World's Strongest Tag Determination League
The World's Strongest Tag Determination League, more commonly known in the West as the Real World Tag League, is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling since 1977, usually, run on the first weeks of December. The first tournament was actually called the Open Tag League, but it was renamed to its present name the following year.
The tournament is held under round-robin rules, with 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw, and 0 for a loss; in earlier tournaments, only a time limit draw would provide the one point, with other methods providing nothing for either team.
The name "Real World Tag League" was a mistranslation by AJPW promoter Giant Baba; "saikyō" in Japanese means "strongest," not "real", but Baba used Engrish for promotional material.
Between 1988 and 1994, the World Tag Team Championship was annually vacated in time for the tournament, which would be used to determine the new champions. The rule was reinstated for the 2012 tournament, but was again ignored the following year, but was reinstated in 2014. In 2000 and 2015 the vacancy was determined by separate post-tournament playoffs between the 2nd and 3rd places.
Ten-Koji are the only team to win both the World's Strongest Tag Determination League and its counterpart in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the World Tag League, as well as the only team to win both tournaments in the same year.
Results
List of winners
1977
The 1977 Tag League, featuring 9 teams, was held from December 2 to December 15.| Wrestlers | Score |
| Dory Funk Jr. and Terry Funk | 14 |
| Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta | 13 |
| Abdullah the Butcher and The Sheik | 12 |
| Rusher Kimura and The Great Kusatsu | 8 |
| Kim Duk and Kintarō Ōki | 8 |
| Horst Hoffman and Billy Robinson | 7 |
| The Destroyer and Texas Red | 4 |
| Rocky Hata and Genichiro Tenryu | 1 |
| Mighty Inoue and Akihisa Takachiho | 1 |
1978
The 1978 Tag League, featuring 6 teams, was held from December 1 to December 15. Abdullah the Butcher used both The Sheik and Tor Kamata as partners.| Wrestlers | Score |
| Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta | 7 |
| Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk | 6 |
| Abdullah the Butcher and Tor Kamata/The Sheik | 4 |
| Nick Bockwinkel and Blackjack Lanza | 4 |
| Billy Robinson and Wild Angus | 3 |
| Kim Duk and Kintarō Ōki | 0 |
1979
The 1979 Tag League, featuring 7 teams, was held from November 30 to December 13.| Wrestlers | Score |
| Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk | 11 |
| Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta | 9 |
| Abdullah the Butcher and The Sheik | 8 |
| Dos Caras and Mil Máscaras | 6 |
| Tor Kamata and Kintarō Ōki | 4 |
| The Masked Strangler and Mr. Wrestling | 2 |
| Frank Hill and Wahoo McDaniel | 0 |
1980
The 1980 Tag League, featuring 7 teams, was held from November 28 to December 11.| Wrestlers | Score |
| Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta | 9 |
| Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk | 8 |
| Abdullah the Butcher and Tor Kamata | 8 |
| Nick Bockwinkel and Jim Brunzell | 4 |
| Dick Slater and Ricky Steamboat | 4 |
| Billy Robinson and Les Thornton | 3 |
| The Great Mephisto and The Sheik | 0 |
1981
The 1981 Tag League, featuring 9 teams, was held from November 27 to December 13. Winners Bruiser Brody and Jimmy Snuka were the first winners to never win the World Tag Team Championship or its predecessors the International or PWF titles, as Stan Hansen, who had recently jumped from New Japan Pro-Wrestling and helped Brody and Snuka win the final, became Brody's new regular tag team partner beginning the following year.| Wrestlers | Score |
| Bruiser Brody and Jimmy Snuka | 12 |
| Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta | 11 |
| Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk | 11 |
| Tiger Jeet Singh and Umanosuke Ueda | 10 |
| Larry Hennig and Harley Race | 8 |
| Mark Lewin and The Sheik | 4 |
| Karl Krupp and Baron von Raschke | 2 |
| The Great Kojika and Motoshi Okuma | 2 |
| Ashura Hara and Genichiro Tenryu | 2 |
1982
The 1982 Tag League, featuring 7 teams, was held from November 26 to December 13.| Wrestlers | Score |
| Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk | 9 |
| Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen | 8 |
| Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta | 8 |
| Harley Race and Dick Slater | 7 |
| Ashura Hara and Genichiro Tenryu | 5 |
| Ricky Steamboat and Jay Youngblood | 3 |
| Super Destroyer and Umanosuke Ueda | 0 |
1983
The 1983 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 25 to December 12.| Wrestlers | Score |
| Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen | 12 |
| Dory Funk, Jr. and Giant Baba | 11 |
| Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta | 11 |
| Dos Caras and Mil Máscaras | 6 |
| Tiger Jeet Singh and Umanosuke Ueda | 6 |
| Ron Fuller and Barry Windham | 4 |
| Ashura Hara and Mighty Inoue | 2 |
| The Mongolian and Goro Tsurumi | 0 |
1984
The 1984 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 22 to December 12.| Wrestlers | Score |
| Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta | 11 |
| Bruiser Brody and Stan Hansen | 10 |
| Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk | 10 |
| Nick Bockwinkel and Harley Race | 10 |
| Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith | 7 |
| Giant Baba and Rusher Kimura | 2 |
| One Man Gang and Goro Tsurumi | 2 |
| Mike Shaw and Tiger Jeet Singh | 0 |
| Results | Baba Kimura | Bockwinkel Race | Brody Hansen | Dory Terry | Gang Tsurumi | Kid Smith | Shaw Singh | Tenryu Tsuruta |
| Baba Kimura | Bockwinkel Race | Brody Hansen | Dory Terry | Baba Kimura | Kid Smith | Double Forfeit | Tenryu Tsuruta | |
| Bockwinkel Race | Bockwinkel Race | DCO | Draw | Bockwinkel Race | Bockwinkel Race | Bockwinkel Race | Draw | |
| Brody Hansen | Brody Hansen | DCO | Brody Hansen | Brody Hansen | Brody Hansen | Brody Hansen | Tenryu Tsuruta | |
| Dory Terry | Dory Terry | Draw | Brody Hansen | Dory Terry | Dory Terry | Dory Terry | Draw | |
| Gang Tsurumi | Baba Kimura | Bockwinkel Race | Brody Hansen | Dory Terry | Kid Smith | Gang Tsurumi | Tenryu Tsuruta | |
| Kid Smith | Kid Smith | Bockwinkel Race | Brody Hansen | Dory Terry | Kid Smith | Kid Smith | Draw | |
| Shaw Singh | Double Forfeit | Bockwinkel Race | Brody Hansen | Dory Terry | Gang Tsurumi | Kid Smith | Tenryu Tsuruta | |
| Tenryu Tsuruta | Tenryu Tsuruta | Draw | Tenryu Tsuruta | Draw | Tenryu Tsuruta | Draw | Tenryu Tsuruta |
1985
The 1985 Tag League, featuring 8 teams, was held from November 23 to December 12.| Wrestlers | Score |
| Ted DiBiase and Stan Hansen | 7 |
| Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta | 6 |
| Jesse Barr and Harley Race | 6 |
| Giant Baba and Dory Funk, Jr. | 6 |
| Riki Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu | 6 |
| Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith | 5 |
| Nick Bockwinkel and Curt Hennig | 5 |
| Ashura Hara and Rusher Kimura | 5 |
1986
The 1986 Tag League, featuring 9 teams, was held from November 22 to December 12.| Wrestlers | Score |
| Genichiro Tenryu and Jumbo Tsuruta | 10 |
| Ted DiBiase and Stan Hansen | 10 |
| Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk | 9 |
| Riki Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu | 9 |
| Terry Gordy and Killer Khan | 8 |
| Giant Baba and Tiger Mask II | 6 |
| Rick Martel and Tom Zenk | 6 |
| Rusher Kimura and Goro Tsurumi | 4 |
| Ashura Hara and Super Strong Machine | 0 |