IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
A caucasian male with black hair, and wearing black wrestling tights, standing inside a wrestling ring, with a championship belt around his waist.
Prince Devitt with the championship in November 2010
Details
Current champion(s) Prince Devitt
Date won September 19, 2011
Promotion New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW)
Date established February 6, 1986

The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling junior heavweight championship owned by 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 February 6, 1986 at a NJPW show. Only wrestlers under the junior heavyweight weight-limit may hold the championship. NJPW currently controls two junior heavyweight championships: the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The weight-limit for the tag team title is 220 lb (100 kg); it is assumed that this title has the same weight-limit.[1] From August 5, 1996 until November 5, 1997 the title was part of the J-Crown, or J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship. The J-Crown was an assembly of eight different championships from several different promotions. It was created on August 5, 1996 when The Great Sasuke won an eight-man tournament. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, the British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship, the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, the NWA World Welterweight Championship, the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship, the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship, the WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship, and the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship were the eight championships that were involved.[2] On November 5, 1997, then-champion Shinjiro Otani vacated all J-Crown belts but the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship after the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) retook control of its Light Heavyweight title, effectively ending the J-Crown. Being a professional wrestling championship, the title is won as a result of a predetermined outcome.

Overall, there have been 62 reigns shared among 31 wrestlers. Title changes happen mostly at NJPW-promoted events, as it has only changed hands at non-NJPW events twice. Reigns 36 and 37 occurred on World Championship Wrestling's Nitro television broadcast, when Juventud Guerrera defeated Jushin Liger on November 29, 1999, and on December 6, 1999 when Liger retrieved the championship by defeating Guerrera's stand-in Psychosis. The inaugural champion was Shiro Koshinaka, who defeated The Cobra on February 6, 1986 in the finals of a tournament. Liger holds the record of most reigns, with 11. At 628 days, Liger's sixth reign is the longest in the title's history. Liger, with a combined 11 reigns, holds the record for most days as champion at 2,245. Guerrera's only reigns holds the record for shortest reign at one week. With 11 successful defenses, Minoru Tanaka's reign under the ring name "Heat" had the most during a single reign. Over his 11 reigns, Liger successfully defended the title 31 times, the most of any champion. With zero, El Samurai's second reign, Hiroshi Hase's second reign, Tiger Mask IV's fourth and sixth reigns, Liger's fourth reign, Guerrera's only reign, and Pegasus Kid's only reign are all tied for least successful defenses. Guerrera and Pegasus Kid are the only champions to not successfully defend the title once. Prince Devitt is the current champion in his second reign, after defeating Kushida on September 19, 2011 at NJPW's Kantaro Hoshino Memorial Show to win the vacant title.

