IWGP Heavyweight Championship

The **IWGP Heavyweight Championship** (IWGPヘビー級王座, *IWGP Hebī-kyū Ōza*) was the top singles championship in the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix. The title was introduced on June 12, 1987, in the finals of an IWGP tournament, which was won by Antonio Inoki and Kota Ibushi was the last champion.

Since its inception title has been considered to be the most prestigious championship belt in NJPW and one of the most respected in Japanese professional wrestling and it promoted as NJPW's sole primary championship. The championship has been represented by four different belts. The title forms what has unofficially been called the "New Japan Triple Crown" (新日本トリプルクラウン, *Shin Nihon Toripuru Kuraun*) along with the IWGP Intercontinental and NEVER Openweight Championships. The championship has headlined several pay-per-view events, most importantly in the Tokyo Dome and has been defended in MMA matches, when NJPW was on its period of decline.

Title changes happen at NJPW-promoted events. Big Van Vader, Salman Hashimikov, Scott Norton, Bob Sapp, Brock Lesnar, A.J. Styles, Kenny Omega, and Jay White are the eight non-Japanese wrestlers to have held the title, with Hashimikov being the first and only Soviet-born champion, while Omega is the first and only Canadian-born champion and White is the first and only New Zealander-born champion. The IWGP Heavyweight Championship was retired at NJPW's 49th anniversary event on March 4, 2021, when it was unified with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship into the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship.

## History

### Origin

The early version of this championship was introduced in 1983 for the winner of the IWGP League 1983. Since then, the championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year. Wrestlers such as André the Giant and Hulk Hogan have also won the title as part of the tournament. Antonio Inoki would become the inaugural champion on June 12, 1987, after winning the 1987 IWGP League by defeating Masa Saito in the finals. Unlike its predecessor, this championship was defended regularly and became NJPW's premier championship. NJPW founder Antonio Inoki wanted to maintain the legitimate image that NJPW had cultivated, leading him to impose very strict rules for the title and its scheduled defenses. The title had to defend when scheduled, and if the champion were injured, they would be forced to vacate the championship. This led to the following champions being forced to relinquish the title due to an inability to participate in title defenses. NJPW would hold a new tournament to determine the new champion.

### Keiji Mutoh's elevation, feud with UWFI, and first golden era

In March 1991, Tatsumi Fujinami made history, as he defeated Ric Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, making him the very first man to hold the IWGP and NWA World titles simultaneously. After Fujinami lost the title to Riki Choshu on January 4, 1992, NJPW created the Greatest 18 Championship to complement the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and was awarded to Choshu during his reign, but after losing the title to The Great Muta on August 16, Muta retired the title, to focus on his IWGP Heavyweight Championship title defenses. During Muta's reign, the title was defended in a double title match against Masahiro Chono for the IWGP and NWA World Heavyweight Championships on January 4, 1993, in the Tokyo Dome, which Muta won becoming the wrestler after Fujinami to win them. His next title defense would be at the Nippon Budokan on June 15.

In 1995, NJPW began an interpromotional feud with shoot-style wrestling promotion UWF International, which featured the title being defended during the feud. The title would be defended in the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 1996, drawing a record 67,000 fans in attendance, which was the largest crowd and gate in Japanese wrestling history at the time. Three months later, Nobuhiko Takada defeated Keiji Mutoh, with 64,000 fans in attendance, in a unification match, where Takada's Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship was on the line to capture the title, shocking NJPW fans who were surprised by Mutoh losing the title to an outsider. This led to a storyline, where Takada damaged NJPW’s reputation, after winning the title, leading on April 29, 1996, Takada losing the title to Shinya Hashimoto in an attempt to save NJPW's reputation and avenge Mutoh's loss. This rivalry proved to be one of the most successful rivalries in Japanese professional wrestling history, with their match drawing $6 million at the gate. During Hashimoto's reign, NJPW would create the second design of the title, replacing the previous one created by Antonio Inoki. Hashimoto's reign was also notable for being the longest reign in the title's history at 489 days.

