# IWA World Heavyweight Championship (International Wrestling Enterprise)

The International Wrestling Alliance (IWA) World Heavyweight Championship (IWA世界ヘビー級王座, IWA Sekai Hebī-kyū Ōza) was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship of the Japanese professional wrestling promotion known as International Wrestling Enterprise (国際プロレス興行, Kokusai Puroresu Kogyō). It was the first Japanese heavyweight title to be billed as a World title, and in the 1970s and early 1980s it was one of the most important titles in Japan. The title died with the promotion in 1981 but was later revived by Goro Tsurumi for his independent Kokusai Promotion.
There have been eighteen reigns between twelve wrestlers, and three vacancies.

## Title history

Key :
| No. | Overall reign number |
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| Defenses | Number of successful defenses |
| N/A | Unknown information |
| 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 | Bill Robinson | December 19, 1968 | World Series | Okayama, Japan | 1 | 151 | 28 | Defeated Toyonobori in the final of 11-man round-robin tournament. | |
| 2 | Thunder Sugiyama | May 19, 1969 | N/A | Sendai, Japan | 1 | 654 | 9 | | |
| 3 | Bill Miller | March 4, 1971 | AWA Big Fight Series | Kitakyushu, Japan | 1 | 107 | 0 | This was a 2-out-of-3 falls match. | |
| 4 | Strong Kobayashi | June 19, 1971 | N/A | Duluth, MN | 1 | 874 | 25 | On the day of the title change, Miller and Kobayashi were wrestling different opponents; this title change is possibly fictitious. | |
| 5 | Wahoo McDaniel | November 9, 1973 | Big Winter Series | Nachikatsuura, Japan | 1 | 21 | 1 | This was a 2-out-of-3 falls match. | |
| 6 | Strong Kobayashi | November 30, 1973 | Big Winter Series | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 75 | 2 | This was a 2-out-of-3 falls match. | |
| — | Vacated | February 13, 1974 | — | — | — | — | — | The title was vacated when Kobayashi jumped to New Japan Pro-Wrestling to challenge Antonio Inoki. | |
| 7 | Bill Robinson | June 3, 1974 | Dynamite Series | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 74 | 0 | It is unclear whether Robinson defeated Great Kusatsu in a tournament final or Rusher Kimura in a 2-out-of-3 falls match to win the vacant title. | |
| 8 | Billy Graham | August 16, 1974 | N/A | Denver, CO | 1 | 52 | 2 | On that day, Robinson was facing Buddy Wolff in Peoria, Illinois; this title change is considered fictitious. | |
| 9 | Mighty Inoue | October 7, 1974 | Super Wide Series | Koshigaya, Japan | 1 | 185 | 3 | This was a 2-out-of-3 falls match. | |
| 10 | Mad Dog Vachon | April 10, 1975 | Dynamite Series | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 9 | 0 | This was a 2-out-of-3 falls match. | |
| 11 | Rusher Kimura | April 19, 1975 | Dynamite Series | Sapporo, Japan | 1 | 360 | 11 | This was a steel cage match. | |
| — | Vacated | April 13, 1976 | — | — | — | — | — | Kimura vacated the title because he was dissatisfied with the result of his title defense against The Undertaker (Hans Schroeder). A rematch was then scheduled. | |
| 12 | Rusher Kimura | April 22, 1976 | Dynamite Series | Sendai, Japan | 2 | 50 | 0 | Defeated The Undertaker (Hans Schroeder) in a steel cage match to win the vacant title. | |
| 13 | Umanosuke Ueda | June 11, 1976 | Big Challenge Series | Koga, Japan | 1 | 47 | 0 | | |
| — | Vacated | July 28, 1976 | — | — | — | — | — | Vacated after Ueda's first defense against Rusher Kimura ended in a no contest. | |
| 14 | Rusher Kimura | July 31, 1976 | Big Summer Series | Koshigaya, Japan | 3 | 1,085 | 26 | Defeated Super Assassin (Roger Smith) in a steel cage match to win the vacant title. | |
| 15 | Alexis Smirnoff | July 21, 1979 | Big Summer Series | Murakami, Japan | 1 | 4 | 0 | This was a 2-out-of-3 falls match. | |
| 16 | Rusher Kimura | July 25, 1979 | Big Summer Series | Mishima, Japan | 4 | 111 | 3 | | |
| 17 | Verne Gagne | November 13, 1979 | Devilish Fight Series | Sanjō, Japan | 1 | 3 | 0 | | |
| 18 | Rusher Kimura | November 16, 1979 | Devilish Fight Series | Wakayama, Japan | 5 | 687 | 17 | | |
| — | Deactivated | September 30, 1981 | — | — | — | — | — | Deactivated when the promotion folded. | |

## Combined reigns

| Rank | Wrestler | No. of reigns | Combined defenses | Combined days |
| 1 | Rusher Kimura | 5 | 57 | 2,290 |
| 2 | Strong Kobayashi | 2 | 27 | 949 |
| 3 | Thunder Sugiyama | 1 | 9 | 654 |
| 4 | Bill Robinson | 2 | 28 | 225 |
| 5 | Mighty Inoue | 1 | 3 | 185 |
| 6 | Bill Miller | 1 | 0 | 107 |
| 7 | Billy Graham | 1 | 2 | 52 |
| 8 | Umanosuke Ueda | 1 | 0 | 47 |
| 9 | Wahoo McDaniel | 1 | 1 | 21 |
| 10 | Mad Dog Vachon | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| 11 | Alexis Smirnoff | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 12 | Verne Gagne | 1 | 0 | 3 |