Tag League the Best

The Tag League the Best (タッグリーグ・ザ・ベスト, Taggu Rīgu Za Besuto) was an annual professional wrestling tag team tournament, founded by All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), which held it from 1985 to 2004 (with no tournament taking place in 1990). After the folding of AJW in 2005, the tournament was adopted by its one-time rival and later associate promotion, JWP Joshi Puroresu, which held it annually from 2011 to 2016.

The tournament is usually held under round-robin rules with only the 2004 and 2016 tournaments having been held in a single-elimination format. The tournament's points system has varied throughout the years. From 1985 to 1992, a win was worth one point, a draw half a point and a loss zero points. From 1993 onwards a win has been worth two points, a draw one point and a loss zero points. When JWP took over promoting the tournament in 2011, it was moved to the beginning of the year from its usual position at the end of the year. JWP was also the first to introduce two round-robin blocks in the tournament instead of the usual single block system used by AJW. In AJW, the winners usually received a shot at the WWWA World Tag Team Championship, were they not already the reigning champions, while in JWP the tournament was used to determine the number one contenders to the unified Daily Sports Women's and JWP Tag Team Championships.

Due to the tournament's unusual name, it has sometimes been referred to as "The Best Tag (Team) League" by English language reporters,[1][2][3][4][5] however, the tournament's Japanese promoters have always called it "Tag League the Best".[6][7]

Manami Toyota holds the record for most Tag League the Best wins with five, all with different partners.[2][3] No tag team has been able to win the tournament twice. Madusa Miceli is the only non-Japanese wrestler to be part of a winning team in the tournament.

  1. ^ "AJW The Best Tag League 1980s". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  2. ^ a b "AJW The Best Tag League 1990s". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  3. ^ a b "AJW The Best Tag League 2000s". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  4. ^ Woodward, Buck (October 11, 2010). "This day in history: Ultimo Dragon wins eight belts in one match, Savage vs. Lawler and more". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  5. ^ Johnson, Mike (December 23, 2012). "12/23 This day in history: Homicide wins ROH title, the final event for the original ECW in the ECW Arena and more". Pro Wrestling Insider. Retrieved March 31, 2013.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference AJW101500 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference TagLeaguetheBest2013Info was invoked but never defined (see the help page).