### Period of decline and return of the second title belt

Following their feud in the early 2000s, mixed martial arts began doing strong business in Japan and professional wrestling was seen as the "old fake version". NJPW's owner Antonio Inoki didn't want to allow other combat sports promotions to be seen as tougher than his wrestlers, leading him to decide to combine mixed martial arts with the Strong Style he created. Due to Inoki wanting to both styles, Inoki made Hashimoto losing to MMA fighter Naoya Ogawa in his debut match, on April 12, 1997 at the Tokyo Dome. Inoki had ordered Ogawa to turn his match against Hashimoto from a worked professional wrestling match into a shoot-style wrestling match. In the end, Ogawa ended up destroying Hashimoto's reputation as a tough wrestler and began the decline of the prestige of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Inoki's decision to continue to push mixed martial arts into the promotion, much of NJPW's audience dislike. Former Fighting Network RINGS fighter Kazuyuki Fujita, during a PRIDE event, would be awarded the first version of the championship by Inoki, but the champion at the time was Scott Norton, leading to a unification match on April 9, which was won by Fujita. His reign would end on January 4, 2002, at the Wrestling World, after Fujita vacated the title due to being injured in his achilles tendon, marking the first time the title was not defended in the main event of the Tokyo Dome. Inoki's decision to join the trend of mixed martial arts, seriously cripple the promotion, which was at a historic low in its history.

In April 2002, Yuji Nagata, who was trained in the NJPW Dojo, won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. His reign proved to be a mild success for the promotion, as he regained the prestige back to the title, setting a new record for the most successful title defenses with 10, while also regaining some interest from the fans to the promotion. He would lose the title to Yoshihiro Takayama on May 2, 2003, in a double title match for the IWGP and NWF Heavyweight Championships, a title that Kazuyuki Fujita had revived to rival the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Afterwards, NJPW began looking for young talent founding two promising wrestlers Hiroshi Tanahashi and Shinsuke Nakamura. Having earned the nickname "Super Rookie", Nakamura impressed both NJPW officials and fans with an excellent combination of strength, speed, and technical skill, culminating on December 9, Nakamura defeating Hiroyoshi Tenzan to become the youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion in the title's history, at 23 years old. During his reign on January 4, 2004, at Wrestling World, Nakamura defeated Yoshihiro Takayama to unify the IWGP Heavyweight Championship with the NWF Heavyweight Championship. His reign would end after Nakamura vacated the title due to suffering from various injuries.

Despite the seemingly reminiscent prestige of the title, NJPW continued to book MMA fighters to win the title such as Bob Sapp and Kazuyuki Fujita as well various title changes, which further damaged the title's reputation, which was complemented with the title not being defended on January 4, 2005 at the Toukon Festival: Wrestling World in favor of a Submissions Only Tournament. During this time, NJPW had started an inter-promotional feud with All Japan Pro Wrestling, which featured an unfathomable bout in 2005 for the IWGP and Triple Crown Heavyweight Championships between IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima, which Kojima won becoming the only wrestler to ever hold both titles simultaneously (a feat that Keiji Mutoh accomplished in 2008). Three months later, Tenzan would defeat Kojima to regain the title, bringing it back to NJPW. He would lose the title to Kazuyuki Fujita on July 18. Fujita would give the second version of the title until July 11, giving it to Shinya Hashimoto's family, after he had passed away, leading NJPW to create a third version of the title in the United States, which was inaugurated on September 30 by NJPW President Simon Kelly Inoki.

In 2006, in an attempt to restore the title's image, NJPW booked former WWE wrestler Brock Lesnar to win the title. He would be stripped of the title for being unable to return to Japan due to "visa issues"; however, Lesnar claimed he was owed money by NJPW and didn't want to lose the title to Hiroshi Tanahashi, keeping the physical belt, which forced NJPW to return to the second version of the title. Lesnar signed with Antonio Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) in 2007 and lost the championship to Kurt Angle on the inaugural broadcast.

### Second golden era and rise back to dominance

After Brock Lesnar vacated the title, NJPW held a six-man tournament to crown a new champion, which was won by Hiroshi Tanahashi. Tanahashi's reign would mark NJPW returning to its strong style roots and marked the rise of NJPW to be returning as one of the largest promotions in Japan. Matches for the title were only accepted for wrestlers at a minimum weight of 220 lb (100 kg) under the IWGP Heavyweight Championship rules. However, Koji Kanemoto challenged Tanahashi for the title on February 18, 2007, allowing wrestlers with less than 100 kg to challenge for the title, eliminating the weight restrictions rules.

