IWGP Heavyweight Championship
IWGP Heavyweight Championship | |||||||||||||||
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Former three-time champion Kazuchika Okada with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt
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Details | |||||||||||||||
Current champion(s) | Tetsuya Naito | ||||||||||||||
Date won | April 10, 2016 | ||||||||||||||
Date established | June 12, 1987 | ||||||||||||||
Promotion | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) Ring of Honor (ROH) |
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The IWGP Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix.[3] The title was introduced on June 12, 1987, in the finals of a IWGP tournament. Being a professional wrestling championship, the title is won as a result of a predetermined outcome.
Throughout the history of the championship, several wrestlers have been forced to relinquish the title due to an inability to participate in title defenses. When a wrestler has been injured or unable to compete for other reasons, tournaments have been held to determine the new champion.[4][5]
In 2006, Brock Lesnar was stripped of the title for being unable to defend it; however, Lesnar claims he was owed money by NJPW and kept the physical belt. He signed with Antonio Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) in 2007, and lost the championship to Kurt Angle on the inaugural broadcast.[6][7] Angle later lost the belt in a unification match to the NJPW-recognized champion Shinsuke Nakamura in 2008.
Overall, there have been 64 reigns shared among 27 wrestlers. Title changes happen at NJPW-promoted events. Six non-Japanese wrestlers have held the title.[8] The inaugural champion was Inoki, who defeated Masa Saito on June 12, 1987, in a tournament final. Hiroshi Tanahashi holds the record for most reigns, with 7. At 489 days, Shinya Hashimoto's third reign is the longest in the title's history. Tanahashi, with a combined 7 reigns, holds the record for most days as champion at 1,358. Kensuke Sasaki's fourth reign holds the record for shortest reign at 16 days. With 11 successful defenses, Tanahashi's fifth reign had the most during a single reign. Over his 7 reigns, Tanahashi successfully defended the title 28 times, the most of any champion. With zero, Big Van Vader's first and third reigns, Salman Hashimikov's only reign, Riki Choshu's first reign, Tatsumi Fujinami's third and fifth reigns, Masahiro Chono's only reign, Genichiro Tenryu's only reign, Scott Norton's second reign, Hiroyoshi Tenzan's first and third reigns, Kensuke Sasaki's fourth reign, Kazuyuki Fujita's third reign, and Manabu Nakanishi's only reign are all tied for least successful defenses. Tetsuya Naito is the current champion in his first reign, after defeating Kazuchika Okada on April 10, 2016, at NJPW's Invasion Attack 2016 event to win the title.
Title history
# | Order in reign history |
Reign | The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed |
Event | The event promoted by the respective promotion in which the title was won |
Successful defenses | The number of successful defenses the champion had during his reign |
— | Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign |
N/A | The information is not available or is unknown |
+ | Indicates the current reign is changing daily |
# | Wrestlers | Reign | Date | Days held | Location | Event | Successful defenses | Notes | Ref(s). |
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1 | Antonio Inoki | 1 | June 12, 1987 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Summer Big Fight Series 1987 | 4 | Inoki defeated Masa Saito in a tournament final. | |
— | Vacated | — | May 2, 1988 | — | — | — | — | Vacated due to Inoki fracturing his left foot. | |
2 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 1 | May 8, 1988 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Super Fight Series 1988 | 1 | Fujinami defeated Big Van Vader to win the vacant title. | |
— | Vacated | — | May 27, 1988 | — | — | — | — | Title held up after defense against Riki Choshu ended in a no contest. | |
3 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 2 | June 24, 1988 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | IWGP Champion Series 1988 | 7 | Fujinami defeated Riki Choshu to win the vacant title. | |
— | Vacated | — | April 5, 1989 | — | — | — | — | Vacated so the title could be decided in a tournament. | |
4 | Big Van Vader | 1 | April 24, 1989 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Battle Satellite in Tokyo Dome | 0 | Vader defeated Shinya Hashimoto in a tournament final to win the vacant title. | |
5 | Salman Hashimikov | 1 | May 25, 1989 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | Battle Satellite 1989 in Osaka Dome | 0 | ||
6 | Riki Choshu | 1 | July 12, 1989 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | House show | 0 | ||
7 | Big Van Vader | 2 | August 10, 1989 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | House show | 4 | ||
8 | Riki Choshu | 2 | August 19, 1990 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | House show | 1 | ||
9 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 3 | December 26, 1990 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Hamamatsu, Japan | King of Kings | 0 | ||
10 | Big Van Vader | 3 | January 17, 1991 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Yokohama, Japan | New Year Dash 1991 | 0 | ||