Contents

[edit] Title history

# Order in reign history
Reign The reign number for the specific set of wrestlers listed
Event The event in which the title was won
Successful defenses The number of successful defenses the champion had during his reign
— Used for vacated reigns so as not to count it as an official reign
N/A The information is not available or is unknown
+ Indicates the current reign is changing daily
# Wrestlers Reign Date Days
held		 Location Event Successful defenses Notes
1 Shiro Koshinaka 1 01986-02-06 February 6, 1986 &10000000000000102000000102 Tokyo, Japan Live event 1 Koshinaka defeated The Cobra in a tournament final to become the first champion.[3]
2 Nobuhiko Takada 1 01986-05-19 May 19, 1986 &10000000000000123000000123 Tokyo, Japan Live event 6
3 Shiro Koshinaka 2 01986-09-19 September 19, 1986 &10000000000000317000000317 Fukuoka, Japan Live event 2
— Vacated — 01987-08-02 August 2, 1987 — N/A N/A — Koshinaka vacated the championship due to injuring his right ankle.
4 Kuniaki Kobayashi 1 01987-08-20 August 20, 1987 &10000000000000129000000129 Tokyo, Japan Live event 1 Kobayashi defeated Nobuhiko Takada to win the vacant championship.
5 Hiroshi Hase 1 01987-12-27 December 27, 1987 &10000000000000152000000152 Tokyo, Japan Inoki Toukon Live III 3
6 Owen Hart 1 01988-05-27 May 27, 1988 &1000000000000002800000028 Sendai, Japan Live event 1
7 Shiro Koshinaka 3 01988-06-24 June 24, 1988 &10000000000000265000000265 Osaka, Japan Live event 6
8 Hiroshi Hase 2 01989-03-16 March 16, 1989 &1000000000000007000000070 Yokohama, Japan Live event 0
9 Jushin Liger 1 01989-05-25 May 25, 1989 &1000000000000007700000077 Osaka, Japan Live event 2
10 Naoki Sano 1 01989-08-10 August 10, 1989 &10000000000000174000000174 Tokyo, Japan Live event 2
11 Jushin Liger 2 01990-01-31 January 31, 1990 &10000000000000200000000200 Osaka, Japan Live event 1
12 Pegasus Kid 1 01990-08-19 August 19, 1990 &1000000000000007400000074 Tokyo, Japan Live event 0 [4]
13 Jushin Liger 3 01990-11-01 November 1, 1990 &10000000000000165000000165 Tokyo, Japan Live event 2
— Vacated — 01991-04-15 April 15, 1991 — N/A N/A — Liger vacated the championship so a new champion could be decided in the Top of the Super Juniors tournament.
14 Norio Honaga 1 01991-04-30 April 30, 1991 &1000000000000004300000043 Tokyo, Japan Live event 2 Honaga defeated Jushin Liger in the finals of the Top of the Super Juniors tournament.
15 Jushin Liger 4 01991-06-12 June 12, 1991 &1000000000000005800000058 Tokyo, Japan Live event 0
16 Akira Nogami 1 01991-08-09 August 9, 1991 &1000000000000008800000088 Tokyo, Japan Live event 1
17 Norio Honaga 2 01991-11-05 November 5, 1991 &1000000000000009500000095 Tokyo, Japan Live event 1
18 Jushin Liger 5 01992-02-08 February 8, 1992 &10000000000000139000000139 Sapporo, Japan Live event 3 Liger's WCW World Light Heavyweight Championship was also on the line.
19 El Samurai 1 01992-06-26 June 26, 1992 &10000000000000149000000149 Tokyo, Japan Live event 3
20 Último Dragón 1 01992-11-22 November 22, 1992 &1000000000000004300000043 Tokyo, Japan Live event 1 [5]
21 Jushin Liger 6 01993-01-04 January 4, 1993 &10000000000000628000000628 Tokyo, Japan Fantastic Story 5
— Vacated — 01994-09-24 September 24, 1994 — N/A N/A — Liger vacated the championship due to fracturing his left ankle.
22 Norio Honaga 3 01994-09-27 September 27, 1994 &10000000000000145000000145 Osaka, Japan Live event 6 Honaga defeated Wild Pegasus in a tournament final to win the vacant championship.
23 Koji Kanemoto 1 01995-02-19 February 19, 1995 &1000000000000007300000073 Tokyo, Japan Live event 2
24 Sabu 1 01995-05-03 May 3, 1995 &1000000000000004200000042 Fukuoka, Japan Wrestling Dontaku 1
25 Koji Kanemoto 2 01995-06-14 June 14, 1995 &10000000000000204000000204 Tokyo, Japan Live event 2 This match was also for Kanemoto's UWA World Welterweight Championship.
26 Jushin Liger 7 01996-01-04 January 4, 1996 &10000000000000116000000116 Tokyo, Japan Wrestling World (1996) 2
27 The Great Sasuke 1 01996-04-29 April 29, 1996 &10000000000000165000000165 Tokyo, Japan Battle Formation 5 On August 5, 1996, Sasuke won an 8-man tournament to form the J-Crown, an octuple-belt championship that includes the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title; these titles were still considered separate, but were defended together.
28 Último Dragón 2 01996-10-11 October 11, 1996 &1000000000000008500000085 Tokyo, Japan Live event 7
29 Jushin Liger 8 01997-01-04 January 4, 1997 &10000000000000183000000183 Tokyo, Japan Wrestling World (1997) 4 Liger lost the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship from the J-Crown on June 6, 1997, but continued to defend the other 7 belts.
30 El Samurai 2 01997-07-06 July 6, 1997 &1000000000000003500000035 Sapporo, Japan Live event 0
