NEVER Openweight Championship

The **NEVER Openweight Championship** (NEVER無差別級王座, *NEVER Musabetsu-kyū Ōza*) is a secondary singles championship in 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. On October 5, 2012, NJPW announced that NEVER was going to get its own championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship, the promotion's sixth active title.

The title was originally scheduled to be defended exclusively at NEVER events, but this plan was quickly changed and since its foundation, the title has been defended on the undercards of NJPW events. Together, the NEVER Openweight, IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships also form what has been called the "New Japan Triple Crown" (新日本トリプルクラウン, *Shin Nihon Toripuru Kuraun*). Though named an "openweight" championship, NJPW has also categorized the title as a heavyweight title. The title's openweight nature means that both heavyweight and junior heavyweight wrestlers are eligible to challenge for it.

## Overview

### Championship tournament

On October 5, 2012, over two years after the founding of NEVER, New Japan Pro Wrestling announced the creation of the project's first championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship. The title was originally created with the idea of using it to "elevate younger wrestlers". The first champion was to be determined in a sixteen-man single-elimination tournament, which was set to take place November 15 and 19, 2012. The title and the tournament were announced by New Japan president Naoki Sugabayashi and NEVER regular Tetsuya Naito, who was scheduled to enter the tournament, but was forced to pull out after suffering a knee injury. Much like regular NEVER events, the tournament also featured wrestlers not signed to New Japan; freelancer Daisuke Sasaki; Hiro Tonai, Kengo Mashimo, Ryuichi Sekine, Shiori Asahi and Taishi Takizawa from Kaientai Dojo, and Masato Tanaka from Pro Wrestling Zero1. The entire first round of the tournament took place on November 15 and saw Shiori Asahi, Yoshi-Hashi, Taishi Takizawa, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomohiro Ishii, Kengo Mashimo, Karl Anderson and Masato Tanaka advance. The rest of the tournament took place four days later. During the second round, Kengo Mashimo defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Karl Anderson defeated Shiori Asahi, Masato Tanaka defeated Taishi Takizawa, Tomohiro Ishii defeated Yoshi-Hashi. The semifinals saw Anderson defeat Mashimo and Tanaka defeat Ishii. In the finals of the tournament, Tanaka, the 39-year-old, who, despite officially being affiliated with Pro Wrestling ZERO1, had worked for NJPW regularly since August 2009, defeated Anderson to become the inaugural NEVER Openweight Champion. Though the title was originally designed to be defended at NEVER events, NJPW has not held a single NEVER event since the championship tournament.

### Failed concept and transition to tough nature

Since its inception the original concept of title having younger workers wrestle for the title has also not been realized with all six holders of the title having been in their thirties or forties. Instead, through the likes of Katsuyori Shibata, Togi Makabe, and Tomohiro Ishii, the NEVER Openweight Championship became known for its "gritty" title matches. Though named an "openweight" championship, NJPW has also categorized the title as one of the promotion's four heavyweight titles, alongside the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Subsequently, NJPW ranked the title in the second tier, behind both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships and alongside the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship.

### Karl Anderson controversy

In October 2022, NJPW announced that reigning champion Karl Anderson was scheduled to defend the title against Hikuleo on November 5. On October 10, Anderson returned to WWE following his appearance on the episode of WWE's *Monday Night Raw*. On October 20, Anderson posted a video on his *Twitter* page, indicating that he would not be making his advertised commitment, with his tag team partner Doc Gallows not approving his appearance. Despite comments from Gallows, Anderson's expressed his approval to defend the title, but due to both featuring for a WWE event in Saudi Arabia on November 5, Anderson was unable to attend the title match, in direct conflict with Anderson’s prior commitment with NJPW President and CEO Takami Obari being reportedly unhappy over Anderson's decision to not commit his its schduled title defense against Hikuleo. Over the following days, NJPW would attempt to negotiate with Anderson, for a title defense, leading on October 26, NJPW announcing should Anderson decide to renege on his scheduled title match against Hikuleo, he would be forced to vacate the NEVER Openweight Championship and return the title belt to NJPW immediately afterwards. Over the following days, NJPW attempted to negotiate with Anderson, for a title defense, leading on December 14, for Anderson successfully defending the title against Hikuleo. Afterwards, Tonga quickly confronted Anderson, before he could issue a challenge to a rematch, he lay out with a Gunstun before Anderson, named him as his opponent for Wrestle Kingdom 17. On January 4, 2023, at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Tokyo Dome, Anderson lost the NEVER Openweight Championship back to Tama Tonga, marking his last appearance for the promotion and bringing back the title back to NJPW.

## Gallery

* Champions

Masato TanakaTetsuya NaitoTomohiro IshiiYujiro TakahashiTogi MakabeKatsuyori ShibataYuji NagataEVILHirooki GotoMinoru SuzukiMichael ElginTaichiKota IbushiWill OspreayJeff CobbKENTAShingo TakagiHiroshi TanahashiJay WhiteTama TongaKarl AndersonDavid Finlay