The World's Strongest Tag Determination League (世界最強タッグ決定リーグ戦, Sekai Saikyō Taggu Kettei Rīgu-sen?), 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 (such as a double countout) 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 AJPW Unified 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 in 2012.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima are the only team to win both the World's Strongest Tag Determination League and its counterpart in New Japan Pro Wrestling, the G1 Climax Tag League, as well as the only team to win both tournaments in the same year (2008).
Famous quotes containing the words world, strongest, tag, team and/or league:
“The appearances of goodness and merit often meet with a greater reward from the world than goodness and merit themselves.”
—François, Duc De La Rochefoucauld (1613–1680)
“The strongest wind cannot stagger a Spirit; it is a Spirit’s breath. A just man’s purpose cannot be split on any Grampus or material rock, but itself will split rocks till it succeeds.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I believe in the flesh and the appetites,
Seeing, hearing, feeling, are miracles, and each part and tag of me
is a miracle.
Divine am I inside and out, and I make holy whatever I touch or am touch’d from,
The scent of these arm-pits aroma finer than prayer,
This head more than churches, bibles, and all the creeds.”
—Walt Whitman (1819–1892)
“They’re two good old friends of mine. I call them Constitution and The Bill of Rights. A most dependable team for long journeys. Then I’ve got another one called Missouri Compromise. And a Supreme Court—a fine, dignified horse, though you have to push him on every now and then.”
—Dan Totheroh (1895–1976)
“I am not impressed by the Ivy League establishments. Of course they graduate the best—it’s all they’ll take, leaving to others the problem of educating the country. They will give you an education the way the banks will give you money—provided you can prove to their satisfaction that you don’t need it.”
—Peter De Vries (b. 1910)