(unfortunately, I couldn't find a picture of Ishii and Tenryu together)
The current IWGP Tag Champs have a deep connection to each other, one formed before their series of stiff slugfests.
Ishii started his career in the promotion WAR in 1997; WAR was the now-defunct promotion created by the legendary Genichiro Tenryu (although Tenryu runs the "Tenryu Project" promotion currently). You can see the influence of Tenryu greatly in Ishii, through his use of the punch-and-chop combo popularized by Tenryu as well as the Folding Powerbomb and Lariat, both moves used greatly by Tenryu (as well as the Lariat being used by Ishii's other mentor, Riki Choshu).
Taichi, starting his career as Taichi Ishikari, began in AJPW, and was the protege of the legendary Toshiaki Kawada, one of the "Four Pillars of Heaven". Kawada himself was trained by Tenryu in the AJPW Dojo and shared similarities to his mentor, through his "moveset" as well as brutal demeanor and use of the black-and-yellow colors. Taichi would be mostly known through his early career as Kawada's punching bag and longsuffering pupil, especially in the comedy promotion HUSTLE. Much of Taichi's character and way he performs is grounded in his experiences as Kawada's "youngboy".
by MrPuroresu42