NEVER Openweight Championship/Champion history

==Title history==
# 	Wrestler 	Reign 	Date 	Days held 	Location 	Event 	Notes
1 	Masato Tanaka 	1 	November 19, 2012 	314 	Tokyo 	Shodai NEVER Musabetsu Kyu Oza Kettei Tournament Final 	Tanaka defeated Karl Anderson in the finals of a sixteen-man tournament to become the inaugural champion.
2 	Tetsuya Naito 	1 	September 29, 2013	135 	Kobe, Japan 	NJPW Destruction 2013 	
3 	Tomohiro Ishii 	1 	February 11, 2014 	138 	Osaka, Japan 	NJPW The New Beginning In Osaka 	
4 	Yujiro Takahashi 	1 	June 29, 2014 	106 	Tokyo, Japan 	NJPW Kizuna Road 2014 - Night 2 	
5 	Tomohiro Ishii 	2 	October 13, 2014 	83 	Tokyo, Japan 	NJPW King of Pro-Wrestling 2014 	
6 	Togi Makabe 	1 	January 4, 2015 	41 	Tokyo, Japan 	Wrestle Kingdom IX 	
—	Vacated 	—	February 14, 2015 	0 	— 	— 	The title was vacated due to Makabe being sidelined with influenza.
7 	Tomohiro Ishii 	3 	February 14, 2015 	74 	Sendai, Japan 	NJPW The New Beginning In Sendai 	Ishii defeated Tomoaki Honma to win the vacant title.
8 	Togi Makabe 	2 	April 29, 2015 	166 	Kumamoto, Japan 	NJPW Wrestling Hinokuni 	
9 	Tomohiro Ishii 	4 	October 12, 2015 	84 	Tokyo, Japan 	NJPW King Of Pro-Wrestling 2015 	
10 	Katsuyori Shibata	1 	January 4, 2016 	120 	Tokyo, Japan 	Wrestle Kingdom X 	
11 	Yuji Nagata 	1 	May 3, 2016 	47 	Fukuoka, Japan 	NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2016 	
12 	Katsuyori Shibata	2 	June 19, 2016 	139 	Osaka, Japan 	NJPW Dominion 6.19 	
13 	EVIL 	1 	November 5, 2016 	10 	Osaka, Japan 	NJPW Power Struggle 2016 	
14 	Katsuyori Shibata	3 	November 15, 2016 	50 	Singapore, China 	NJPW Wrestling World In Singapore 2016 	
15 	Hirooki Goto 	1 	January 4, 2017 	113 	Tokyo, Japan 	Wrestle Kingdom XI 	
16 	Minoru Suzuki 	1 	April 27, 2017 	252 	Hiroshima, Japan 	Road to Wrestling Dontaku 2017: Aki no Kuni Sengoku Emaki	
17 	Hirooki Goto 	2 	January 4, 2018 	156 	Tokyo, Japan 	Wrestle Kingdom 12 	This was a Hair vs. Hair match.
18 	Michael Elgin 	1 	June 9, 2018 	8 	Osaka, Japan 	NJPW Dominion 6.9.18 In Osaka-Jo Hall 	This was a three-way match, also involving Taichi.
19 	Hirooki Goto 	3 	June 17, 2018 	92 	Tokyo, Japan 	NJPW Kizuna Road 2018 - Night 2 	
20 	Taichi 	1 	September 17, 2018	47 	Beppu 	NJPW Destruction In Beppu 2018 	
21 	Hirooki Goto 	4 	November 3, 2018 	36 	Tokyo, Japan 	NJPW Power Struggle 2018 	
22 	Kota Ibushi 	1 	December 9, 2018 	26 	Iwate, Japan 	NJPW World Tag League 2018 - Night 18 	
23 	Will Ospreay 	1 	January 4, 2019 	92 	Tokyo, Japan 	Wrestle Kingdom 13 	
24 	Jeff Cobb 	1 	April 6, 2019 	27 	New York City, NY 	ROH-NJPW G1 Supercard 2019 	Jeff Cobb's ROH World Television Championship was also on the line in a winner take all championship match with Will Ospreay.
25 	Taichi 	2 	May 3, 2019 	37 	Fukuoka, Japan 	NJPW Wrestling Dontaku 2019 - Night 1 	
26 	Tomohiro Ishii 	5 	June 9, 2019 	83 	Osaka, Japan 	NJPW Dominion 6.9.19 In Osaka-Jo Hall 	
27 	Kenta 	1 	August 31, 2019 	127 	London, England 	NJPW Royal Quest 	
28 	Hirooki Goto 	5 	January 5, 2020 	27 	Tokyo, Japan 	Wrestle Kingdom 14 - Night 2 	
29 	Shingo Takagi 	1 	February 1, 2020 	210 	Hokkaido, Japan 	 	
30 	Minoru Suzuki 	2 	August 29, 2020 	70 	Tokyo, Japan 	 	
31 	Shingo Takagi 	2 	November 7, 2020 	84 	Osaka, Japan 	 	
32 	Hiroshi Tanahashi	1 	January 30, 2021 	93 	Nagano, Japan 	 	
33 	Jay White 	1 	May 3, 2021 	194 	Fukuoka, Japan 	 	
34 	Tomohiro Ishii 	6 	November 13, 2021 	52 	San Jose, California 	 	
35 	EVIL 	2 	January 4, 2022 	117 	Tokyo, Japan 	Wrestle Kingdom 16 - Night 1‎ 	
36 	Tama Tonga 	1 	May 1, 2022 	42 	Fukuoka, Japan 	Wrestling Dontaku 2022 	
37 	Karl Anderson 	1 	June 12, 2022 	206 	Osaka, Japan 	Dominion 6.12 IN Osaka-Jo Hall 	
38 	Tama Tonga 	2 	January 4, 2023 	119 	Tokyo, Japan 	Wrestle Kingdom 17 	
39 	David Finlay 	1 	May 3, 2023 	159 	Fukuoka, Japan 	Wrestling Dontaku 	
40 	Tama Tonga 	3 	October 9, 2023 	19 	Tokyo, Japan 	Destruction In Ryogoku 	
41 	Shingo Takagi 	3 	October 28, 2023 	68 	Las Vegas, Nevada 	STRONG Fighting Spirit Unleashed 	
42 	Tama Tonga 	4 	January 4, 2024 	16 	Tokyo, Japan 	Wrestle Kingdom 18 	
43 	EVIL 	3 	January 20, 2024 	Nagoya, Japan	The New Beginning In Nagoya	Won in a Lumberjack Match. 	
Category:Champion history