# List of PWG World Champions

The PWG World Championship is a professional wrestling world championship owned and copyrighted by Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). The championship was created and debuted on August 30, 2003, at PWG's Bad Ass Mother 3000 – Stage 2 event. Originally called the PWG Championship, the title was renamed to the PWG World Championship in February 2006 after the title was defended outside the United States for the first and second time—that month, then-champion Joey Ryan defeated Emil Sitoci in Essen, Germany at European Vacation – Germany and Jonny Storm in Orpington, England at European Vacation – England.
The championship is generally contested in professional wrestling matches, in which participants execute scripted finishes rather than contend in direct competition. All reigns are won at live events, which are released on DVD. The inaugural champion was Frankie Kazarian, whom PWG recognized to have become the champion after defeating Ryan in the finals of a 16-man tournament on August 30, 2003, at PWG's Bad Ass Mother 3000 – Stage 2 event. As of March 2025, Kevin Steen holds the record for most reigns, with three. Daniel Garcia's only reign at 900 days is the longest in the title's history. PWG publishes a list of successful championship defenses for each champion on its official website (though this section of the website has not been updated in a few years). As of March 2025, Ryan has the most defenses, with 19, while Bryan Danielson and Kenny Omega have the least, with 0.
Daniel Garcia is the current champion in his first reign, after defeating Bandido on May 1, 2022, to win the title. Overall, there have been 32 reigns among 25 different wrestlers and three vacancies. Low Ki, Bryan Danielson, and Davey Richards, all of whom vacated the championship, are the only people to have not been defeated for the championship.

## Title history
### Names

| Name | Years |
| PWG Championship | August 2003 – February 2006 |
| PWG World Championship | February 2006 – present |

### Reigns

Key :
| No. | Overall reign number |
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| <1 | Reign lasted less than a day |
| + | 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. |
| 1 | Frankie Kazarian | August 30, 2003 | Bad Ass Mother 3000 – Stage Two | Industry, CA | 1 | 176 | 4 | Kazarian defeated Joey Ryan in the finals of a 16-man tournament to become the first champion. | |
| 2 | Adam Pearce | February 22, 2004 | Taste the Radness | Santa Ana, CA | 1 | 139 | 3 | This was a Chicago Street Fight. | |
| 3 | Frankie Kazarian | July 10, 2004 | The Reason for the Season | Los Angeles, CA | 2 | 126 | 3 | This was a Loser Leaves Town steel cage match. | |
| 4 | Super Dragon | November 13, 2004 | Free Admission (Just Kidding) | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 140 | 8 | | |
| 5 | A.J. Styles | April 2, 2005 | All Star Weekend – Night Two | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 126 | 4 | | |
| 6 | Kevin Steen | August 6, 2005 | Zombies [Shouldn't Run] | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 119 | 5 | | |
| 7 | Joey Ryan | December 3, 2005 | Chanukah Chaos (The C's Are Silent) | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 406 | 19 | The title was renamed from the "PWG Championship" to the "PWG World Championship" following PWG's European Vacation tour of England and Germany in February 2006. | |
| 8 | Human Tornado | January 13, 2007 | Based on a True Story | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 42 | 3 | This was a Guerrilla Warfare match. | |
| 9 | El Generico | February 24, 2007 | Holy Diver Down | Van Nuys, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 155 | 9 | | |
| 10 | Bryan Danielson | July 29, 2007 | Giant-Size Annual #4 | Burbank, CA | 1 | 160 | 5 | | |
| 11 | Low Ki | January 5, 2008 | All Star Weekend 6 – Night One | Van Nuys, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 32 | 1 | | |
| — | Vacated | February 6, 2008 | — | — | — | — | — | The title was vacated due to Low Ki suffering a knee injury while working in Japan. | |
| 12 | Human Tornado | February 24, 2008 | ¡Dia de los Dangerous! | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 2 | 133 | 1 | Tornado defeated Karl Anderson and Roderick Strong in the finals of a 5-man tournament to become the champion. | |
| 13 | Chris Hero | July 6, 2008 | Life During Wartime | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 425 | 10 | This was a Guerrilla Warfare steel cage match. | |
| 14 | Bryan Danielson | September 4, 2009 | Guerre Sans Frontières | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 2 | <1 | 0 | | |
| — | Vacated | September 4, 2009 | Guerre Sans Frontières | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | — | — | — | The title was vacated due to Bryan Danielson being unable to defend it after signing with WWE. | |
| 15 | Kenny Omega | November 21, 2009 | Battle of Los Angeles – Night Two | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 98 | 0 | Omega defeated Roderick Strong in the finals of the 2009 Battle of Los Angeles to win the vacant championship. | |
| 16 | Davey Richards | February 27, 2010 | As the Worm Turns | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 198 | 2 | | |
| — | Vacated | September 13, 2010 | — | — | — | — | — | The championship was vacated due to Davey Richards being unable to defend it. | |
| 17 | Claudio Castagnoli | October 9, 2010 | The Curse of Guerrilla Island | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 287 | 6 | Castagnoli defeated Brandon Gatson, Chris Hero and Joey Ryan in a four–way match to win the vacant championship. | |
| 18 | Kevin Steen | July 23, 2011 | Eight | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 2 | 91 | 1 | | |
| 19 | El Generico | October 22, 2011 | Steen Wolf | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 2 | 147 | 0 | This was a ladder match. | |
| 20 | Kevin Steen | March 17, 2012 | World's Finest | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 3 | 259 | 4 | This was a three-way match, also involving Eddie Edwards. | |
| 21 | Adam Cole | December 1, 2012 | Mystery Vortex | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 538 | 7 | This was a Guerrilla Warfare match. | |
| 22 | Kyle O'Reilly | May 23, 2014 | Sold Our Soul for Rock 'n Roll | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 203 | 3 | This was a Knockout or Submission Only match. | |
| 23 | Roderick Strong | December 12, 2014 | Black Cole Sun | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 449 | 7 | This was a Guerrilla Warfare match. | |
| 24 | Zack Sabre Jr. | March 5, 2016 | All Star Weekend 12 – Night Two | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 489 | 5 | | |
| 25 | Chuck Taylor | July 7, 2017 | Pushin Forward Back | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 106 | 0 | | |
| 26 | Ricochet | October 21, 2017 | All Star Weekend 13 – Night Two | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 83 | 1 | | |
| 27 | Chuck Taylor | January 12, 2018 | Mystery Vortex V | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 2 | 70 | 1 | This was a Guerrilla Warfare match. | |
| 28 | Keith Lee | March 23, 2018 | Time Is a Flat Circle | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 29 | 0 | | |
| 29 | Walter | April 21, 2018 | All Star Weekend 14 – Night Two | Reseda, Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 181 | 2 | This was a three-way match, also involving Jonah Rock. | |
| 30 | Jeff Cobb | October 19, 2018 | Smokey and the Bandido | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 427 | 3 | | |
| 31 | Bandido | December 20, 2019 | The Makings of a Varsity Athlete | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 863 | 3 | | |
| 32 | Daniel Garcia | May 1, 2022 | Delivering the Goods | Los Angeles, CA | 1 | 1,040+ | 3 | | |