11 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 4 | March 4, 1991 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Hiroshima, Japan | Big Fight Series 1991 | 3 | ||
12 | Riki Choshu | 3 | January 4, 1992 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome | 4 | This match was also for Choshu's Greatest 18 Championship. | |
13 | The Great Muta | 1 | August 16, 1992 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Fukuoka, Japan | G1 Climax Special 1992 | 5 | This was also for Choshu's Greatest 18 Championship. | |
14 | Shinya Hashimoto | 1 | September 20, 1993 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Nagoya, Japan | G1 Climax Special 1993 | 4 | ||
15 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 5 | April 4, 1994 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Hiroshima, Japan | Battle Line Kyushu | 0 | ||
16 | Shinya Hashimoto | 2 | May 1, 1994 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Fukuoka, Japan | Wrestling Dontaku 1994 | 9 | ||
17 | Keiji Mutoh | 2 | May 3, 1995 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Fukuoka, Japan | Wrestling Dontaku 1995 | 5 | Mutoh previously won the title as The Great Muta. | |
18 | Nobuhiko Takada | 1 | January 4, 1996 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestling World 1996 | 1 | ||
19 | Shinya Hashimoto | 3 | April 29, 1996 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Battle Formation | 7 | ||
20 | Kensuke Sasaki | 1 | August 31, 1997 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Yokohama, Japan | Final Power Hall in Yokohama | 3 | ||
21 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 6 | April 4, 1998 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Antonio Inoki Retirement Show | 2 | ||
22 | Masahiro Chono | 1 | August 8, 1998 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | Rising the Next Generation in Osaka Dome | 0 | ||
— | Vacated | — | September 21, 1998 | — | — | — | — | Title was vacated due to Chono's neck injury. | |
23 | Scott Norton | 1 | September 23, 1998 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Yokohama, Japan | Big Wednesday | 4 | Norton defeated Yuji Nagata to win the vacant title. | |
24 | Keiji Mutoh | 3 | January 4, 1999 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestling World 1999 | 5 | ||
25 | Genichiro Tenryu | 1 | December 10, 1999 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | Battle Final 1999 | 0 | [9] | |
26 | Kensuke Sasaki/Power Warrior | 2 | January 4, 2000 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestling World 2000 | 5 | ||
— | Vacated | — | October 9, 2000 | — | — | — | — | Vacated after Sasaki lost a non-title match to Toshiaki Kawada at Do Judge!!. | |
27 | Kensuke Sasaki | 3 | January 4, 2001 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestling World 2001 | 1 | Sasaki defeated Toshiaki Kawada in a tournament final to win the vacant title. | |
28 | Scott Norton | 2 | March 17, 2001 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Nagoya, Japan | Hyper Battle 2001 | 0 | ||
29 | Kazuyuki Fujita | 1 | April 9, 2001 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | Strong Style | 2 | ||
— | Vacated | — | January 4, 2002 | — | — | — | — | Fujita vacated the title due to an injured achilles tendon. | |
30 | Tadao Yasuda | 1 | February 16, 2002 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Fighting Spirit 2002 | 1 | Yasuda defeated Yuji Nagata in a tournament final to win the vacant title. | |
31 | Yuji Nagata | 1 | April 5, 2002 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Toukon Special | 10 | ||
32 | Yoshihiro Takayama | 1 | May 2, 2003 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Ultimate Crush | 3 | This match was also for Takayama's NWF Heavyweight Championship. | [10] |
33 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 1 | November 3, 2003 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Yokohama, Japan | Yokohama Dead Out | 0 | ||
34 | Shinsuke Nakamura | 1 | December 9, 2003 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | Battle Final 2003 | 1 | Nakamura defeated Yoshihiro Takayama to unify the IWGP Heavyweight Championship with the NWF Heavyweight Championship on January 4, 2004 at Wrestling World 2004. | |
— | Vacated | — | February 5, 2004 | — | — | — | — | Title was vacated due to Nakamura suffering various injuries. | |
35 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 2 | February 15, 2004 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Fighting Spirit 2004 | 1 | Tenzan defeated Genichiro Tenryu in a tournament final for the vacant title. | |
36 | Kensuke Sasaki | 4 | March 12, 2004 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Hyper Battle 2004 | 0 | ||
37 | Bob Sapp | 1 | March 28, 2004 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | King of Sports | 1 | ||
— | Vacated | — | June 2, 2004 | — | — | — | — | Title vacated after Sapp lost a K-1 fight to Kazuyuki Fujita. | |
38 | Kazuyuki Fujita | 2 | June 5, 2004 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | The Crush II | 1 | Fujita defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to win the vacant title. | |
39 | Kensuke Sasaki | 5 | October 9, 2004 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Pro-Wrestlers Be Strongest | 2 | ||
40 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 3 | December 12, 2004 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Nagoya, Japan | Battle Final 2004 | 0 | ||
41 | Satoshi Kojima | 1 | February 20, 2005 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | New Year Gold Series | 1 | This match was also for Kojima's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. | |
