Jr. Battle of Glory

The **Jr. Battle of Glory** is an annual round-robin tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling, to decide the promotion's top junior heavyweight wrestler, as well as the #1 contender to the World Junior Heavyweight Championship. It was established in 1983 as a single-block round-robin tournament then in 2006, as the **Junior League**, it began as a two-block round-robin tournament, in which each block's highest scorers face off in the finals. A victory is worth two points, a draw is worth one, and a loss zero; each match has a thirty-minute time limit. In 2012, the tournament was rebranded "**Junior Hyper League**". After no tournament took place in 2013, the 2014 tournament, dubbed "Jr. Battle of Glory", was announced as taking place in February, instead of its usual place in the summer. In 2020, the tournament would not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan.

## Tournament winners

### 1983

In 1983, All Japan Pro Wrestling held the "NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title League" between May 12 and 26, 1983. The winner, Chavo Guerrero, also won the vacant NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Final standings
 Mitsuharu Misawa | 0

### 1998

In 1998, All Japan Pro Wrestling held the "World Junior Heavyweight Title League" between July 6 and 19, 1998. The winner, Yoshinari Ogawa, also won the vacant World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

Final standings
 Yoshinobu Kanemaru | 0

### 2003

The 2003 Junior League was held from March 28 to April 10, 2003. The winner, Carl Contini, went on to unsuccessfully challenged Kendo Kashin for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship on April 12, 2003.

Final standings
 Gran Naniwa | 0

### 2006

The 2006 Junior League was held from June 25 to July 3 over six shows, and featured two blocks of four. Foreign participation included Taka Michinoku from Kaientai Dojo and Virus from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre. The winner, Kaz Hayashi, won every match he participated in; he went on to fail in his challenge to Junior Heavyweight champion Shuji Kondo on August 27. Note that "brother" YASSHI wrestled as "strong" YASSHI for two of his matches.

Final standings
 "brother" YASSHI | 0 | Mazada | 1

### 2007

The 2007 Junior League, was held from June 24 to July 1 over six shows, involving two blocks of five. Foreign participation included Chris Sabin from Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. Unlike the previous year, the Junior Heavyweight champion, Katsuhiko Nakajima was allowed to compete.

Final standings
 El Nosawa Mendoza | 2 | "brother" YASSHI | 2

### 2008

The 2008 Junior League featured two blocks of five and is being held from July 20 to August 3 over nine shows.

Final standings
 Ryuji Hijikata | 3 | T28 | 3

### 2009

The 2009 Junior League featured two blocks of five and is being held from July 26 to August 7 over eight shows. Foreign participants included Petey Williams and Super Crazy. The winner, Shuji Kondo, went on to fail in his challenge to Junior Heavyweight champion Kaz Hayashi on August 30.

Final standings
 Toshizo | 0 | Hiroshi Yamato | 2

### 2010

The 2010 Junior League featured two blocks of six and was held from July 25 to August 8 over nine shows. The winner, Jimmy Yang, went on to unsuccessfully challenge Kaz Hayashi for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship on August 29, 2010.

Final standings
 Antonio Thomas | 2 | Taka Michinoku | 4

### 2011

The 2011 Junior League featured two blocks of six and was held from September 11 to September 25 over nine shows. With his win, KAI became the first person to have won the tournament twice.

Final standings
 Kaz Hayashi | 4 | Mazada | 2

### 2012

The 2012 Junior League, dubbed "Junior Hyper League", featured two blocks of six and was held from July 15 to July 29 over ten shows.

Final standings
 Aegyptus Aerial | 2 | Andy Wu | 0

### 2014

The 2014 Junior League, dubbed "Jr. Battle of Glory", featured two blocks of five and was held from February 5 to February 16 over eight shows.

Final standings
 Kaji Tomato | 2 | SUSHI | 2

### 2015

The 2015 Jr. Battle of Glory featured two blocks of five and was held from February 7 to February 20 over nine shows.

Final standings
 Yohei Nakajima | 2 | Soma Takao | 3

### 2016

The 2016 Jr. Battle of Glory featured two blocks of four and was held from February 12 to February 21 over five shows and contested for the vacant World Junior Heavyweight Championship. Originally Kazuki Hashimoto won block B, but had to pull out of the finals due to a hand fracture, leading to AJPW booking a playoff match between Hikaru Sato and Atsushi Maruyama to determine the finalist.

Final standings
 Takeshi Minamino | 0 | Ryuji Hijikata | 2

### 2017

The 2017 Jr. Battle of Glory featured two blocks of four and was held from February 17 to February 26 over six shows. The tournament inclues outside participation from Dramatic Dream Team the reigning World Junior Heavyweight Champion Keisuke Ishii, from Pro Wrestling Heat-Up Kazuhiro Tamura, and freelancers Atsushi Maruyama, Masashi Takeda, and Minoru Tanaka.

Current standings
 Masashi Takeda | 3 | Yuma Aoyagi | 3

### 2018

The 2018 Jr. Battle of Glory featured two blocks of six and was held from February 13 to February 25, covering nine shows. The tournament included outside participation from Dramatic Dream Team Soma Takao, freelancer Mineo Fujita, and from Wrestle-1 Shuji Kondo, who makes his return to the promotion after five years.

Final standings
 Keiichi Sato | 2 | Mineo Fujita | 4

### 2019

The 2019 Jr. Battle of Glory featured two blocks of six and was held from February 7 to February 24, covering eleven shows.

Final standings
 Francesco Akira | 2 | Black Tiger VII | 4

### 2021

The 2021 Jr. Battle of Glory featured a single-elimination format for the first time in the tournament's history and was held from June 2 and 3 covering two shows.

### 2022

The 2022 Jr. Battle of Glory returned to old format of round-robin featured format and was held at the same time as the World's Strongest Tag Determination League between November 13 and December 7.

Final standings
 Hokuto Omori | 0

### 2023

The 2023 Jr. Battle of Glory featured one block of eight participants and was held at the same time as the World's Strongest Tag Determination League between November 12 and December 6.

Final standings
 Ryo Inoue | 5

## Gallery

* Gallery
* Winners

trophy

Chavo GuerreroYoshinari OgawaKaz HayashiChris SabinKAIShuji KondoJimmy YangHiroshi YamatoKotaro SuzukiAtsushi AokiKoji IwamotoFrancesco AkiraAtsuki AoyagiDan Tamura

## References

1. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=26&nr=2698
2. ↑ http://www.cagematch.net/?id=26&nr=1540
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://www.prowrestlinghistory.com/supercards/japan/alljapan/junior.html#jr2003
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Junior Champion Carnival 2006 . *Pro Wrestling History*. Archived from the original on 2008-01-30. Retrieved on 2008-02-03.
5. ↑ Junior Champion Carnival 2007 . *Pro Wrestling History*. Archived from the original on 2008-01-30. Retrieved on 2008-02-03.