BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship

The **BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship** is one world champions in the Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) promotion. It is one of two heavyweight championships promoted by BJW, the other being the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship. The two titles symbolize the two sides of BJW; the Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship the hardcore wrestling side and the World Strong Heavyweight Championship the strong style side. The title has a lower weight limit of 96 kg (212 lb).

## Overveiw

On March 26, 2012, Yoshihito Sasaki defeated Daisuke Sekimoto in the finals to win the 2012 Ikkitosen Strong Climb tournament. Following his win, Sasaki requested that BJW establish a new championship that would symbolize the "strong" side of the promotion. BJW already had one heavyweight championship, the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship, but it was contested exclusively in deathmatches. This led to BJW announcing the creation of the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship on April 14, 2012. On May 5, Yoshihito Sasaki defeated Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw) representative and the reigning wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion Big van Walter in a decision match to become the inaugural champion. Sasaki held the title for the rest of the year, successfully defending it four times. On January 2, 2013, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) representative Manabu Soya defeated Sasaki in his fifth title defense to become the second BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion. Soya's reign lasted only two months, before he lost the title to Daisuke Sekimoto on March 1, 2013. Sekimoto held the title for the rest of the year, breaking Sasaki's records for the longest reign and most successful title defenses, with ten.

On December 29, 2013, Sekimoto suffered a knee injury, but made his return to the ring just two weeks later. However, on January 18, 2014, Sekimoto held a press conference to announce that his quick return had led to a meniscus tear in his knee, which would require surgery, sidelining him for an estimated six weeks and forcing him to relinquish the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship. BJW announced that a new champion would be determined between Shinya Ishikawa and Yuji Okabayashi on February 7, 2014. Okabayashi was later sidelined with a shoulder injury and replaced in the match by Ryuichi Kawakami. On February 7, Ishikawa defeated Kawakami to become the fourth BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion. During his reign on September 17, 2014, BJW surprisingly announced that Ishikawa was going to retire from professional wrestling on September 23. Though Ishikawa's retirement ceremony was later canceled, the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship was declared vacant.

On December 21, 2014, Union Pro Wrestling representative Shuji Ishikawa defeated Ryuichi Kawakami in a decision match to become the fifth BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion. Ishikawa's reign ended in his second defense on March 31, 2015, when Daisuke Sekimoto defeated him to become the first two-time BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion. On July 20, 2015, Yuji Okabayashi defeated Sekimoto to become the seventh BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion. After holding the title for a full year, setting a new record for the longest reign in its history, Okabayashi lost the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship to Hideyoshi Kamitani in his fourth defense on July 24, 2016. On December 18, Daisuke Sekimoto defeated Kamitani in his third defense to win the title for the third time. He lost the title to Hideki Suzuki in his third defense on March 30, 2017. With the introduction of the BJW Junior Heavyweight Championship in May 2017, BJW announced that from now on wrestlers need to weigh at least 96 kg (212 lb) to be able to challenge for the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship.

## Gallery

* Champions

Yoshihito SasakiManabu SoyaDaisuke SekimotoShinya IshikawaShuji IshikawaYuji OkabayashiHideyoshi KamitaniHideki SuzukiDaichi HashimotoKohei SatoYasufumi NakanoueTakuya Nomura