Saikyo Tag League


Saikyo Tag League is a professional wrestling round-robin hardcore tag team tournament annually held by Big Japan Pro Wrestling, considered a spin-off of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's World Tag League and All Japan Pro Wrestling's World's Strongest Tag Determination League. The tournament was established in 1999 as Saikyo Tag League and then renamed as Big Japan Tag League in 2011 before returning to its old name Saikyo Tag League in 2014. A new format was introduced in 2014 in which the teams were divided into two blocks, "Strong Style Block" and "Deathmatch Block". The strong style block consists of normal tag team matches and deathmatch block consists of matches contested under deathmatch rules.
The Saikyo Tag League is held under a points system, with 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. Top four teams advance to the semifinals in the knockout format and then the winning teams compete in the finals.

Tournament history

1999

The 1999 Saikyo Tag League was the first edition of the tournament which featured four teams in one block. The tournament was held between October 27 and November 8, 1999.
Ryuji Yamakawa and Tomoaki Honma6
Shadow WX and The Winger4
Kamikaze and Shunme Matsuzaki2
Jun Kasai and Mike Samples0

2000

The 2000 Saikyo Tag League featured a new format as it had eight teams divided into two blocks with four teams in each block. The tournament was held between September 17 and October 30, 2000.

2001

The 2001 Saikyo Tag League consisted of one block with five teams and was held between September 11 and September 23, 2001.
Daisuke Sekimoto and Men's Teioh6
Hideki Hosaka and Kamikaze5
Abdullah Kobayashi and Daikokubō Benkei5
Masato Tanaka and Shunme Matsuzaki4
Fantastik and Ryuji Ito0

2002

The 2002 Saikyo Tag League consisted of total ten teams and two blocks with five teams in each block. The tournament was held between October 8 and October 31, 2002.

2003

The 2003 Saikyo Tag League consisted of one block with five teams and was held between October 8 and November 8, 2003.
Abdullah Kobayashi and Daikokubō Benkei6
2 Tuff Tony and Daisuke Sekimoto6
Men's Teioh and Mr. Big Japan4
Mad Man Pondo and Shadow WX2
Hiroyuki Kondo and Katsumasa Inoue2

2009

The 2009 Saikyo Tag League was the sixth edition of the tournament which marked the return of the tournament after a six-year hiatus. It was held between February 13 and May 28, 2009.


2011

The 2011 Big Japan Tag League was held between September 19 and November 22, 2011.

2012

The 2012 Big Japan Tag League was held between September 25 and November 24, 2012.

2013

The 2013 Saikyo Tag League was held between September 25 and November 22, 2013.

2014

The 2014 Saikyo Tag League featured twelve teams and two blocks with six tag teams in each block. The tournament featured a new format in which one block was named "Strong Style Block" which consisted of matches contested under strong style format and the other block was named "Deathmatch Block" in which matches were contested under deathmatch format. The tournament was held between September 20 and November 21, 2014.

2015

The 2015 Saikyo Tag League featured twelve teams and two blocks with six tag teams in each block. The tournament was held between September 21 and October 29, 2015.

2016

The 2016 Saikyo Tag League featured a unique format as it featured four blocks with each block consisting of four tag teams. Two blocks were Strong Style blocks and two were Deathmatch blocks in the tournament. The tournament was held between September 4 and October 31, 2016.

2017

The 2017 Saikyo Tag League featured twelve teams and two blocks with six tag teams in each block. The tournament was held between September 6 and October 15, 2017.

2018

The 2018 Saikyo Tag League featured a total of fourteen teams with seven teams in each block. The tournament took place between August 12 and October 25, 2018.
Strong Style BlockSuzuki
Sekimoto
D. Hashimoto
Kamitani
K. Hashimoto
Aoki
Kawakami
Kikuta
Hama
Nakanoue
Nomura
Abe
Yoshino
Sekifuda
Suzuki
Sekimoto
Suzuki
Sekimoto
Suzuki
Sekimoto
Kawakami
Kikuta
Hama
Nakanoue
Suzuki
Sekimoto
Yoshina
Sekifuda
D. Hashimoto
Kamitani
Suzuki
Sekimoto
D. Hashimoto
Kamitani
D. Hashimoto
Kamitani
Hama
Nakanoue
D. Hashimoto
Kamitani
D. Hashimoto
Kamitani
K. Hashimoto
Aoki
Suzuki
Sekimoto
D. Hashimoto
Kamitani
Kawakami
Kikuta
Hama
Nakanouse
K. Hashimoto
Aoki
K. Hashimoto
Aoki
Kawakami
Kikuta
Kawakami
Kikuta
D. Hashimoto
Kamitani
Kawakami
Kikuta
Kawakami
Kikuta
Kawakami
Kikuta
Yoshino
Sekifuda
Hama
Nakanoue
Hama
Nakanoue
Hama
Nakanoue
Hama
Nakanouse
Kawakami
Kikuta
Nomura
Abe
Hama
Nakanoue
Nomura
Abe
Suzuki
Sekimoto
D. Hashimoto
Kamitani
K. Hashimoto
Aoki
Kawakami
Kikuta
Nomura
Abe
Yoshino
Sekifuda
Yoshino
Sekifuda
Yoshina
Sekifuda
D. Hashimoto
Kamitani
K. Hashimoto
Aoki
Yoshino
Sekifuda
Hama
Nakanoue
Yoshino
Sekifuda
Deathmatch BlockKobayashi
Uto
Takahashi
Mogami
Miyamoto
Kodaka
Ito
Sekine
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Fujita
Hoshino
Ueki
Sakuda
Kobayashi
Uto
Kobayashi
Uto
Kobayashi
Uto
Ito
Sekine
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Kobayashi
Uto
Kobayashi
Uto
Takahashi
Mogami
Kobayashi
Uto
Takahashi
Mogami
Ito
Sekine
Takahashi
Mogami
Fujita
Hoshino
Takahashi
Mogami
Miyamoto
Kodaka
Kobayashi
Uto
Takahashi
Mogami
Ito
Sekine
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Miyamoto
Kodaka
Miyamoto
Kodaka
Ito
Sekine
Ito
Sekine
Ito
Sekine
Ito
Sekine
Ito
Sekine
Ito
Sekine
Ueki
Sakuda
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Takahashi
Mogami
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Ito
Sekine
Fujita
Hoshino
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Fujita
Hoshino
Kobayashi
Uto
Fujita
Hoshino
Miyamoto
Kodaka
Ito
Sekine
Fujita
Hoshino
Ueki
Sakuda
Kobayashi
Uto
Takahashi
Mogami
Miyamoto
Kodaka
Ueki
Sakuda
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Ueki
Sakuda