## Combined reigns

As of March 6, 2025.
| † | Indicates the current champion |
| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined defenses | Combined days |
| 1 | Daniel Garcia | 1 | 3 | 1,040+ |
| 2 | Bandido | 1 | 1 | 863 |
| 3 | Adam Cole | 1 | 7 | 538 |
| 4 | Zack Sabre Jr. | 1 | 5 | 489 |
| 5 | Kevin Steen | 3 | 10 | 469 |
| 6 | Roderick Strong | 1 | 7 | 449 |
| 7 | Jeff Cobb | 1 | 3 | 427 |
| 8 | Chris Hero | 1 | 10 | 425 |
| 9 | Joey Ryan | 1 | 19 | 406 |
| 10 | El Generico | 2 | 9 | 302 |
| 10 | Frankie Kazarian | 2 | 7 | 302 |
| 12 | Claudio Castagnoli | 1 | 6 | 287 |
| 13 | Kyle O'Reilly | 1 | 3 | 203 |
| 14 | Davey Richards | 1 | 2 | 198 |
| 15 | Walter | 1 | 2 | 181 |
| 16 | Chuck Taylor | 2 | 1 | 176 |
| 17 | Human Tornado | 2 | 4 | 175 |
| 18 | Bryan Danielson | 2 | 5 | 160 |
| 19 | Super Dragon | 1 | 8 | 140 |
| 20 | Adam Pearce | 1 | 3 | 139 |
| 21 | A.J. Styles | 1 | 4 | 126 |
| 22 | Kenny Omega | 1 | 0 | 98 |
| 23 | Ricochet | 1 | 1 | 83 |
| 24 | Low Ki | 1 | 1 | 32 |
| 25 | Keith Lee | 1 | 0 | 29 |