World Junior Heavyweight Championship

The **World Junior Heavyweight Championship** is the top singles junior heavyweight championship in the All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) promotion. The title was introduced on July 31, 1986, at an AJPW show. Only wrestlers under the junior heavyweight weight-limit may hold the championship. The weight-limit for the tag team title is 100 kg (220 lb); it is assumed that this title has the same weight-limit. The title has been defended outside All Japan several times, mainly in Pro Wrestling Noah.

## Overview

On June 1986 Tiger Mask vacated the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship to graduate to the heavyweight division. Later on July 31, 1986 when Hiro Saito defeated Brad Armstrong All Japan Pro Wrestling assumed Saito was their first World Junior Heavyweight Championship. The NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship has no relation with The NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Also, the championship is not referred to as the PWF World Junior Heavyweight Championship which Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) is another governing body of All Japan. The championship changed hands with various Japanese wrestlers and gaijins.

On July 16, 2000, the World Junior Heavyweight Championship including the rest of the AJPW Champions were vacated due to Yoshinari Ogawa and several AJPW wrestler joining Mitsuharu Misawa exodus to form Pro Wrestling NOAH. Eleven months later Kendo Kashin faced Masanobu Fuchi for the vacated championship which Kashin won. On February 12, 2004, the championship was vacated due to inactivity. Ten days later the Kaz Hayashi defeated Blue-K for the vacated championship. On January 10, 2005, at Kaientai Dojo the championship changed hands in another promotion for the first time when Taka Michinoku defeated Kaz Hayashi for the championship the title match was also for the Champion of Strongest-K. On October 18, 2007, after a title defense between Katsuhiko Nakajima and Silver King ended in a no contest, Nakajima remained the official champion.

On October 25, 2008, the championship was first defended in another promotion the AJPW rival promotion Pro Wrestling NOAH when Naomichi Marufuji fought KENTA in a double title match also for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, the match ended in a time limit draw. It was also an attempt to unify the titles. Due to the match ending in a time limit draw, both champions kept their titles in the hands of their respective holder, while gaining favorable reviews for their efforts by the media with some claiming it to be a *Match of the Year*.

On November 30, 2015, while Kotaro Suzuki was the World Junior Heavyweight Championship he announced that he was going to leave AJPW to become a freelancer. Following the announcement, the World Junior Heavyweight Championship was vacated. Later the new championship was going to be decided in the 2016 Jr. Battle of Glory. On February 21, 2016, Atsushi Aoki defeated Hikaru Sato in the finals to win the 2016 Jr. Battle of Glory and the vacant World Junior Heavyweight Championship. The original World Junior Heavyweight Championship belt had a similar design to the title it replaced, the NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship, which had been around since 1982 and only replacing the word "International" with "World". This belt was replaced with a new belt on August 27, 2017. On June 3, 2019, Atsushi Aoki died in a motorcycle accident. AJPW announced Aoki would be recognized as champion until November 20. On October 24, AJPW announced a tournament to crown a new champion starting on November 21 and finishing on January 3, 2020, with the promotion also announcing that was going to change the title design with the other belt going to Aoki's family as a relic.

## Gallery

* Gallery
* Champions

Original Belt designSecond Belt design

Kuniaki KobayashiMasanobu FuchiJoe MalenkoMighty InoueShinichi NakanoMitsuo MomotaDan KroffatYoshinari OgawaTsuyoshi KikuchiMaunakea MossmanKendo KashinKaz HayashiTaka MichinokuShuji KondoKatsuhiko NakajimaSilver KingRyuji HijikataNaomichi MarufujiMinoruKAIKenny OmegaHiroshi YamatoYoshinobu KanemaruÚltimo DragónAtsushi AokiKotaro SuzukiHikaru SatoSoma TakaoKeisuke IshiiTAJIRIKoji IwamotoSusumu YokosukaCIMAFrancesco AkiraSUGIIzanagiSuper CrazyTiger MaskAtsuki AoyagiNaruki DoiEl Lindaman