Taguchi Japan


Taguchi Japan is a professional wrestling stable in the Japanese promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling. The group was formed the night after Wrestle Kingdom 11 on January 5, 2017. Starting out as a trio, the stable named Ryusuke Taguchi as their leader, and have gone on to primarily feud with Los Ingobernables de Japon over the IWGP Intercontinental, IWGP Junior Heavyweight and NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships.
The group was formed by Hiroshi Tanahashi, Manabu Nakanishi and Ryusuke Taguchi, and later came to include Juice Robinson, Michael Elgin and Ricochet. The stable initially found its roots as a tag team consisting of Tanahashi and Elgin, who had teamed with Robinson in the past. After an eye injury suffered by Elgin, Tanahashi teamed with Nakanishi and Taguchi to capture the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship from Los Ingobernables de Japon. Once Elgin was healed, he was invited into the stable, along with Juice Robinson and Ricochet, the latter of whom had recently lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to L.I.J. Their membership was certified when Ricochet teamed with Taguchi and Tanahashi to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship on April 4. After Robinson and David Finlay captured the IWGP Tag Team Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 14, Taguchi Japan became the third stable to win every active championship in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Taguchi Japan has an open door policy, where several wrestlers such as Yoshitatsu, Katsuya Kitamura and War Machine have made one-off appearances representing the stable.

History

Background (2016)

Through ROH's working relationship with NJPW, Ring of Honor mainstay Michael Elgin made his debut for NJPW by taking part in the 2015 G1 Climax between July 23 and August 15. Elgin quickly became popular among Japanese crowds and his performance in the tournament was called a "career resurgence". On February 20, it was reported that Elgin had signed a two-year deal with NJPW. This was confirmed by NJPW on March 3 and on March 20, he and Hiroshi Tanahashi teamed with Juice Robinson to unsuccessfully challenge Bullet Club for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On April 10, Elgin and Tanahashi teamed with Yoshitatsu at Invasion Attack 2016, to win the titles from Bullet Club. They made their first successful defense on April 23 against Bad Luck Fale, Kenny Omega and Yujiro Takahashi. before losing the championships back to The Elite at Wrestling Dontaku 2016.
On June 19 at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, Elgin replaced an injured Hiroshi Tanahashi and defeated Kenny Omega in NJPW's first ever ladder match to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion. On September 25 at Destruction in Kobe, Elgin lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Tetsuya Naito, beginning a feud between Elgin, Tanahashi and several others with Naito's Los Ingobernables de Japon stable. At Wrestle Kingdom 11, Tanahashi unsuccessfully challenged Naito for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.

Taguchi Japan (2017–present)

On January 5, 2017, the day after Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome, Tanahashi teamed with Ryusuke Taguchi and Manabu Nakanishi to defeat Los Ingobernables de Japon, while Kushida lost the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship to Will Ospreay. Ricochet blamed himself for Funky Future's loss and resigned not only from Taguchi Japan, but NJPW altogether immediately following the match.
Taguchi Japan's struggles continued into early 2018. At Wrestle Kingdom 12 on January 4, Taguchi and Robinson teamed with Togi Makabe in an attempt to recapture the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship as part of a five-team gauntlet match. Taguchi Japan was the fourth team to enter the match, but was quickly eliminated by eventual winners CHAOS when Toru Yano managed to roll up Taguchi for a pinfall. Kushida was also unsuccessful in winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in a four-way match, losing to Will Ospreay. However Tanahashi was successful in defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Jay White. The following day at New Year Dash, Taguchi, Kushida, Robinson, Finlay, and Kota Ibushi lost a 10-man tag team match to Bullet Club. At The New Beginning in Sapporo Taguchi was unsuccessful in challenging for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship with Makabe and Toa Henare as his partners. The group suffered its biggest loss to date that same night when Tanahashi lost the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to Minoru Suzuki.
The stable's luck took a downward spiral in the following months, with Tanahashi, Robinson and Elgin failing to win the New Japan Cup. At Sakura Genesis 2018 Tanahashi, Robinson and Finlay defeated Chaos members NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto, IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion Jay White and Yoshi-Hashi. Later in the night, Tanahashi would confront IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada after Okada defeated Zack Sabre Jr. to tie Tanahashi's record for most successful title defenses with 11, indicating a potential title match in the near future. That same night IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay would call out Kushida to be his next challenger at Wrestling Dontaku. Taguchi and Makabe were once again unsuccessful in winning the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, this time Elgin as their partner.
In the build-up to the Wrestling Dontaku shows, Finlay challenged Jay White for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship while Robinson challenged Hirooki Goto for his NEVER Openweight Championship. Both were unsuccessful in their matches. On the second night of Wrestling Dontaku, Tanahashi was unsuccessful in winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and in the process having his record of most successful title defences in one reign broken, as Okada defended the championship successfully for the 12th time. Kushida was also unsuccessful in winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from Will Ospreay. Four members of Taguchi Japan would enter 2018 Best of the Super Juniors, with Kushida, Taguchi, Dragon Lee and ACH unsuccessful in the tournament.
The group's success began to turn a month later at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall when Finlay and Robinson teamed again to defeat Jay White and Yoshi-Hashi in a tag team match, with Robinson pinning White to set him up as White's next challenger for the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. Later on in the night Michael Elgin defeated NEVER Openweight Champion Hirooki Goto and Taichi in a three-way match to win the title. Although just over a week later Elgin lost the title back to Goto in a singles match. The following month at the G1 Special in San Francisco, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kushida were defeated by Bullet Club members Hangman Page and Marty Scurll in a tag team match, while Dragon Lee was defeated by new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Hiromu Takahashi. However Juice Robinson would score the biggest win of his career by defeating Jay White to win the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.
That same month, Elgin, Makabe, Robinson and Tanahashi would each enter the G1 Climax, with Elgin, Makabe and Tanahashi competing in Block A and Robinson competing in Block B. Elgin, Makabe and Robinson would be unsuccessful in the tournament, scoring only three wins each, with Tanahashi defeating Makabe in their head to head match while Elgin would lose to both Makabe and Tanahashi. However Tanahashi would go on to win his third G1 Climax, defeating Kota Ibushi in the final and setting the record for most points in the twenty-man tournament format with fifteen points. On the same night of the G1 Climax final, Robinson would be attacked by Cody after losing a tag team match to him, marking himself as Robinson's first challenger to the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, who he would lose the title to. At Wrestle Kingdom 13, Kushida would lose his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, while Robinson would regain the IWGP United States Championship and Tanahashi winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in the main event. On January 7, 2019 Kushida announced he would be leaving New Japan Pro-Wrestling. On January 30 at Road to The New Beginning, the team of Taguchi, Toru Yano, and Togi Makabe defeated Bullet Club members Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, and Taiji Ishimori to capture the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship.

Members

Current

Former

Part-time

Sub-groups

Timeline

Championships and accomplishments