# List of NEVER Openweight Champions

The NEVER Openweight Championship is a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. NEVER is an acronym of the terms "New Blood", "Evolution", "Valiantly", "Eternal", and "Radical" and was a NJPW-promoted series of events, which featured younger up-and-coming talent and outside wrestlers not signed to the promotion. The project was officially announced on July 12, 2010, and held its first event on August 24, 2010.
There have been 46 reigns shared among 23 wrestlers with one vacancy. Masato Tanaka was the first champion in the title's history. He also holds the record for the longest reign in the title's history at 314 days during his only reign. Tomohiro Ishii has the most reigns, with six. Michael Elgin's only reign of 8 days is the shortest in the title's history. Minoru Suzuki is the oldest champion when he won it at 52 years old while Will Ospreay is the youngest champion at 25 years old.
The current champion is Konosuke Takeshita, who is in his first reign. He defeated Shingo Takagi in a Winner Takes All match, also for Takeshita's AEW International Championship at Wrestle Kingdom 19 on January 4, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan to win the title.

## Title History

Key :
| No. | Overall reign number |
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| + | Current reign is changing daily |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Championship change | Championship change | Reign statistics | Reign statistics | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. |
| No. | Champion | Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | Defenses | Notes | Ref. |
| | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) | New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) |
| 1 | Masato Tanaka | November 19, 2012 | Shodai NEVER Musabetsu Kyu Oza Kettei Tournament Final | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 314 | 4 | Tanaka defeated Karl Anderson in the finals of a sixteen-man tournament to become the inaugural champion. | |
| 2 | Tetsuya Naito | September 29, 2013 | Destruction | Kobe, Japan | 1 | 135 | 2 | Naito's Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate was also on the line. | |
| 3 | Tomohiro Ishii | February 11, 2014 | The New Beginning in Osaka | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 138 | 4 | | |
| 4 | Yujiro Takahashi | June 29, 2014 | Kizuna Road 2014 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 106 | 1 | | |
| 5 | Tomohiro Ishii | October 13, 2014 | King of Pro-Wrestling | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 83 | 1 | | |
| 6 | Togi Makabe | January 4, 2015 | Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 41 | 0 | | |
| — | Vacated | February 14, 2015 | — | — | — | — | — | The title was vacated due to Makabe being sidelined with influenza. | |
| 7 | Tomohiro Ishii | February 14, 2015 | The New Beginning in Sendai | Sendai, Japan | 3 | 74 | 0 | Ishii defeated Tomoaki Honma to win the vacant title. | |
| 8 | Togi Makabe | April 29, 2015 | Wrestling Hinokuni | Mashiki, Japan | 2 | 166 | 2 | | |
| 9 | Tomohiro Ishii | October 12, 2015 | King of Pro-Wrestling | Tokyo, Japan | 4 | 84 | 1 | | |
| 10 | Katsuyori Shibata | January 4, 2016 | Wrestle Kingdom 10 in Tokyo Dome | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 120 | 3 | | |
| 11 | Yuji Nagata | May 3, 2016 | Wrestling Dontaku | Fukuoka, Japan | 1 | 47 | 0 | | |
| 12 | Katsuyori Shibata | June 19, 2016 | Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall | Osaka, Japan | 2 | 139 | 3 | | |
| 13 | Evil | November 5, 2016 | Power Struggle | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 10 | 0 | | |
| 14 | Katsuyori Shibata | November 15, 2016 | Wrestling World 2016 in Singapore | Singapore | 3 | 50 | 0 | | |
| 15 | Hirooki Goto | January 4, 2017 | Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 113 | 3 | | |
| 16 | Minoru Suzuki | April 27, 2017 | Road to Wrestling Dontaku 2017: Aki no Kuni Sengoku Emaki | Hiroshima, Japan | 1 | 252 | 4 | | |
| 17 | Hirooki Goto | January 4, 2018 | Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 156 | 3 | This was a hair vs. hair match. | |
| 18 | Michael Elgin | June 9, 2018 | Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 8 | 0 | This was a three-way match also including Taichi. | |
| 19 | Hirooki Goto | June 17, 2018 | Kizuna Road 2018 | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 92 | 1 | | |
| 20 | Taichi | September 17, 2018 | Destruction in Beppu | Beppu, Japan | 1 | 47 | 0 | | |
| 21 | Hirooki Goto | November 3, 2018 | Power Struggle | Osaka, Japan | 4 | 36 | 0 | | |
| 22 | Kota Ibushi | December 9, 2018 | World Tag League | Iwate, Japan | 1 | 26 | 0 | | |
| 23 | Will Ospreay | January 4, 2019 | Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 92 | 1 | Ospreay is the only junior heavyweight to win the title. | |
| 24 | Jeff Cobb | April 6, 2019 | G1 Supercard | New York City, U.S. | 1 | 27 | 0 | Cobb's ROH World Television Championship was also on the line. | |
| 25 | Taichi | May 3, 2019 | Wrestling Dontaku | Fukuoka, Japan | 2 | 37 | 0 | | |
| 26 | Tomohiro Ishii | June 9, 2019 | Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall | Osaka, Japan | 5 | 83 | 0 | | |
| 27 | Kenta | August 31, 2019 | Royal Quest | London, England | 1 | 127 | 2 | | |
| 28 | Hirooki Goto | January 5, 2020 | Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome Night 2 | Tokyo, Japan | 5 | 27 | 0 | | |
| 29 | Shingo Takagi | February 1, 2020 | The New Beginning in Sapporo | Sapporo, Japan | 1 | 210 | 3 | | |
| 30 | Minoru Suzuki | August 29, 2020 | Summer Struggle in Jingu | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 70 | 0 | | |
| 31 | Shingo Takagi | November 7, 2020 | Power Struggle | Osaka, Japan | 2 | 84 | 1 | | |
| 32 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | January 30, 2021 | The New Beginning in Nagoya | Nagoya, Japan | 1 | 93 | 1 | | |
| 33 | Jay White | May 3, 2021 | Wrestling Dontaku | Fukuoka, Japan | 1 | 194 | 1 | | |
| 34 | Tomohiro Ishii | November 13, 2021 | Battle in the Valley | San Jose, California, U.S. | 6 | 52 | 0 | Had Ishii lost, he could never challenge for the NEVER Openweight Championship again. | |
| 35 | Evil | January 4, 2022 | Wrestle Kingdom 16 Night 1 | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 117 | 2 | | |
| 36 | Tama Tonga | May 1, 2022 | Wrestling Dontaku | Fukuoka, Japan | 1 | 42 | 0 | | |
| 37 | Karl Anderson | June 12, 2022 | Dominion 6.12 in Osaka-jo Hall | Osaka, Japan | 1 | 206 | 2 | | |
| 38 | Tama Tonga | January 4, 2023 | Wrestle Kingdom 17 | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 119 | 1 | | |
| 39 | David Finlay | May 3, 2023 | Wrestling Dontaku | Fukuoka, Japan | 1 | 159 | 1 | | |
| 40 | Tama Tonga | October 9, 2023 | Destruction in Ryōgoku | Tokyo, Japan | 3 | 19 | 0 | | |
| 41 | Shingo Takagi | October 28, 2023 | Fighting Spirit Unleashed | Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. | 3 | 68 | 1 | | |
| 42 | Tama Tonga | January 4, 2024 | Wrestle Kingdom 18 | Tokyo, Japan | 4 | 16 | 0 | | |
| 43 | Evil | January 20, 2024 | The New Beginning In Nagoya | Nagoya, Japan | 3 | 77 | 1 | This was a Lumberjack match. | |
| 44 | Shingo Takagi | April 6, 2024 | Sakura Genesis | Tokyo, Japan | 4 | 71 | 3 | | |
| 45 | Henare | June 16, 2024 | New Japan Soul Night 1 | Sapporo, Japan | 1 | 105 | 1 | | |
| 46 | Shingo Takagi | September 29, 2024 | Destruction in Kobe | Kobe, Japan | 5 | 97 | 1 | | |
| 47 | Konosuke Takeshita | January 4, 2025 | Wrestle Kingdom 19 | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 56+ | 4 | This was a Winner Takes All match, also for Takeshita's AEW International Championship. | |

