Apollo 55
| Apollo 55 | |
|---|---|
| Tag team | |
| Members |
Prince Devitt Ryusuke Taguchi |
| Name(s) | Apollo 55 |
| Heights | Devitt: 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Taguchi: 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) |
| Combined weight |
172 kg (379 lb) |
| Debut | January 30, 2009 |
| Disbanded | April 7, 2013 |
| Years active | 2009–2013 |
| Promotions |
DDT K-Dojo NJPW Noah Riki Pro |
Apollo 55 (アポロ・ゴー・ゴー Aporo Gō Gō?) was the professional wrestling tag team of Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi. One of the most accomplished junior heavyweight tag teams in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) history, the team held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship four times and successfully defended it during their second reign record-setting seven times. While members of Apollo 55, Devitt and Taguchi also accomplished several singles achievements with Devitt holding the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship three times, while both he and Taguchi managed to win the annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament. After four years of teaming together, the team disbanded in April 2013.
On January 4, 2009, at New Japan Pro Wrestling's (NJPW) Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome, The Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin), representatives of American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), defeated No Limit (Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro) for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Following the event, several teams emerged as candidates to bring the title back to NJPW. After two of these teams, No Limit and Unione (Milano Collection A.T. and Taichi), wrestled to a draw on January 30, former IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Ryusuke Taguchi entered the ring alongside Irish wrestler Prince Devitt to announce that the two were also entering the race for a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. Devitt's longtime tag team partner Minoru had recently left NJPW, leading to the promotion putting him and Taguchi together because of their similarities in both age and size, despite the fact that neither of them could speak the other's language. On February 15, Devitt and Taguchi failed to earn a shot at the title, when they were defeated in a four-way number one contender's match by No Limit. After No Limit failed to regain the title from The Motor City Machine Guns, NJPW announced that Devitt and Taguchi were next in line for a shot at the title. On April 1, Devitt and Taguchi held a public training session, during which they announced that in the future their tag team would be known as "Apollo 55" (pronounced "Apollo Go Go"), while also presenting their first two double-team finishing maneuvers. Devitt has stated that he came up with the team name, combining his love of sci-fi and space with Taguchi's nickname "Funky Weapon a Go Go" ("Go" also being Japanese for the number five). Apollo 55 received their title shot on April 5, but were defeated by The Motor City Machine Guns.
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