During Shinsuke Nakamura's second reign as champion, Nakamura defeated Kurt Angle in a unification match on February 17, 2008, at the Circuit2008 New Japan Ism tour to win the IGF version of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship or the IWGP 3rd Belt Championship, known in NJPW, unifying it with the NJPW version of the title. On March 2 at Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max's 7th-anniversary show, Nakamura defeated Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max's Kohei Sato. After the match, Nakamura handed the second version of the title to Shinya Hashimoto's son Daichi Hashimoto, to honor his father's death, leading NJPW to create a fourth version of the title to replace the second version, which was unveiled on March 7. Nakamura lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) representative Keiji Mutoh on April 27. Hiroshi Tanahashi would return the title to NJPW, after defeating Mutoh on January 4, 2009, at Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome, marking a new era for the promotion. Tanahashi's fifth reign as champion was notable, for surpassing Yuji Nagata's record-setting successful title defenses, with 11. On May 14, 2011, at NJPW Invasion Tour, Hiroshi Tanahashi defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time in twenty-two years in the United States, defeating Charlie Haas.

Since January 2012, Tanahashi began a feud with Kazuchika Okada, who had recently return from his excursion. On February 12 at The New Beginning, Tanahashi lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Okada, ending his reign at 404 days. Tanahashi's reign brought prestige and relevance back to NJPW alongside the title through Tanahashi's hard work. Tanahashi and Okada exchanged the IWGP Heavyweight Championship multiples times, headlining several pay-per-view events, including Wrestle Kingdom 7, Wrestle Kingdom 9 and 10. Meanwhile, on May 3, 2014 at Wrestling Dontaku, A.J. Styles became the third American wrestler to hold the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Styles would lose the title to Hiroshi Tanahashi, who broke Tatsumi Fujinami's record for most reign as champion, with seven.

On June 19, 2016, at Dominion 6.19 in Osaka-jo Hall, Kazuchika Okada won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the fifth time. During his reign, Okada defended the title against Kenny Omega on January 4, 2017 at Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome. At 46 minutes and 45 seconds, the match was the longest in the history of the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show. Wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer gave the match a six-star rating in his *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*, adding that Okada and Omega "may have put on the greatest match in pro wrestling history" and that it was the best match he had ever seen. The match was also praised by the likes of Daniel Bryan, Mick Foley, and Stone Cold Steve Austin. Okada and Omega would face each other for the second time on June 11 at Dominion 6.11 in Osaka-jo Hall, which ended in NJPW's first 60-minute time limit draw in 12 years. This match was rated 6¼ stars by Dave Meltzer, higher than their previous match, making it the highest-rated match by Meltzer at that time. Okada's reign would also be notable for being the longest reign in the title's history with 720 days, breaking the previous record of 489 days, held by Shinya Hashimoto. He also broke Hiroshi Tanahashi's record of 1,358 combined days as champion, ending his reign with 1,516 combined days as champion and also broke Tanahashi's record of eleven successful title defenses, with 12 successful title defenses, after defeating Tanahashi on May 4, 2018, at Wrestling Dontaku, earning a 5½ star rating from *Wrestling Observer Newsletter*.

Okada would lose the title to Kenny Omega on June 9, Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall in NJPW's first two out of three falls match in 39 years and the first to hold with no time limit. The match received a seven-star rating from Meltzer, which remains the highest rating ever given toward a match. Omega also became the first Canadian wrestler and the fourth wrestler from North America to win the title. Omega would lose the title to Hiroshi Tanahashi on January 4, 2019 at Wrestle Kingdom 13 in Tokyo Dome. Tanahashi would break his record by winning the title eight times and becoming the first wrestler to cash in the Tokyo Dome IWGP Heavyweight Championship challenge rights certificate at a Wrestle Kingdom event. Tanahashi lost the title to Jay White on February 11 at The New Beginning in Osaka, becoming the first New Zealander-born champion and the first wrestler from Oceania to win the title. In April, heading to the G1 Supercard in the Madison Square Garden, NJPW restored the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. On April 7 at G1 Supercard in New York, United States, Okada defeated White to win the title, marking the first time the title changed hands outside Japan.

### Double Gold Dash and Unification

During this time, in March, Tetsuya Naito had the desire to hold both IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships simultaneously. In August, after Kota Ibushi won the 2019 G1 Climax, he announced his intentions of challenging for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships in both nights of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome. Naito's desire was derailed by Jay White, who also wanted to main event the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 and become the first-ever double champion in history, leading Naito to lose the IWGP Intercontinental Championship to White on September 22 at Destruction in Kobe. On November 3 at Power Struggle, Okada suggested a fan vote to determine whether the main event of the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14. The dual championship match for the IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Intercontinental Championships won the vote, resulting in Naito receiving his championship rematch at the event. In the build-up to the event, the dual championship match was billed as "Double Gold Dash". On January 4, 2020 on the first night of Wrestle Kingdom 14 in Tokyo Dome, Okada defeated Ibushi to retain the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, while Naito defeated White to win the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. The following day, on the second night of Wrestle Kingdom 14, Naito won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and successfully defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, after defeating Okada, becoming the first double champion in NJPW history. Subsequently, both championships began billed as "IWGP Heavyweight/IWGP Intercontinental Double Championship" (IWGPヘビー級・IWGPインターコンチネンタル ダブル王座).

Afterwards, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship began being defended alongside the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Upon winning the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships at Wrestle Kingdom 15, Kota Ibushi announced his ambitions of unifying both titles. Following a successful title defense of the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Tetsuya Naito, who was against the unification of both titles, on March 1, NJPW announced that both titles would be unified into the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, with the last title defense of both titles being on March 4 at NJPW's 49th anniversary event.

## Reigns

Overall, there have been seventy-three reigns shared among thirty-one wrestlers with ten vacancies. Big Van Vader, Salman Hashimikov, Scott Norton, Bob Sapp, Brock Lesnar, A.J. Styles, Kenny Omega, and Jay White are the eight non-Japanese wrestlers to have held the title. The inaugural champion was Inoki, who defeated Masa Saito on June 12, 1987, in a tournament final. Hiroshi Tanahashi holds the record for most reigns with eight. At 720 days, Kazuchika Okada's fourth reign is the longest in the title's history. Okada has the most successful defenses in that reign with 12 and with a combined four reigns, also holds the record for most days as champion at 1,790. Kensuke Sasaki's fourth reign holds the record for shortest reign at 16 days. Over his seven reigns, Tanahashi successfully defended the title 28 times, the most of any champion. With zero, Big Van Vader's first and third reigns, Salman Hashimikov's only reign, Riki Choshu's first reign, Tatsumi Fujinami's third and fifth reigns, Masahiro Chono's only reign, Genichiro Tenryu's only reign, Scott Norton's second reign, Hiroyoshi Tenzan's first and third reigns, Kensuke Sasaki's fourth reign, Kazuyuki Fujita's third reign, and Manabu Nakanishi's only reign are all tied for least successful defenses.

## Gallery

* Gallery
* Champions

Original belt designSecond belt designThird belt design

Antonio InokiTatsumi FujinamiBig Van VaderSalman HashimikovRiki ChoshuThe Great MutaKeiji MutohShinya HashimotoNobuhiko TakadaKensuke SasakiMasahiro ChonoScott NortonGenchiro TenryuPower WarriorKazuyuki FujitaTadao YasudaYuji NagataYoshihiro TakayamaHiroyoshi TenzanShinsuke NakamuraBob SappSatoshi KojimaBrock LesnarHiroshi TanahashiManabu NakanishiTogi MakabeKazuchika OkadaA.J. StylesTetsuya NaitoKenny OmegaJay WhiteEVILKota Ibushi
1. ↑ *ja:4代目IWGPヘビー級ベルトが遂に完成！* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro-Wrestling* (2008-03-07). Retrieved on 2017-11-21.
2. ↑ *ja:真壁 ＩＣ王座に照準の真意* (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports* (2016-02-29). Retrieved on 2017-01-05.
3. ↑ Error on call to template:ref web: Parameters **archiveurl** and **archivedate** must be both specified or both omitted“新IWGP王者”AJスタイルズに直撃! 「もう誰にもIWGPを渡す気はない！俺が“カネの雨”を降らせるから心配するな！」  (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro-Wrestling* (2014-05-12). Archived from the original on 2014-05-12. Retrieved on 2015-05-06.
4. ↑ International Wrestling Grand Prix Championship Tournament . Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved on 2019-02-09.