New UWA World Tag Team Champions Crowned in Michinoku Pro

History was made on October 3 at a Michinoku Pro event in Kobe City, when GAINA & Taro Nohashi defeated Jinsei Shinzaki & The Great Sasuke to become the new UWA World Tag Team Champions. This title had previously been unified with the Tohoku Tag Team Championship by Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita in June 2016.

The UWA World Tag Team Championship has an impressive history, with its roots beginning in 1982 in the Mexico-based Universal Wrestling Association. The Japanese team of Riki Choshu and Gran Hamada were the first champions,  and the championship has also been held by Mexican talents such as Los Villanos, Los Brazos, Perro Aguayo, Los Cowboys, as well as the American/Canadian team The Can-Am Connection.

After the UWA closed, its tag-team championship found a new home in Japan, where it was held by talents including Mazada and Nosawa, Kagetora and Kota Ibushi, Speed Of Sounds, Isami Kodaka, Masato Shibata & Shuji Ishikawa, and The Brahman Brothers.

This is not GAINA & Taro Nohashi’s first time holding the  UWA World Tag Team Championship- this is their third reign, with their first reign being the eighth-longest in the history of the championship.

Although no longer the UWA World Tag Team Champions, Jinsei Shinzaki & The Great Sasuke are still holders of the Tohoku Tag Team Championship, a championship that has a lot of legitimacy in its own right, with many great teams being a part of its lineage, including Yapper Man 1 & Yapper Man 2, and Dick Togo and current champion Sasuke.

On a side note, although it is not as well-known, there was also a prestigious
UWA World Women’s Tag Team Championship. Just like its male counterpart, the championship was defended in both Mexico and Japan, with its holders being Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada,  Yumiko Hotta & Takako Inoue, and the last champions, Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda winning it in 2001.