## Combined Reigns

As of March 1, 2025.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined defenses | Combined days |
| 1 | Shingo Takagi | 5 | 9 | 530 |
| 2 | Tomohiro Ishii | 6 | 6 | 514 |
| 3 | Hirooki Goto | 5 | 7 | 424 |
| 4 | Minoru Suzuki | 2 | 4 | 322 |
| 5 | Masato Tanaka | 1 | 4 | 314 |
| 6 | Katsuyori Shibata | 3 | 6 | 309 |
| 7 | Togi Makabe | 2 | 2 | 207 |
| 8 | Karl Anderson | 1 | 2 | 206 |
| 9 | Evil | 3 | 3 | 204 |
| 10 | Tama Tonga | 4 | 1 | 196 |
| 11 | Jay White | 1 | 1 | 194 |
| 12 | David Finlay | 1 | 1 | 159 |
| 13 | Tetsuya Naito | 1 | 2 | 135 |
| 14 | Kenta | 1 | 2 | 127 |
| 15 | Yujiro Takahashi | 1 | 1 | 106 |
| 16 | Henare | 1 | 1 | 105 |
| 17 | Hiroshi Tanahashi | 1 | 1 | 93 |
| 18 | Will Ospreay | 1 | 1 | 92 |
| 19 | Taichi | 2 | 0 | 84 |
| 20 | Konosuke Takeshita † | 1 | 4 | 56+ |
| 21 | Yuji Nagata | 1 | 0 | 47 |
| 22 | Jeff Cobb | 1 | 0 | 27 |
| 23 | Kota Ibushi | 1 | 0 | 26 |
| 24 | Michael Elgin | 1 | 0 | 8 |