2019

The 2019 Saikyo Tag League featured a total of fifteen teams, with eight teams in the Strong Style Block and seven teams in the Deathmatch Block. The tournament took place between September 1 and November 26, 2019.
Strong Style BlockSekimoto
Bodyguard
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Hama
Nakanoue
Kikuta
Kawakami
Abe
Nomura
Hyodo
Kato
Lindaman
T-Hawk
Irie
Okabayashi
Sekimoto
Bodyguard
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Sekimoto
Bodyguard
Kikuta
Kawakami
Abe
Nomura
Sekimoto
Bodyguard
Sekimoto
Bodyguard
Sekimoto
Bodyguard
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Hama
Nakanoue
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Irie
Okabayashi
Hama
Nakanoue
Sekimoto
Bodyguard
Hama
Nakanoue
Kikuta
Kawakami
Hama
Nakanoue
Hama
Nakanoue
Lindaman
T-Hawk
Irie
Okabayashi
Kikuta
Kawakami
Kikuta
Kawakami
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Kikuta
Kawakami
Abe
Nomura
Kikuta
Kawakami
Lindaman
T-Hawk
Kikuta
Kawakami
Abe
Nomura
Abe
Nomura
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Hama
Nakanoue
Abe
Nomura
Abe
Nomura
Lindaman
T-Hawk
Irie
Okabayashi
Hyodo
Kato
Sekimoto
Bodyguard
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Hama
Nakanoue
Kikuta
Kawakami
Abe
Nomura
Lindaman
T-Hawk
Irie
Okabayashi
Lindaman
T-Hawk
Sekimoto
Bodyguard
Hashimoto
Kamitani
Lindaman
T-Hawk
Lindaman
T-Hawk
Lindaman
T-Hawk
Lindaman
T-Hawk
Irie
Okabayashi
Irie
Okabayashi
Sekimoto
Bodyguard
Irie
Okabayashi
Irie
Okabayashi
Kikuta
Kawakami
Irie
Okabayashi
Irie
Okabayashi
Irie
Okabayashi
Deathmatch BlockKodaka
Miyamoto
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Ito
Page
Kobayashi
Hoshino
Uto
Parker
Sakuda
Ishikawa
Takahashi
Ueki
-
Kodaka
Miyamoto
Kodaka
Miyamoto
Ito
Page
Kobayashi
Hoshino
Kodaka
Miyamoto
Sakuda
Ishikawa
Kodaka
Miyamoto
-
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Kodaka
Miyamoto
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Takeda
Tsukamoto
-
Ito
Page
Ito
Page
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Ito
Page
Ito
Page
Sakuda
Ishikawa
Ito
Page
-
Kobayashi
Hoshino
Kobayashi
Hoshino
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Ito
Page
Kobayashi
Hoshino
Kobayashi
Hoshino
Kobayashi
Hoshino
-
Uto
Parker
Kodaka
Miyamoto
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Ito
Page
Kobayashi
Hoshino
Uto
Parker
Uto
Parker
-
Sakuda
Ishikawa
Sakuda
Ishikawa
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Sakuda
Ishikawa
Kobayashi
Hoshino
Uto
Parker
Takahashi
Ueki
-
Takahashi
Ueki
Kodaka
Miyamoto
Takeda
Tsukamoto
Ito
Page
Kobayashi
Hoshino
Uto
Parker
Takahashi
Ueki
-

2020

The 2020 Saikyo Tag League took place as a single-elimination tournament between September 23 and October 20, 2020.

2022

The 2022 Saikyo Tag League was held from September 4 to February 13, 2023, with the format returning to its traditional round-robin instead of a single-elimination tournament. The tournament featured 18 teams, divided into two blocks of nine teams each.