briscoe
33 Manabu Nakanishi 1 0 37
34 Michael Elgin 1 1 23
Yoshitatsu
36 Oleg Boltin † 1 1 9+
37 Beretta 1 0 1

References edit

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External links edit

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