31 Shinjiro Otani 1 01997-08-10 August 10, 1997 &10000000000000181000000181 Nagoya, Japan The Four Heaven 5 On November 5, 1997, Otani vacated all J-Crown belts but the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title after the WWF retook control of its Light Heavyweight title, effectively ending the J-Crown.
32 Jushin Liger 9 01998-02-07 February 7, 1998 &10000000000000403000000403 Sapporo, Japan Live event 8
33 Koji Kanemoto 3 01999-03-17 March 17, 1999 &10000000000000164000000164 Hiroshima, Japan Live event 3
34 Kendo Kashin 1 01999-08-28 August 28, 1999 &1000000000000004400000044 Tokyo, Japan Jingu Climax 1
35 Jushin Liger 10 01999-10-11 October 11, 1999 &1000000000000004900000049 Tokyo, Japan Final Dome 1
36 Juventud Guerrera 1 01999-11-29 November 29, 1999 &100000000000000070000007 Denver, United States Nitro 0
37 Jushin Liger 11 01999-12-06 December 6, 1999 &10000000000000227000000227 Milwaukee, United States Nitro 3 Psychosis replaced Guerrera in the match due to Guerrera suffering a fractured right arm.
38 Tatsuhito Takaiwa 1 02000-07-20 July 20, 2000 &10000000000000101000000101 Sapporo, Japan Live event 2
39 Minoru Tanaka 1 02000-10-29 October 29, 2000 &10000000000000264000000264 Kobe, Japan Live event 2
40 Masayuki Naruse 1 02001-07-20 July 20, 2001 &1000000000000008000000080 Sapporo, Japan Dome Quake 1
41 Kendo Kashin 2 02001-10-08 October 8, 2001 &10000000000000131000000131 Tokyo, Japan Indicate of Next 2
42 Minoru Tanaka 2 02002-02-16 February 16, 2002 &10000000000000153000000153 Tokyo, Japan Live event 3
43 Koji Kanemoto 4 02002-07-19 July 19, 2002 &10000000000000278000000278 Sapporo, Japan Sapporo Toukon Memorial Day 1st 6
44 Tiger Mask IV 1 02003-04-23 April 23, 2003 &10000000000000153000000153 Hiroshima, Japan Live event 4 [6]
— Vacated — 02003-09-23 September 23, 2003 — N/A N/A — The championship was vacated so it could be contested for in a battle royal.
45 Jado 1 02003-10-13 October 13, 2003 &1000000000000006200000062 Tokyo, Japan Ultimate Crush II 1 Jado defeated Dick Togo, El Samurai, Gedo, Heat, Jushin Liger, Katsushi Takemura, Koji Kanemoto, Masahito Kakihara, Masayuki Naruse and Tiger Mask IV in a battle royal to win the vacant championship.
46 Heat 3 02003-12-14 December 14, 2003 &10000000000000387000000387 Nagoya, Japan Live event 11 [7]
47 Tiger Mask IV 2 02005-01-04 January 4, 2005 &10000000000000277000000277 Tokyo, Japan Toukon Festival ~ Wrestling World 3
48 Black Tiger IV 1 02005-10-08 October 8, 2005 &10000000000000134000000134 Tokyo, Japan Toukon Souzou New Chapter 1 This match was also for Black Tiger IV's NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
49 Tiger Mask IV 3 02006-02-19 February 19, 2006 &1000000000000007300000073 Tokyo, Japan Live event 1 This match was also for Black Tiger IV's NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship.
50 Koji Kanemoto 5 02006-05-03 May 3, 2006 &10000000000000235000000235 Fukuoka, Japan Live event 1
51 Minoru 4 02006-12-24 December 24, 2006 &10000000000000194000000194 Tokyo, Japan Battle Xmas! Catch the Victory 4
52 Ryusuke Taguchi 1 02007-07-06 July 6, 2007 &10000000000000155000000155 Tokyo, Japan Live event 4
53 Wataru Inoue 1 02007-12-08 December 8, 2007 &10000000000000191000000191 Osaka, Japan Live event 3
— Vacated — 02008-06-16 June 16, 2008 — N/A N/A — The championship was vacated when Inoue moved to the heavyweight division.
54 Tiger Mask IV 4 02008-07-08 July 8, 2008 &1000000000000007500000075 Tokyo, Japan Live event 0 Tiger Mask IV defeated Prince Devitt in a tournament final to win the vacant championship.
55 Low Ki 1 02008-09-21 September 21, 2008 &10000000000000105000000105 Kobe, Japan Live event 1
56 Tiger Mask IV 5 02009-01-04 January 4, 2009 &10000000000000223000000223 Tokyo, Japan Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome 4 [8][9]
57 Místico 1 02009-08-15 August 15, 2009 &1000000000000008500000085 Tokyo, Japan Live event 2 [10]
58 Tiger Mask IV 6 02009-11-08 November 8, 2009 &1000000000000005700000057 Tokyo, Japan Destruction '09 0 [11]
59 Naomichi Marufuji 1 02010-01-04 January 4, 2010 &10000000000000166000000166 Tokyo, Japan Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome 5 [12]
60 Prince Devitt 1 02010-06-19 June 19, 2010 &10000000000000364000000364 Osaka, Japan Dominion 6.19 7
61 Kota Ibushi 1 02011-06-18 June 18, 2011 &1000000000000008500000085 Osaka, Japan Dominion 6.18 2
— Vacated — 02011-09-12 September 12, 2011 — N/A N/A — The championship was vacated after Ibushi was sidelined with a shoulder injury.[13]
62 Prince Devitt 2 02011-09-19 September 19, 2011 &10000000000000131000000131+ Kobe, Japan Kantaro Hoshino Memorial Show 3 Devitt defeated Kushida to win the vacant championship.

