The World Tag League is a professional wrestling round-robin tag team tournament held by New Japan Pro Wrestling as a spin-off of the popular singles tournament, the G1 Climax. It was created in 1991 as the Super Grade Tag League, as a continuation of a regular tag team tournament held since 1980, gaining its current name in 1999. The winners of the tournament, assuming they do not already hold the belts, obtain #1 contendership to the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
The World Tag League is held under a points system, with 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. The current format, introduced in 2006, is essentially identical to that of the G1 Climax, with the top two scoring teams from two blocks of five or six advancing to the semifinals, and the winners of those matches battling in the final.
World Tag League winners[]
| Tournament | Year | Winners | Total won As a team |
Reference |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSG Tag League | 1980 | Antonio Inoki and Bob Backlund | 1 | |
| MSG Tag League | 1981 | André the Giant and René Goulet | 1 | |
| MSG Tag League | 1982 | Antonio Inoki (2) and Hulk Hogan | 1 | |
| MSG Tag League | 1983 | Antonio Inoki (3) and Hulk Hogan (2) | 2 | |
| MSG Tag League | 1984 | Antonio Inoki (4) and Tatsumi Fujinami | 1 | |
| IWGP Tag Title League | 1985 | Tatsumi Fujinami (2) and Kengo Kimura | 1 | |
| Japan Cup Tag League | 1986 | Antonio Inoki (5) and Yoshiaki Fujiwara | 1 | |
| Japan Cup Tag League | 1987 | Tatsumi Fujinami (3) and Kengo Kimura (2) | 2 | |
| Super Grade Tag League | 1991 | Tatsumi Fujinami (4) and Big Van Vader | 1 | |
| Super Grade Tag League | 1992 | Riki Choshu and Shinya Hashimoto | 1 | |
| Super Grade Tag League | 1993 | Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh | 1 | |
| Super Grade Tag League | 1994 | Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh | 2 | |
| Super Grade Tag League | 1995 | Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 1 | |
| Super Grade Tag League | 1996 | Shinya Hashimoto (2) and Scott Norton | 1 | |
| Super Grade Tag League | 1997 | Masahiro Chono (2) and Keiji Mutoh (3) | 1 | |
| Super Grade Tag League | 1998 | Satoshi Kojima and Keiji Mutoh (4) | 1 | |
| G1 Climax Tag League | 1999 | Keiji Mutoh (5) and Scott Norton (2) | 1 | |
| G1 Climax Tag League | 2000 | Takashi Iizuka and Yuji Nagata | 1 | |
| G1 Climax Tag League | 2001 | Satoshi Kojima (2) and Hiroyoshi Tenzan (2) | 1 | |
| G1 Climax Tag League | 2003 | Osamu Nishimura and Hiroyoshi Tenzan (3) | 1 | |
| G1 Climax Tag League | 2006 | Masahiro Chono (3) and Shinsuke Nakamura | 1 | |
| G1 Climax Tag League | 2007 | Giant Bernard and Travis Tomko | 1 | |
| G1 Climax Tag League | 2008 | Satoshi Kojima (3) and Hiroyoshi Tenzan (4) | 1 | |
| G1 Climax Tag League | 2009 | Karl Anderson and Giant Bernard (2) | 1 | |
| G1 Climax Tag League | 2010 | Yuji Nagata (2) and Wataru Inoue | 1 | |
| G1 Climax Tag League | 2011 | Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki | 1 | |
| World Tag League | 2012 | Hirooki Goto and Karl Anderson (2) | 1 | |
| World Tag League | 2013 | Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson (3) | 1 | |
| World Tag League | 2014 | Hirooki Goto (2) and Katsuyori Shibata | 1 | |
| World Tag League | 2015 | Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma | 1 | |
| World Tag League | 2016 | Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma | 2 | |
| World Tag League | 2017 | Evil and Sanada | 1 | |
| World Tag League | 2018 | Evil and Sanada | 2 | |
| World Tag League | 2019 | David Finlay and Juice Robinson | 1 | |
| World Tag League | 2020 | Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa | 1 |