42 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 4 | May 14, 2005 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Nexess VI | 1 | ||
43 | Kazuyuki Fujita | 3 | July 18, 2005 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Sapporo, Japan | Summer Fight Series | 0 | ||
44 | Brock Lesnar | 1 | October 8, 2005 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Toukon Souzou New Chapter | 3 | ||
— | Vacated | — | July 15, 2006 | — | — | — | — | Title was vacated due to Lesnar being unable to defend the title because of "problems with a working visa." Lesnar refuses to turn over the championship belt, and later is recognized by the Inoki Genome Federation as their first champion, using the same belt. | |
45 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 1 | July 17, 2006 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Sapporo, Japan | Circuit2006 Turbulence | 4 | Tanahashi defeated Giant Bernard in a tournament final for the title. | |
46 | Yuji Nagata | 2 | April 13, 2007 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | Circuit2007 New Japan Brave tour | 2 | ||
47 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 2 | October 8, 2007 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Explosion '07 | 1 | [11] | |
48 | Shinsuke Nakamura | 2 | January 4, 2008 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestle Kingdom II in Tokyo Dome | 2 | Nakamura defeated Kurt Angle on February 17, 2008 on the Circuit2008 New Japan Ism tour to unify the NJPW and IGF versions of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. | |
49 | Keiji Mutoh | 4 | April 27, 2008 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | Circuit2008 New Japan Brave tour | 4 | ||
50 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 3 | January 4, 2009 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome | 3 | ||
51 | Manabu Nakanishi | 1 | May 6, 2009 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Dissidence | 0 | ||
52 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 4 | June 20, 2009 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | Dominion 6.20 | 1 | ||
— | Vacated | — | August 17, 2009 | — | — | — | — | Title vacated due to Tanahashi fracturing his eye socket. | |
53 | Shinsuke Nakamura | 3 | September 27, 2009 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Kobe, Japan | Circuit2009 New Japan Generation tour | 6 | Nakamura defeated Togi Makabe to win the vacant title. | |
54 | Togi Makabe | 1 | May 3, 2010 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Fukuoka, Japan | Wrestling Dontaku 2010 | 3 | ||
55 | Satoshi Kojima | 2 | October 11, 2010 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Destruction '10 | 1 | ||
56 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 5 | January 4, 2011 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome | 11 | ||
57 | Kazuchika Okada | 1 | February 12, 2012 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | The New Beginning | 2 | ||
58 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 6 | June 16, 2012 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | Dominion 6.16 | 7 | ||
59 | Kazuchika Okada | 2 | April 7, 2013 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | Invasion Attack | 8 | ||
60 | A.J. Styles | 1 | May 3, 2014 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Fukuoka, Japan | Wrestling Dontaku 2014 | 2 | ||
61 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 7 | October 13, 2014 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Tokyo, Japan | King of Pro-Wrestling | 1 | ||
62 | A.J. Styles | 2 | February 11, 2015 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | The New Beginning in Osaka | 1 | ||
63 | Kazuchika Okada | 3 | July 5, 2015 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist. | Osaka, Japan | Dominion 7.5 in Osaka-jo Hall | 3 | ||
64 | Tetsuya Naito | 1 | April 10, 2016 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.+ | Tokyo, Japan | Invasion Attack 2016 | 1 |
Combined reigns
As of October 31, 2024.
† | Indicates the current champion |
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Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns |
Combined defenses |
Combined days |
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1 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 7 | 28 | 1,358 |
2 | Keiji Mutoh/The Great Muta | 4 | 19 | 1,238 |
3 | Shinya Hashimoto | 3 | 20 | 1,052 |
4 | Kazuchika Okada | 3 | 13 | 796 |
5 | Tatsumi Fujinami | 6 | 13 | 785 |
6 | Kensuke Sasaki/Power Warrior | 5 | 9 | 647 |
7 | Yuji Nagata | 2 | 12 | 570 |
8 | Kazuyuki Fujita | 3 | 3 | 478 |
9 | Big Van Vader | 3 | 4 | 451 |
10 | Shinsuke Nakamura | 3 | 9 | 390 |
11 | Riki Choshu | 3 | 5 | 383 |
12 | Antonio Inoki | 1 | 4 | 325 |
13 | A.J. Styles | 2 | 3 | 307 |
14 | Brock Lesnar | 1 | 3 | 280 |
15 | Hiroyoshi Tenzan | 4 | 2 | 197 |
16 | Yoshihiro Takayama | 1 | 3 | 185 |
17 | Satoshi Kojima | 2 | 2 | 168 |
18 | Togi Makabe | 1 | 3 | 161 |
19 | Scott Norton | 2 | 4 | 126 |
20 | Nobuhiko Takada | 1 | 1 | 116 |
21 | Bob Sapp | 1 | 1 | 66 |
22 | Tetsuya Naito † | 1 | 1 | Script error: The function "age_generic" does not exist.+ |
23 | Tadao Yasuda | 1 | 1 | 48 |
Salman Hashimikov | 1 | 0 | 48 | |
25 | Manabu Nakanishi | 1 | 0 | 45 |
26 | Masahiro Chono | 1 | 0 | 44 |
27 | Genichiro Tenryu | 1 | 0 | 25 |
References
- General
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- Specific
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.