[edit] Combined reigns

Symbol Meaning
† Indicates the current champion(s)
Rank Wrestler # of reigns Combined defenses Combined days
1 Jushin Liger 11 31 2245
2 Heat/Minoru/Minoru Tanaka 4 20 998
3 Koji Kanemoto 5 14 954
4 Tiger Mask IV 6 12 858
5 Shiro Koshinaka 3 9 702
6 Prince Devitt† 2 10 495+
7 Norio Honaga 3 9 283
8 Hiroshi Hase 2 3 195
9 Wataru Inoue 1 2 191
10 El Samurai 2 3 184
11 Shinjiro Otani 1 5 181
12 Kendo Kashin 2 3 175
13 Naoki Sano 1 2 174
14 Naomichi Marufuji 1 5 166
15 The Great Sasuke 1 5 165
16 Ryusuke Taguchi 1 4 155
17 Black Tiger IV 1 1 134
18 Kuniaki Kobayashi 1 1 129
19 Último Dragón 2 8 128
20 Nobuhiko Takada 1 6 123
21 Low Ki 1 1 105
22 Tatsuhito Takaiwa 1 1 101
23 Akira Nogami 1 1 88
24 Kota Ibushi 1 2 85
24 Místico 1 2 85
26 Masayuki Naruse 1 1 80
27 Pegasus Kid 1 0 74
28 Jado 1 1 62
29 Sabu 1 1 42
30 Owen Hart 1 1 28
31 Juventud Guerrera 1 0 7

[edit] References

General
Specific
  1. ^ "No Limit、またしてもIWGP Jr.タッグ奪還ならず！/4月19日TNA「Lock Down」試合結果(1)" (in Japanese). NJPW.co.jp. New Japan Pro Wrestling. 2009-04-20. http://www.njpw.co.jp/news/article.php?nwid=9954. Retrieved 2009-12-08. "「Lock Down」は全試合が「シックスサイドスチール」と呼ばれる金網マッチで行われる大会。なれない試合形式に加えて3WAYタッグ。さらに、もう一組の挑戦者チームであるLAXのホミサイドはともかく、ヘルナンデスはどう見ても新日本のJr.規定である100Kgを超えている。数々のハンディを抱えての再挑戦となった。" 
  2. ^ Clevett, Jason (2004-11-04). "The legend of Jushin "Thunder" Liger". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/2004/11/03/699394.html. Retrieved 2010-03-08. 
  3. ^ "PWI: Wrestling History". Pro Wrestling Illustrated. PWI-Online.com. http://www.pwi-online.com/pages/wrestlingframe.html. Retrieved 2010-03-21. 
  4. ^ Milner, John (2005-03-22). "Chris Benoit". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/Slam/Wrestling/Bios/benoit.html. Retrieved 2010-03-08. 
  5. ^ Molinaro, John F. (1999-10-28). "Chris Benoit". SLAM! Sports: Wrestling. Canadian Online Explorer. http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingEditorial/oct28_molinaro.html. Retrieved 2010-03-08. 
  6. ^ Power Slam Staff (August 2003). "We are the Champions (as of July 8)". Power Slam Magazine (Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD): p. 15. 109. 
  7. ^ Power Slam Magazine Staff (March 2005). "We are the champions (as of February 11)". Power Slam Magazine (Lancaster, Lancashire, England: SW Publishing LTD): p. 15. 116. 
  8. ^ Martin, Andrew (2009-01-04). "1/4 NJPW Wrestle Kingdom III results: Tokyo, Japan". WrestleView.com. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1231099061.php. Retrieved 2010-03-26. 
  9. ^ Golden, Hunter (2009-01-07). "Rising Sun Soliloquy Newsletter #7: Colossal Tokyo Dome Edition!". WrestleView.com. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1231356865.php. Retrieved 2010-03-26. 
  10. ^ Golden, Hunter (2009-08-20). "Rising Sun Soliloquy Newsletter #36". WrestleView.com. http://www.wrestleview.com/news2009/1250741327.php. Retrieved 2010-03-26. 
  11. ^ "Resultados NJPW Destruction – Tiger Mask vence a Místico – Team 3D y Nakamura retienen" (in Spanish). SuperLuchas Magazine. 2009-11-08. http://superluchas.net/2009/11/08/resultados-njpw-destruction-tiger-mask-vence-a-mistico-team-3d-y-nakamura-retienen/. Retrieved 2010-03-26. 
  12. ^ "January 4 New Japan Tokyo Dome report – legends, promotional wars". Wrestling Observer. 2010-01-04. http://www.f4wonline.com/content/view/11848/. Retrieved 2010-03-05. 
  13. ^ "9.19神戸大会全カード決定!　飯伏が負傷欠場、デヴィvsKUSHIDAで“新王者”決定戦！金本vs魔界28号は星野勘太郎メモリアルマッチ!!" (in Japanese). New Japan Pro Wrestling. 2011-09-12. http://www.njpw.co.jp/news/detail.php?nid=6319. Retrieved 2011-09-12. 

[edit] External links

Portal icon Professional wrestling portal
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champions
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=IWGP_Junior_Heavyweight_Championship&oldid=467345458"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages